anyone who has/had rectocele?

Anyone who has had or has rectocele, can you please tell me how it started and what where your symptoms.

I had my first rectocele surgery at the age of 28 following the birth of my second child, I was having a vaginal hysterectomy at the time and asked the doctor if there was anything he could do to fix the need to splint during BMs, he suggested the rectocele. The result was that the opening of the vagina was smaller but not really anything else, I still had to splint following surgery and have done so since then for 14 years. I have known for some time that I needed to have the surgery redone but have just not wanted to take the time out of my life but I am getting older and the sooner I do it the sooner I will get better. The time has come.

Both of my children were over 9 pounds and I did not have an episiotomy with either and had very long labors where they both were crowning for some time. I also had no significant tears. I believe that this is how the damage happened in the first place. My doctor said that the fascia which supported that tissue between the posterior vaginal wall and the bowel had ripped. I describe it as three layers - one of lycra - then one of elastic - then another of lycra. The elastic (representing the fascia) provides the support to the lycra, when the elastic breaks there is no longer anything to support the lycra. My rectocele is now at a level 4, which from what I understand is pretty bad, but like I said it has been 14 years.

My symptoms were that I had a very difficult time evacuating my bowels, what I found, really by accident, was that if I splint my bowels by supporting the bowel wall from the inside of the vagina I could evacuate effectively. There is no exercise that will tighten this tissue, the connective tissue is now torn. Without the splinting it is quite likely that I would have developed a fissure which is a hole in the tissue of the vaginal/bowel wall which would then cause the feces to come through the bowel into the vagina when trying to evacuate the bowel. I think that might be one of my worst nightmares which is why I am finally getting the surgery done. Please feel free to ask me if you want anymore details.

This has already gone past my own TMI line.

My rectocele made itself known after a week of very bad coughing...I felt something slip down at the back and had to push it up and back again from inside the vagina.It gradually got more and more uncomfortable.There was bulging at the anus.I would push it back in in and it would come down every time. Keeping clean was very hard. I had incomplete emptying everytime with a BM and real urgency..and also a low persistent backache. A 3 month intensive program of kegels did not help. I felt as if I was carrying around a pouch at my rear end and were sitting on a sausage...

However in all this, it did not show up in clinical examination - only when I was under anaesthetic did the gyn see the tue picture.

Hope this helps.

I felt mine 5 months after my hysterectomy. I had such bm issues after the hyst and I strained too much. I think this caused my first rectocele and enterocele. It feels like you are sitting on a egg or something. If I pushed in on it during evacuation it would come out pretty easily. I had a vaginal repair using pelvicol to reinforce the posterior floor on the right side where the rip was.
My second rectocele wasn't obvious during a internal exam, but really showed up on a defecogram. It was stage 3 along with a stage 3 enterocele. They were repaired abdominally with a mesh lifting the vagina up off of the bowels. I was still having evacuation problems, but have added more bran to my diet and things have improved greatly.
You will know when it is time for you to get it fixed.
Peggy

I have been living with my rectocele for a year and a half now. My symtoms are tail bone, pain or feeling like I have to go, incomplete evacuation and I cannot splint so (warm water enemas), sometimes pressure in the vagina not always but that just started. I had a defagrograph and it showed a non emptying rectocele colon / rectal doc said drink prune juice and water enema until I was ready to have surgery. He said he'd fix it through the rear end. My gyn said you need surgery and keeps calling me about it she said fix through the vagina. At this point I am just going to see how it goes for now. I have good days and and bad, mostly bad right now. I need to get through the summer, I have my son graduating from high school in June and then leaving for college in August and we are a boating family and I just don't want to ruin my familys summer. And if it gets real bad well I can just have the surgery. I hope that helps.

Teena

Here's some information I found for you. This just took me a few moments on google and there is so much more info available. All information is cited with the link.

The transanal technique was associated with more clinically diagnosed recurrences of rectocele and/or enterocele. Adverse effects on sexual life were avoided by use of both techniques. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland <admin note: no email addresses in posts please > http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract


…the transanal technique resulted more frequently in recurrence than the vaginal approach.
Tampere University Dissertation http://acta.uta.fi/english/teos.phtml?9729

One major concern after transanal rectocele repair is postoperative anal incontinence. This significant problem has been described in up to 38% of patients after transanal repair. Fecal incontinence may occur because of an occult sphincter laceration that causes symptoms with aging, or it may develop as a result of the anal dilation and stretching during the rectocele repair.

One area that deserves attention is the recurrent rate of prolapses. Two separate randomized trials have shown that the transanal approach has a significantly higher failure rate when compared with the transvaginal approach (Maher, 2006).
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3325.htm This is an excellent source with some links to diagrams.

My 'rectocele' symptoms started about 7 or 8 years ago, I couldn't go the bathroom without assistance and then when I did have the urge to go, I had less than a minute to make it to the bathroom. Needless to say I had several accidents, in stores, car etc. Then, 5 years ago I saw a colorectal surgeon and he suggested that I use warm water enemas to make sure I was empty and I never had another accident. I just finally had 'rectocele' repaired (my doctor said it was a rear perineal wall collapse) I don't think it worked, but I'm still healing so time will tell. My symptoms were/are a heavy feeling when I am full, passing gas with no notice and no control, feeling the outline of stool through my vaginal wall, passing gas during sex. Good Luck to you.