PT in Boston area?

[virtual02]

I noticed in this forum that several people visit PTs for trigger point release.
However, when I seach for PTs (at least in the Boston area) I never find specialist in pelvic floor area
except some that perform this work on women who has incontinence problems.

Any advice on how should I proceed to find a PT in my area who can do this work?

Thanks

[webslave]

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1454

[Relaxer]

Hey virtual, I have been seeing Ann Levesque out of Beverly, MA for the last several months. She is very knowledgable, and she has been a help for me. Her contact info is listed in the link sent by webslave. It took me a while (over 6 months) to get to see her due to her tight schedule.

[BrenN]

Hey guys. I'm new to the sight but have had CPPS(maybe IC) for about 12 years. I'm having some difficulty in figuring out how everything works and I originally wanted to reply to Virtuals post about "3 years pain free." I couldn't figure out how to just respond to you though so I found other posts of yours I could reply to. I also live in the Boston area and am currently seeing one of those Harvard experts you spoke about. But I'm interested in some of the Physical therapy stuff as well. Are you guys still going the the woman in Beverly or have you discovered other people in the area? How about chiropractors? Also, I've noticed a lot of people on this site swearing by the Wise Anderson Protocol but have also read some pretty damning stuff about them online about how a lot of there stuff is a scam. You guys feel as though its helped you? Thanks for any advice. As strange as it seems, It makes me feel a bit better knowing there are people in my geographical area who are speaking about what i'm feeling.

Thanks a bunch.

[webslave]

I've noticed a lot of people on this site swearing by the Wise Anderson Protocol but have also read some pretty damning stuff about them online about how a lot of there stuff is a scam.

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=7191

Note: Virtual02 last visited the board several days ago, so it may take some time to get a response.

[virtual02]

Hi Bren, sorry it took so long to get back to you. I never went to see the woman in Beverly, my symptoms got resolved before I had a chance to see her. The chiropractor I saw was in Leominster, so it could be a bit far for you since you would need 2 visits a week or so. If you still need his info I can try to get it for you but you might be able to explain a local chiropractor on what to do (read below). Anyhow, it depends on your symptoms, mine were referred pain into the groin area and (rarely) difficulty urinating. Everything pointed to (and then diagnosed by my Leominster uro) to a muscle trauma suffered on my pelvic or abdominal area. I didn't know which part was the source (pelvic or abdomen) so I treated both with stretches.

Honestly I didn't follow the whole Wise Andersen protocol, so I can't vouch for that, all I know is that I read the stretching section from the book, along with what the chiropractor told me, some stress-relief techniques, and followed it until my symptoms went away. I never had prostate massage so I don't know about that either. An important part of my solution was also to decrease intense lower-body exercises and weights that caused my abdominal/pelvic area to contract, and to be fully aware on when I was tightening my pelvic muscles (which I did frequently without even noticing). Everything had one goal in mind, and it was simple, to let my pelvic muscles relax. I experienced fasciculations (check wikipedia) on my lower pelvic muscles after the stretches, which usually followed a pretty bad increase in pain but then I felt much better.

Now to the chiropractor, I will probably never know if he was right or not on this, but was definitely worth trying. He thought that the pain originated from knots on my abdomen due to nerves that travel through the fascia on the abdomen into the pelvis. His therapy consisted on stretching my abdominal muscles, getting rid of knots and also using a yoga ball, laying on my back and fall backwards until you feel a stretch on your lower abdomen, did this 3-4 times for about 30 seconds each.

Now people might think what stress has to do with this. Something I noticed is that when stressed I tend to squeeze my pelvic muscles (like when you try to hold urinating). This becomes very apparent if someones scares you or experience a sudden moment of stress. This squeezing is completely involuntary and causes overuse strain of the pelvic muscles. So the point of stress relief also comes back to relaxing your pelvic muscles. Become aware of this and try to relax those muscles.

Sorry for my lengthy response, but I know the hell you are going through and how much of your life this takes away, and how important it was for me to look for good information out there. I recommend you go through the ritual with the Harvard docs just to clear out everything else, get a copy of the "Headache of the Pelvis" book, follow the exercises and get a Yoga ball.

Like my local uro said, this was just a muscle problem for me (and most likely for you too), so treat it as such. As any muscle therapy you have to be consistent and will take a while to feel the effects, so don't give up. I did all my stretches twice a week for 6 months before I felt the benefits. Something I didn't mention on my original e-mail is that I took Yoga classes (not Pilates, but the easy one), this helped incredibly and added more stretches I could then do on my own.

Good luck and let me know if you need any additional help, I'll drop by every once in a while :)

[BrenN]

Hey man, thanks for getting back to me.

Thats a lot of good info you provided and I've noticed a lot of similarities in my symptoms. I used to have chronic next pain until I realized it was because I kept my shoulders shrugged and tense. Since I stopped doing that my neck is 95% better. I then read on another site that tensing the pelvis muscles could be the cause of all this pelvis pain. Sure enough, I realized I was tensing when I washed dishes, went to get the mail, intercourse etc. etc. I've had an easy time relaxing these muscles and some of my symptoms have eased a good deal. My urinary frequency has decreased greatly and I don't even get up every night to use the bathroom like I used to. I can also drink beer again which was too painful for me months ago. Other symptoms have passed as well but I'm not sure this has to do with relaxation or the waxing and waning form these symptoms have been for me. I take Lyrica everyday but my guess is that the easing in symptoms is due to me relaxing and not the medicine. I also bought the book and have been following the stretches even though several confuse me. But I plan on posting a different post to see if I can get some help with that. I still have some pretty severe symptoms including testicular tingling and pain after ejaculation. I've tried to relax during sex, masturbation etc and have been able to but the pain afterwards is still there.

I follow the stretches from AHITPelvis book but I'm not sure they are designed for my symptoms. I will most likely be seeing the PT in Beverly in the next few months. I've spoken with her and she seems very familiar with these symptoms and is willing to help. I would also be interested in your chiropractor. Starting in July I'll be a fire fighter full time so I'll have plenty of time off to travel to Leominster. I live off of route 2 in E. Mass so its not around the corner but shouldn't take too long. I'll also be taking yoga classes too figuring if nothing else it will help me learn how to relax even further.

Its funny that you mentioned the spasms in your lower pelvis as I've had those too. I've had spasms in all parts of my body but it feels weird when it happens just above your pubic bone. Anyway, thanks for the advice. Hopefully the easing in my symptoms is just the beginning of a full blown decline.

Thanks. Bren

[virtual02]

Glad to hear your symptoms are improving. I have good news for you, I started to have spasms towards the end of my symptoms, so this might be the beginning of the end of symptoms for you, just keep in mind its going to hurt the first days after the spams and it will still take several months. These spasms are the reaction of an stressed muscle when its being relaxed. Something to keep in mind is that even after the main symptoms go away, small bouts of pain could still occur after intercourse or other activities that strain the pelvis, but its more of an afterthought. Of course, once healed don't go back to the old habits that strained your pelvis at first. Your example of neck pain is the best example I have heard to compare with CPPS, because is really the same thing.

It would be a good idea to bring the book to the PT in Beverly and show the exercises, I bet she is familiar with them and could customize them for your needs. I tried to track down my Chiropractor but have not been successful since its been some years now, but will keep looking for his office number and will give it to you.

A quick note about intercourse, I noticed it caused more pain when I fought the impulse to ejaculate or ejaculated more than once.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[virtual02]

OK I got the chiropractor information,

Dr. Matthew Delisle
285 Central St
Ste 215
Leominster MA 01453-6144
Phone 1: 978-537-2490

I believe his technique is called Graston therapy, in case you want to research that. I recommend you talk to him first over the phone about your symptoms, he is very approachable.

[BrenN]

Thanks a bunch for the chiropractor info as well as sharing your own thoughts. I think i'm going to give the PT in Beverly a shot in the next few months and will keep your Chiropractor in mind too. My symptoms have already eased with my own work so hopefully one of these specialists can really do the trick. But a sincere thanks to you for going out of your way to provide me that info as well as give me some more hope.

Thanks

Bren

[virtual02]

Wish you the best, hopefully Webslave shares this info with the rest of the community as well. Keep in mind your symptoms will get a lot worse before they get better, and will take time, so keep fighting and don't give up. Even after you return to normalcy, keep in mind small bouts of pain could recur here and there if you re-injure the muscles.
Also don't forget to post your experience on the success story later on :)

[ryanjfxx4]

How is everybody doing? Looks like Bren didn't post his success story! I need something to look forward to!

[virtual02]

Just checking in, I would guess Bren is still undergoing treatment to improve since its been relatively recent. The improvement on this condition is measured in months rather than days, but it does get better. Soon I will be 4 years pain free. Wish you the best ryan.

[BrenN]

Hey guys. Sorry I didn't post anything in a while. I was at the Fire Fighting Academy for 3 months and things were so hectic that I didn't even come to this site. And I didn't want to post anything until I had good news. That being said, I have a mixed bag of news regarding my condition. I just looked back at my posts from March where I wrote how my symptoms were improving with my own relaxation and with taking Lyrica. I also wrote how I assumed the easing in symptoms was more likely due to relaxation and stretching as opposed to the medicine. But I'm not sure that is the case. I started taking Lyrica in February (I think) and things started to improve in March which was around the time I started focusing on relaxation and proper stretching etc. I had some pretty good success and wanted to come off of the Lyrica to see what happened but didn't want to risk it while at the academy. While at the academy we were subject to all sorts of physical work that may or may not have been good for my symptoms but I felt excellent and was almost back to complete normalcy. Thats saying a lot considering how bad I felt last fall. Throughout my time at the academy I kept taking the Lyrica and just started easing off last week in conjuncture with my graduation from the academy. No sooner did I stop taking the Lyrica than my symptoms got worse again. I started urinating more often and with less volume. Drinking beer caused much greater urgency and discomfort. And the testicular tingling which has been my worst symptom over the past 13 years flared back up. At the academy we did daily stretching exercises and work outs that could have helped my symptoms. Since I've graduated I've stopped such rigorous workouts and stretching routines so its possible thats why my symptoms have returned but I doubt it. In all honesty, most of the exercises we did were designed to improve our overall stamina and toughness and were probably pretty bad for my condition since they caused flexing and tensing in my pelvic region as well as every other muscle in my body. Not to mention, while at the academy I was under more mental and physical stress then at any other point in my life. I often found myself clenching my pelvic muscles all the time and had to consciously stop. That being said, I felt better during that time than before the academy and was really surprised. I truly feel that the Lyrica was what was helping considering how when I would miss a pill or two (which was common) I would notice a minor flare in symptoms. I guess its good that I found a medicine that can help but can honestly say that I'm pretty depressed to find that it was not relaxation techniques which were helping so much. I would really like to believe that physical therapy can help and would love to be medicine free but that remains to be seen. Now that I'm done with the academy I plan on seeing either the chiropractor or physical therapist that Virtual mentioned and will report back with my findings. Until then I hope to stay off of the Lyrica so I can figure out if its the therapy or medicine that is helping but that could be tough. I don't relish the idea of being on any medication for an extended period of time but considering how good I felt, I may not have much choice.

[Jay]

If you have to be on medicine for a long time, it's not a big deal. Certainly nothing to worry over. I take four different drugs in a day, one of which is Lyrica, and I do believe they all help me. I'll be on them indefinitely and I'm fine with that. Do what you have to do.

That said, I think (as do my pain management doctors) that this is a condition which requires treatment from many angles. Some people need a few drugs which play off of each other to address several issues. The doctors almost always say they prefer to combine this with something like cognitive behavioral therapy and appropriate physical therapy.