What problems does prolapse cause?

Many women with mild to moderate prolapse are unaware of the problem. Most symptoms of prolapse are generalizable to all sorts of prolapse and usually deteriorate as the day progresses and improve with lying down. These include

• Bulge, heaviness or dragging sensation
• Backache
• Vaginal irritation or dryness
• Need to push the vagina back especially after straining (defecation)
• Intercourse impossible or embarrassing

Bladder symptoms that can be associated with prolapse include

• Urinary frequency and urgency
• Stress incontinence
• Voiding difficulties
• Inability to pass urine without reducing the prolapse back into the vagina
• Rarely the upper renal tracts can be obstructed due to kinking of the ureters (drain kidneys to bladder)

Vaginal prolapse can also cause bowel symptoms including

• Incomplete bowel emptying
• Obstruction at defecation due to faeces lodging in the rectocele
• Constipation may be caused by the rectocele
• The need to reduce prolapse to empty the bowel
• If the rectum prolapses out of the vagina fecal incontinence may occur.