ReVitalize Mama

04/04/2023

As a society, we often focus on the joy and excitement that comes with having a new baby. However, we must also acknowledge the reality of postpartum birth trauma. This is a real and complex issue that affects many new mothers.

Postpartum birth trauma can come in the form of physical injuries, emotional distress, or medical complications. It can be caused by a difficult labor and delivery, unexpected pregnancy outcomes, or even inadequate postpartum care.

Unfortunately, many women suffer in silence due to the stigma surrounding mental health issues and the pressure to present a perfect image of motherhood. It’s time to break the silence and start talking about postpartum birth trauma.

If you or someone you know is struggling with postpartum birth trauma, it’s important to seek help. There are many resources available, including therapy, support groups, and trauma informed support & care.

Let’s work together to raise awareness and support those who are dealing with this difficult issue. Remember, it’s okay to not be okay, and seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

02/23/2023

Children mirror the nervous systems of their primary caregivers. They require a stable & regulated adult to help them to regulate their own nervous system. A mom who is stressed, dysregulated, and still dealing with the consequences of birth trauma, cannot nurture and help to adequately regulate her baby’s nervous system. She requires more support & more tools to help her find balance again. Otherwise her relationship with her baby, her partner and herself with suffer greatly.

07/07/2022

Every physical being on this planet is your partner in co-creation, and if you could accept that and appreciate the diversity of desires and beliefs, all of you would have a more expansive, satisfying, fulfilling experience. ~Abraham-Hicks

04/24/2021

Join me for a virtual class on healing pelvic pain & awakening pelvic power through therapeutic movement, breathwork & mantras!

ReVitalize Mama & Rise Above Yoga combine their expertise to bring you a 2-part virtual workshop that will help you to heal pelvic pain, realign the pelvis, and strengthen your pelvic floor, all while healing pelvic trauma and releasing the emotions held in this sacred area.

Saturday May 15th, 2021 - 1 PM PST ($25)
PELVIC PAIN RELEASE & EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE
This first class will focus on gently releasing pelvic pain, realigning the pelvis and learning to connect to your inner emotional resilience and powerfully process any stuck emotions.

Saturday May 22 2021 - 1 PM PST ($25)
PELVIC FLOOR STRENGTH & SONG STORY
This powerful class will take what you learned in the first class and propel you forward in your healing. This class will focus on how to activate and strengthen the muscles of the pelvis, the diaphragm, and the pelvic floor while incorporating dynamic movements and song mantras to bring forth the goddess within.

Individual classes are only $25 each and both classes purchased together are a discounted price of $44!

Join us for this powerful virtual experience to transform your relationship with your pelvis, heal pelvic pain, and awaken the pelvic strength within!

Link to sign up in the comments!

Join Maddie Mackey and Dr. Christina Marie for a 2-Part Workshop where we combine womb connection, music, pelvic floor therapy, education, and healing into a vibrant and nourishing virtual space!

04/29/2020

As mama’s ourselves, we get that those early weeks postpartum can be physically, emotionally, and energetically draining. You want to be able to focus all of you energy and attention to nurturing and caring for your little one, but let’s face it, it’s hard.
Your body has just been through intense physical trauma and you are still healing. You need support. You deserve support. We are here for you mama!

08/25/2019

✨🚽 BLADDER CONTROL BASICS | BLADDER TRAINING 🚽✨

Babies are born incontinent. Meaning that they do not have voluntary control over their bladder (or bowels). When they begin to walk and move about the world they also begin to have improved control of their bladder. This is not a coincidence. Movement of the hips and pelvis triggers the activation of the pelvic floor muscles and improves control over bladder function. As we age and become less mobile or begin to have restrictions in the movement of our hips and pelvis, this results in an increased incidence of incontinence and leakage. Movement is an essential part of maintaining proper bladder control.

In addition, the bladder is controlled both consciously by the somatic nervous system and subconsciously by the autonomic nervous system. When the bladder is half of the way full of fluid (about 200 ml of fluid), it sends a signal to the brain and the brain tells the muscles in the walls of the bladder to contract. However, we can consciously override this signal by tightening the muscles of the pelvic floor and signaling the bladder to relax. The urge to urinate is therefore just a signal from the bladder to the brain as it stretches and fills with urine. This does not mean that you need to listen and immediately run to the bathroom. Urges can be felt even when the bladder is not full and you should be able to go at least 2 hours between voiding/emptying your bladder. The urge will peak and then dissipate over time once you send a signal for it to relax. If this is not the case and you feel unable to control this urge to urinate, then bladder training is the right course of action for you. Also, refer to the post about bladder irritating foods, as this may be a part of the reason you have an increased urge to urinate.

BLADDER TRAINING

If you have an urge to urinate after you have recently urinated, or before you can get to a bathroom, try these strategies.

1. Bladder Relaxation breathing — Start by sitting down, as pressure on the bottom can help to calm the bladder and decrease the urge to urinate. Next, take a deep breath into your belly, and as you breathe out, tighten your abdominals and pull your belly up and in. Focus on your bladder as you breathe and visualize the muscles around the bladder relaxing as you breathe in and out. Keep breathing in this way slowly and steadily as you relax the rest of your body and release any tension.

2. Urge Suppression Technique — In a seated position, now incorporate pelvic floor contractions (Kegels). Take another deep breath and on the breath out, tighten and lift the muscles of your perineum (the pelvic floor). Hold and do 5-10 quick contractions (lifts) of the pelvic floor muscles to signal to the bladder that it is not time to urinate yet. Do this repeatedly until you feel the bladder relax and the urge die down. If you have a hard time contracting and finding the pelvic floor muscles, then you can also sit at the edge of a chair and raise your heels up and down 10 times. This can also help to relax the nerves to the bladder and decrease the urge.

3. Distraction — After you have done the bladder relaxation breathing and urge suppression techniques, distract yourself. If you tend to be overly focused on needing to go to the bathroom and worry about finding a restroom in time, it may be beneficial to find a healthy distraction to take your mind off of the bathroom. Find an activity to distract you such as meditation, going for a walk, or slowly counting to 20. It does not matter what you choose as a distraction, just try and get out of your head and stop focusing on the need to p*e.

If you try these exercises and have a hard time, reach out to a pelvic floor physical therapist. They can help you to locate and activate the pelvic floor muscles and help you to improve and strengthen your connection to your bladder. Using these techniques in combination with the dietary changes outlined in my last post, will significantly reduce or completely take away any urges to go to the bathroom. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. Good luck!

08/22/2019

✨🚽 BLADDER CONTROL BASICS | DIETARY CHANGES 🚽✨

Certain foods can irritate the bladder and cause the muscles in the walls of the bladder to spasm. Reducing bladder irritating foods can be a huge help in decreasing bladder accidents and leakage.

Certain foods can cause the body to become inflamed. Inflammation in the body causes a whole list of health related issues, including muscle tension, swelling, pain, weight gain and an increase in certain diseases (such as diabetes, cancer and autoimmune conditions). Inflammatory foods can also cause inflammation in the pelvic organs and bladder. Therefore, one of the ways to decrease irritation of the bladder is to decrease the amount and frequency of inflammation causing foods/beverages that you consume.

INFLAMMATORY FOODS

Starting by decreasing inflammation causing foods in the body will not only decrease the irritation in the bladder, but it will decrease total body inflammation and will also improve your overall health and vitality immensely. So, what are the primary inflammation causing foods that I recommend my patients decrease (or completely eliminate) from their diet? The main foods are: Dairy, Sugar, Alcohol, and Refined carbohydrates.

Diary: Dairy is a highly mucous forming food. It causes increased mucous formation in the body, which results in slower movement of fluids. Therefore, the body has a harder time moving fluids through the body and eliminating fluids. This results in inflammation and swelling. Cutting back on dairy products can really help eliminate inflammation and swelling in the body and as a result, may decrease pain and improve bowel and bladder function. If you are set on eating dairy (can’t let go of that cheese!) then try more raw dairy products. Raw dairy still contains the enzymes that help the body to break down the proteins (lactose) in the dairy products, and therefore, causes less of an inflammatory response in the body. However, if you can limit your dairy consumption to one serving a day, this is best.

Sugar: Sugar has become quite the villain as of lately, but there is a good reason for that. Cane sugar and other processed versions of sugar are extremely inflammatory for the body. As measured in multiple scientific studies, sugar causes an immediate increase in inflammatory markers released by immune system. This increase in inflammation can lead to long term health issues such as insulin resistance/diabetes, weight gain, and increased LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol. One of the worst side effects of eating sugar is the increase in the amount of AGE’s in the body. An AGE, or an Advanced glycation end product, is the product of chemical reactions in the body related to excess sugar in the bloodstream. An increase in AGE’s results in an increase in oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, leading to premature aging and breakdown of the cells.

Alcohol: Unfortunately, when alcohol is broken down in the body by the liver, the byproduct of it’s breakdown results in a highly toxic substance called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a known carcinogen and causes dramatic increases in inflammation in the body. Alcohol also causes an increase in urine production and makes it more difficult for the brain to coordinate bladder control. Therefore, cutting down on alcohol consumption can make a huge difference with bladder leakage!

Refined Carbohydrates: Refined carbohydrates such as white bread, cookies, crackers, cereal, white rice, or any other product made from processed wheat or grains, have a similar affect to sugar in the body. Refined carbohydrates are processed in the liver and turn directly into sugar (glucose) and are distributed into the blood stream at a rapid rate. Therefore, you can think of refined carbohydrates as having the same effect on the body as that of sugar, which I have outlined above.

BLADDER IRRITATING FOODS

When it comes to foods that may potentially irritate the bladder, it is important to do your own experimentation. Everybody’s body is a little different and some foods may be irritating to one person’s bladder but not to another. Therefore, I like to give my patients the list of bladder irritating foods and let them determine their response to these foods. For example, the bladder typically responds to a certain food or beverage within 2-4 hours of ingestion. So, if you are concerned that maybe your morning coffee is what causes you to have an increased urge or leakage in the afternoon, you can monitor your intake of coffee and then pay attention to your bladder urges 2-4 hours after intake. The same goes with alcohol or any other bladder irritating food or beverage. If you have a concern about a certain food on the list, then do your own little experiment. If you track this for 3 days, you will start to be able to see if there is an association between a certain food or beverage and your bladders response to it. Do you get an intense urge to go to the bathroom or do you get leakage out of nowhere 2-4 hours after consuming a certain bladder irritating food/beverage? If the answer is yes, then you have your culprit. This does not mean that you have to cut this food/beverage out of your life forever. If you start by decreasing the inflammatory foods listed above and take a week off of the bladder irritating food that is your worst culprit, then you will already see massive changes in your urges to urinate and you will have much less leakage.

List of Potential Bladder Irritating Foods:
* Alcoholic beverages, beer, wine
* Apples, Apple juice
* Artificial sweeteners
* Caffeine ; any drink or medication with caffeine • Coffee, tea
* Carbonated drinks
* Highly spiced foods and chiles
* Chocolate
* Corn syrup, Sugar, Honey
* Citrus juices and acidic fruits
* Lemons, Limes, Oranges
* Cantaloupes, Cranberries, Grapes, Guava
* Lemon juice
* Peaches, Pineapple, Plums, Strawberries
* Milk and milk products
* Tomatoes and tomato based products
* Vitamin B Complex
* Vinegar

As you can see, alcohol, milk products, and sugar are on both the inflammatory foods list and the bladder irritating foods list… they are big culprits! Cutting them out can make a huge difference with your bladder related issues.

WATER INTAKE

Lastly, if you gradually and carefully increase your water intake, there will be less of an irritation on the bladder. Water helps to dilute the amount of toxins and acidity of the fluid in the bladder, which will help to decrease irritation. Doing this gradually is important because a lot of times there can be fear around drinking too much water and increasing the frequency of urination. However, limiting water intake is not the way to stop leakage issues! Your body needs water! So, take your time and slowly increase water intake as you decrease inflammatory and bladder irritating foods.

I hope this helps!

Next up on Bladder Control Basics, I will be talking about bladder training! When you get an urge to p*e, how can you take back control over your bladder and allow yourself time to make it to the bathroom? I will go into much detail about this in the next installment!

Lots of Love!

08/20/2019

✨🚽 BLADDER CONTROL BASICS | PART 2 🚽✨

In a study conducted by the department of Urology at San Diego Medical Center, 100 women were screened for bladder related symptoms. The study found that 81% of the women who were positive for bladder related issues, started developing their symptoms by the age of 30.

Most women in the study began having early signs of bladder related issues when their urination became more frequent (> 8 times/day) and they had aggravation of their frequency following sexual in*******se. Eventually, the frequency of urination turned into symptoms of urgency (urge incontinence) and anterior pelvic pain. They found that if the symptoms were not addressed in the early stages, that the bladder related symptoms continually worsened throughout the lifespan.

It is clear that when is comes to addressing bladder concerns, the earlier the better!

Today I am going to discuss the causes of incontinence related symptoms and how we can address these in terms of dietary changes, functional nutrition supplementation, and physical therapy intervention.

URGE INCONTINENCE: CAUSES & TREATMENT

Urge incontinence, or the feeling of an intense urge to run to the bathroom with a lack of control over the bladder, is typically caused by bladder spasticity or irritation. What causes bladder spasticity? When the balance of toxic or acidic forming foods is too high in the body, the lining of the walls of the bladder become irritated. This irritation of the lining of the bladder causes the muscles in the walls of the bladder to begin to spasm uncontrollably. As a result, you will get a random urge to urinate that feels uncontrollable. This is because the bladder is spasming involuntarily! This build up of acid forming or toxic foods in the system can also result in systemic inflammation, not just inflammation in the bladder, and may lead to pelvic pain or pain with in*******se. When the bladder becomes spastic, this can also cause the pelvic floor to tighten up. A tight pelvic floor cannot properly hold back urine because the muscle is not functioning properly. Therefore, this results in the bladder spasming and the pelvic floor being unable to hold back the flow of urine. Uh oh! Accident! Addressing urge incontinence involves dietary changes to decrease bladder irritating foods, training to improve conscious control over the bladder, and gentle stretching and movement of the pelvic floor muscles in order decrease tightness of the pelvic floor and improve control over the bladder.

STRESS INCONTINENCE: CAUSES & TREATMENT

Stress incontinence, or leakage when performing an activity such as coughing, sneezing, jumping, running, or lifting, is typically caused by poor control over the bladder and the muscles of the pelvic floor. This poor control can be due to a number or factors, including increased downward pressure on the bladder due to pregnancy or recent weight gain, weakness or tightness of the pelvic floor muscles that help to control the flow of urine, or bladder spasticity or dysfunction causing leakage. Therefore, with stress incontinence, we must determine which factor is contributing the most to the symptoms. If the leakage is happening due to pregnancy or increased weight gain putting pressure on the bladder, then the patient must begin by working on pelvic floor control in order to be able to tighten and lift the pelvic floor muscles during activities that cause stress or excess weight on the bladder. This technique is called bladder training. In addition, if the diet is high in toxins or acid forming foods, then addressing the diet is essential to helping calm the bladder and reducing bladder spasticity and leakage.

FREQUENT URINATION OR LEAKAGE: CAUSES & TREATMENT

Frequency of urination is defined as using the restroom greater than 8 times per day. Frequency of urination in patients who develop weakness of the pelvic floor muscles can begin to result in more frequent accidents and leakage. More frequent urination can be an early sign that the bladder is becoming irritated by the foods you are consuming, it can also indicate that the pelvic floor muscles have become weak and unable to hold back the flow of urine from the bladder. In postnatal women or women who have had pelvic surgery or trauma, the pelvic organs can begin to sink down into the pelvic cavity and compress the bladder. This is called pelvic organ prolapse, and may result in more frequent accidents due to increased pressure on the pelvic organs and bladder, as well as increased pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, resulting in weakness. Therefore, with frequency of urination or pelvic organ prolapse, we must also address dietary changes, pelvic floor re-training, and bladder control. With these adjustments, we can lift the pelvic organs and strengthen the pelvic floor in order to maintain a healthy position and normal control over the bladder.

As you can see, each type of incontinence is slightly different. However, if we were to address each one using dietary changes, bladder training, and pelvic floor re-education, then we will be successful.

So, how does each of these treatment strategies work? What foods do you need to eliminate in order to calm the bladder? How do you train your bladder? What the heck is pelvic floor re-education?

I will go into more detail about each strategy in the next few installments of BLADDER CONTROL BASICS! Stay tuned!

08/19/2019

✨🧻🚽 BLADDER CONTROL BASICS | PART 1 🚽🧻✨

Let’s talk about leakage! Urine leakage that is.

What is it? Why does it happen? How can we prevent it from happening?

In the scientific world, urine leakage is called urinary incontinence. There are a few different types of incontinence and it is important to know the difference, so that we know how to treat it effectively.

The most commonly known form of urinary incontinence can show up as a continuous or intermittent leakage of urine, with no apparent cause. This type of leakage is more common in older women who may have lost control of their bladder, may have developed pelvic floor weakness, or may have some form of pelvic organ prolapse (pelvic organs begin to drop down into the walls of the va**na). Don’t fear! If we address incontinence symptoms before they become a long term problem, we can prevent this form of incontinence from happening all together!

More commonly in younger women, during pregnancy, or postpartum, urine leakage shows up in times of stress or movement, such as when coughing, sneezing, running, jumping, or straining while exercising. We call this stress urinary incontinence.

Alternatively, incontinence can also show up as a strong urge out of no where. This strong urge results in a feeling or immediate need to find the restroom and may result in sporadic leakage along the way to the bathroom or in a time when you cannot find the restroom in time to meet the urge. This is known as urge urinary incontinence.

All three forms of urinary incontinence can be treated with pelvic floor exercises (“Kegels”), bladder re-training, and dietary changes to decrease bladder irritation and spasticity. However, each type must be treated slightly differently in order to target the root cause of the problem.

Tomorrow, I will be discussing the root cause of each type of incontinence and why/how we treat each type a little differently in order to target the cause of the symptoms.

Do you or have you suffered from one of these types of leakage? I know I have! Please share any and all questions below so that the group can benefit from the answers. Stay dry! 💜

08/11/2019

Did you know that in France, any woman who has delivered a baby automatically gets a prescription for 10 free physical therapy sessions to "re-educate" her pelvic floor? Many women outside of France are not even aware about what the pelvic floor is and what help is available out there. A lack of understanding among young women about the importance of the pelvic floor - which, if weakened during childbirth can cause incontinence - is being linked to problems later in life, according to the latest research.

"On average, 1 in 7 older adults - men and women - experience incontinence, but it's twice as common in women" explains Lisa Smyth, Consultant Urologist at Tallaght University Hospital.

— Shared from APTA Section on Women’s Health

A LACK of understanding amongst young women about the importance of the pelvic floor - which, if weakened during childbirth can cause incontinence - is being linked to problems later in

08/05/2019

Thank you Kelly Gray for such an amazing Holistic Birthing Class. Steven and I really felt we were able to connect deeply and feel more prepared for the birth of our baby girl. Currently drinking my pregnancy tea and enjoying my first day of maternity leave. 💚

05/24/2019

Limit yourself to your comfort zone and you will limit opportunities for expansion, growth, and bliss. Go big and experience the beauty of life’s extremes.