I always tell my daughters its better to be a girl than a boy.  Girls get to have babies, for example.  Girls are usually potty-trained sooner.  Girls don’t throw things quite as often as boys (but when they do, they mean it).  Girls like to talk things out, boys are comfortable “taking it outside.”  Everyone knows girls remember the details of conversations better than boys...I digress.

But I can tell you when it may not feel better to be a girl (woman) than a man: when your parts fall out.  

Pelvic organ prolapse is when your uterus, bladder, rectum, vaginal walls, or any combination, fall out.  Thanks to damage from childbirth, years of gravity, and often the hormonal changes of menopause (though it can happen before menopause), the female pelvic organs start to protrude past the vaginal opening.  Sometimes this happens when a woman is up and active-walking, gardening, playing tennis, etc. Sometimes a woman can feel things protruding virtually all of the time, and she actually needs to use her fingers to push things back up inside. 

It really is not a comfortable sensation, but women live with it, and in fact, have often had symptoms for quite some time before coming to see a doctor.  They often delay coming in because they feel this is quite abnormal, and they may even feel embarrassed and often they ask if anyone else has ever had this?  Have I ever seen this before?  Well, I see it all the time, its very common.    Sometimes I actually have patients who are friends with each other come in for this same complaint saying they’ve never heard of this-I want to say “call your friend!”  but of course, I can’t because it’s all confidential.

Pelvic organ prolapse can be relieved by a variety of things-a device called a pessary, which is kind of like a diaphragm, that holds things up inside the vagina.  Sometimes prolapse requires surgery. Kegel exercises can help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which help the symptoms regardless of the ultimate treatment.     

Anyway, this is a very common problem and it’s often accompanied by another joy of womanhood, stress incontinence.  Remember that first time you went on a trampoline after having a child and as you jumped up-whoops, there it was-a little leak!  Incontinence also can be helped: with behavioral changes, medications and sometimes surgery.  Hormone therapy can also often be helpful.

The reality is, this is something women have to deal with as they get older.  It really can be quite a bummer and unfortunately it is quite common.  However, there are options for relieving the symptoms that your doctor can discuss with you, so that you can continue to enjoy all those wonderful activities in your life that you enjoy!