Causes and Treatments of Prolapsed Bladder Or Cystocele

A prolapsed bladder is a disconcerting bladder problem that occurs in women. In order to understand what a prolapsed bladder is and how it occurs, you need to understand how the female body is designed.

The walls of the vagina are designed in a way to help support the bladder and keep it in the correct anatomical position. Sometimes the wall of the vagina stretches and become weak and it can even tear. When this happens, the bladder can drop and this is called a prolapsed bladder or a cystocele.

If a person has a mild case of prolapsed bladder they may not notice any symptoms at all. However, if the conditions worsen they may begin to feel fullness or a lot of pressure in the pelvis and vagina area. This will get worse when the person stands for long periods of time.

You may feel pain when you lift, bear down, strain or cough and often you may feel like you still need to use the bathroom even after just emptying your bladder. In severe cases, a soft bulge of tissue can protrude through the vaginal opening and you can feel it when sitting down. Many women have frequent bladder infections, pain or leakage during sex and loss of urinary control when laughing, sneezing or coughing. If the condition is serious, you may not be able to control urination at all.

Causes

The bladder, uterus and rectum are the organs that fill the pelvic cavity. They're supported by muscles, ligaments and connective tissue found on the pelvic floor.

This condition occurs when the muscles that support the pelvic are strained and become weak. This can happen during childbirth because the muscles of the vagina go through tremendous strain during this time in a woman's life. Even though the walls of the vagina will heal, it doesn't always regain the strength it once had. This is the most common cause for prolapsed bladder.

Other causes can include chronic constipation and straining by doing heavy lifting repeatedly. Violent coughing or bronchitis can also cause this condition along with being obese. After a woman goes through menopause their estrogen levels will decrease and this will also create problems and it can cause this condition.

Treatment

Treatments will depend on how serious the condition is. In mild cases where there are no obvious symptoms present, you may not need any treatment. However, doing exercise to strengthen the pelvic muscles is recommended to prevent the condition from getting worse. If the problem is bad enough that symptoms are present but not too serious, then you may be able to correct the problem with nonsurgical treatment.

Instead of surgery some women use a vaginal pessary, which is a rubber or plastic ring inserted into the vagina to support the bladder. This is a temporary alternative but it can often be used for years. Estrogen therapy is another option that can be used for women who have gone through menopause.

If the condition is severe then surgery may be necessary. This may be the only way to keep the bladder and other organs in place. If you elect to have surgery to repair the damage the surgeon will put the prolapsed back into place, remove the stretched tissue and tighten the muscles and ligaments of the pelvic floor so it will hold the bladder in place.

There is a chance that prolapsed bladder can re-occur after a few years even if you do choose to have surgery. For this reason, the surgeon may recommend a hysterectomy if the tissues that supports the vagina are very thin and weak.