Your Childbirth Teacher Was Wrong! Kegels During Pregnancy
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN November 3, 2015 
Leave a Comment
If you’ve ever attended a childbirth class, you’ve heard a lot about kegels. But what if most of what your teacher told you was wrong?
You might have had the smartest, nicest, most caring, most conscientious childbirth teacher in the world. But if she was like 99 percent of childbirth teachers out there, she was wrong about kegels — when to do them, how to do them, and why.
What Are Kegels, and […]
7 Shocking Mistakes Destroying Your Vagina
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN October 22, 2015 Leave a Comment
How can this be such a huge secret?
Millions of women suffer with vaginal prolapse: up to half of all women over 50 years old. One in five U.S. women will have dangerous surgery to treat this condition. (One in five! This could be you, or someone you love, if you don’t take action to avoid it.) In spite of these enormous numbers of women affected, most women have never heard about prolapse, […]
Rectocele vs Anal Prolapse: Different Types of Rectal Prolapse
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN August 25, 2015 Leave a Comment
Women often ask me about rectal prolapse: do kegels help? There are two types of rectal prolapse, and the answer is different for each one.
First, let’s look at some definitions.
The rectum is part of your large intestine. It’s the last part of the large intestine that feces (a.k.a. poop) moves through before it gets to the anus. The anus is the opening. I’ve noticed that people seem to really hate using the […]
4 Life-Changing Reasons to Talk to Your Friends about Vaginal Prolapse
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN August 4, 2015 Leave a Comment
The term “prolapse” in this article refers to pelvic organ prolapse, or vaginal prolapse: prolapsed bladder (cystocele), prolapsed rectum (rectocele), prolapsed small intestine (enterocele), or prolapsed uterus.
I know two sisters. They’re real people, but I won’t use their real names. Let’s call them Deena and Lydia. They both live in their hometown, and they’re good friends. They work together to take care of their aging parents and spend holidays together. When Lydia […]
How Buff Is Your Vagina?
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN July 21, 2015 Leave a Comment
Are your muscles saggy, or toned? That’s a question you can easily answer about your arms, your abs, or your thighs. But what about your vagina? Did you know you even have muscles there? Or that they can be just as saggy — or just as fit — as any other muscle in your body?
What Are the Vagina Muscles?
The muscles around your vagina are part of the pelvic floor. The pelvic floor […]
How Not to Be a Victim of Your Doctor (or Feel Like One)
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN July 9, 2015 Leave a Comment
It’s all over the news right now: Michigan oncologist Dr. Farid Fata, who gave unnecessary cancer treatments to 533 patients as a moneymaking scheme, will be sentenced tomorrow. Dr. Fata’s patients were injured, disfigured, disabled, even killed by his brutal and violent behavior, and prosecutors are asking for 175 years behind bars.
Dr. Fata is, of course, an exception. The vast majority — let me say that again — the VAST majority of […]
How Long Should I Leave a Pessary in Place?
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN June 26, 2015 Leave a Comment
How long should you leave a pessary in place between cleanings? There is no single correct answer. Some women wear a pessary only occasionally, or wear it during the day but take it out every night. At the other extreme, some women leave a pessary in place for weeks or months. Pessaries are designed to stay in place for weeks on end, allowing fluids to flow around them — even your menstrual […]
What Is Pelvic Organ Prolapse?
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN June 16, 2015 Leave a Comment
Millions of women suffer with pelvic organ prolapse, and millions more are at risk — but few women understand what prolapse really is.
What is cystocele? What is rectocele? What does it mean that my uterus is prolapsed? What does pelvic organ prolapse mean for my health? What does prolapse mean for my sex life?
What’s happening in your body when you have prolapse? When you feel that “something’s not right down there,” what […]
6 Reasons NOT to Buy a Kegel Exercise Device
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN June 2, 2015 Leave a Comment
In this post: Why kegel products are not the correct way to do kegel exercises for your pelvic floor muscles, and how kegel weights and other kegel devices can do more harm than good.
Kegel exercisers. Kegel eggs. Ben wa balls. Vaginal cones. Electrical stimulation devices. Biofeedback devices. Kegel weights for your vagina.
Kegel devices come in every shape, size, and style imaginable. There are plastic kegel devices, metal kegel devices, inflatable kegel devices, […]
Sex Not as Good After Baby? It Happened to Me…
by Alyce Adams, RN BSN May 19, 2015 Leave a Comment
Having a baby can really mess up your sex life.
You’re desperate for sleep. The minute you get in the mood, the baby cries. And after you’ve spent the entire day cuddling and breastfeeding, the last thing you want is to be touched even more.
Having our wonderful daughter was the best thing that ever happened to me and my husband, but parenthood was really tough on our sex life. And it wasn’t about […]