My organs were falling out of me... but my symptoms went ignored for nearly a decade: I had a shocking condition so common most women don't realize they are affected

Rashan Williams immediately knew something wasn't right.

It was 2014 and the Florida supermarket manager couldn't shake the feeling that something was 'bulging' out of her vagina, especially when using the bathroom.

She managed to brush it off as a one-time occurrence, but after several months, the same feeling became increasingly frequent and disruptive.

Williams, who was 29 at the time, spent hours a day at work lifting heavy boxes and doing strenuous labor, which made the protrusion more prominent.

At several points, she'd end up pushing the 'bulge' back up inside her body.

'It was like I was hitting something,' Williams, now 41, told the Daily Mail. 'Even with the touch of a hand, I could feel something popping out, like a foreign object just sitting there.

'I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. I never had pain, but I could feel its existence being there. I could feel something within me. I knew something was wrong internally.'

Williams sought help from her OB-GYN about a year after she first noticed her symptoms. She said he told her he 'couldn't see anything' related to what she was describing.

'That bummed me out,' she said. 'I never went back to him, still knowing that this situation still existed.'

Over the next nine years, Williams struggled with the protrusion as well as bladder urgency that became so severe she had to meticulously schedule outings based on where the nearest bathroom would be.

Williams assumed she had to live with the discomfort and had given up on seeking help until a friend recommended she visit Dr Nyarai Mushonga, a urogynecologist and reconstructive pelvic surgeon with Florida Medical Clinic at Orlando Health, in 2023.

Following a routine pelvic exam, Mushonga diagnosed Williams with pelvic organ prolapse (POP), which occurs when the organs held by a woman's pelvis - the vagina, uterus, bladder and rectum - drop out of place.

In severe cases, these organs can fall so much that they cause a bulge outside of the vagina. For Williams, it was her uterus that kept falling.

POP is very common and impacts about half of women to some degree. While about three to 12 percent of women report symptoms, similar to Williams, physical exams reveal the condition in about half of women, research has shown.

The pelvic floor is a hammock-like sling of muscles and tissues that holds up the bladder, bowel and uterus - or prostate, for a man.

Mushonga explained that in prolapse for a woman, that muscle structure begins to weaken, causing those organs to fall out of that sling and slip into the vaginal canal.

Pregnancy and childbirth are major causes, she told the Daily Mail.

'For those 40 weeks, you're carrying a seven, eight, ten-pound bag,' she said.

'That takes a toll on your pelvic area, so that results in the muscle stretching and the connective tissue stretching.'

However, there is a widespread misconception that pregnancy and childbirth are the only causes of pelvic organ prolapse.

A survey conducted by Orlando Health, for example, found nearly one in three women believe the condition only occurs in women who have been pregnant.

But older age, obesity, family history and connective tissue disorders like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have all been shown to weaken the pelvic floor over time.

In the case of Williams, who has never been pregnant nor given birth, doctors suggested years of physical strain from her job may have consistently put pressure on her pelvic floor.

'It came as a surprise because I had never heard of it,' Williams said.

Many women like Williams may spend years dealing with symptoms, which can range from urinary and bowel incontinence to pain during intercourse, because they assume they are a normal part of aging.

The Orlando Health survey found this was the case for about 50 percent of women.

'A lot of times, patients don't know where to go,' Mushonga said.

She noted exercises like Pilates and kegels can help strengthen the pelvic floor and prevent or treat prolapse. Some patients also may opt for a pessary, a small, removable device inserted into the vagina to provide structural support for the uterus, bladder, urethra and rectum.

Patients who are having trouble emptying their bladder or bowels, however, should seek medical attention immediately, Mushonga warned.

Urinary obstructions can cause potentially permanent kidney damage, while impacted stool can perforate the bowel wall and cause the stool to leak into the abdominal cavity, causing potentially deadly infections.

'That's the only time that I insist that patient have some form of treatment, whether it's a pessary or surgery,' Mushonga said.

Williams opted in 2024 for a partial hysterectomy - removal of the uterus - and pelvic prolapse repair surgery, a minimally invasive procedure that uses a graft attached to a ligament in the pelvic area to hold up organs.

'It's like wearing suspenders on a pair of pants to hold them up around your shoulder,' Mushonga said.

Williams was able to return home the same day as her surgery, and during her eight-week recovery, she had minimal side effects.

'The only major pain I had was from my incisions, but that lasted not even two weeks,' she said. 'I think I bled the first two days after surgery, and that was pretty much it.'

Now, Williams is back at work and has had no complications from the surgery. A decade's worth of discomfort and anxiety had vanished.

'I can definitely feel a difference in my body,' she told the Daily Mail. 'I didn't feel so sluggish, I didn't feel so heavy, I didn't feel so tired. My body felt a little bit lighter, and I was able to move and maneuver a little bit better.

'My lifestyle just feels better. I have no physical problems. I just get up and go.'

Looking back on her arduous journey to getting a diagnosis, Williams encouraged other women showing signs of prolapse to seek medical attention immediately and fight for a second opinion.

'You know your own body better than anybody else,' she said. 'Whatever it takes, however many doctors it takes, don't stop until you get the answers or the results that you need.'