Nobody really talks about this one, but it affects far more women than you'd think.

Your pelvic organs, bladder, uterus, bowel, are held up inside you by muscles and ligaments, a bit like scaffolding holding up a ceiling. When that support weakens, usually after childbirth or with age, those organs can start to drop and bulge into the vagina. That's prolapse.

What it actually feels like

It's not usually painful in the way people expect. It's more a dragging, heavy sensation, like something is sitting low and just... there. It can put you off exercise, off walking long distances, off your sex life. And it often makes existing incontinence worse.

If any of that sounds familiar, you are absolutely not alone, and there's a simple option worth knowing about before jumping to surgery, a pessary ring.

What a pessary ring actually does

It's a soft, flexible ring you insert into the vagina, and once it's in, it pops open and holds everything back up in place, doing the job your own tissue used to do. It comes in different sizes, so you'll need to get fitted properly rather than guessing, this can be done by a women's health physio, a gynae nurse, a gynaecologist, or your doctor. Once you have the right size, it genuinely does the job.

I know what you're picturing when you look at one of these for the first time, a lot of women look at the ring and think there's absolutely no way that's fitting inside them. But your vagina is a lot roomier than most people assume. It's narrow right at the opening, but it opens up into a much bigger space than you'd expect.

To insert it, you squeeze it down, follow the curve of it in and up, and it snaps open once it's in place. That's genuinely it.

Why it's worth trying first

A well-fitted pessary can let you get back to the things prolapse has been quietly taking away from you, working out properly, walking without that heavy dragging feeling, feeling like yourself during sex again. And for a lot of women, it delays or completely removes the need for surgery.

If you think this might be you, talk to your doctor or women's health physio about getting fitted. It's a much bigger conversation than most people realise, and a much simpler fix than most people expect.