PT Details as Promised

In a recent post I said that I would be beginning PT (physical therapy) for my pelvic floor issues this week. Since I was not able to find much information on what these appointments would include in detail, I promised I would write details of my appointment for anyone who may have the same question at some point. My PT has a private office where we discussed my health history, and specifics related to my pelvic pain. In that respect it was similar to a first visit with any new medical provider. After that she did a great job explaining the pelvic floor. She used a model of the pelvic bone and pelvic floor muscles on a woman and gave me a short anatomy and physiology tutorial (I love those by the way). She really knew her stuff!  Anyway, of course, next I was given “the sheet” and asked to undress from the waist down and put my feet up! I don’t think I will ever get used to that. She said that she would be inserting a finger and touching my “trigger points.” She would go around like a clock, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00…. Stopping at each point to see how tense the muscle was and to help relax the muscle by applying some pressure. Next she lubed her finger, inserted it and did just what she described. Luckily I was comfortable with her. It turns out that even she was surprised at how tight I was and just how tense each of my trigger points were. So she only touched every other one today. She helped me work on some breathing techniques, and I would say this was the most helpful part, because together we could tell when I was consciously relaxing, which will help me practice relaxing my pelvic floor at home. After that was done (and I was in a lot of pain) she set me up with a block under my knees and put a heating pad on my pelvic area and another between my legs. I had heat for 20 minutes and went home! I can see how this will be helpful, I just hope future appointments aren’t this painful. One piece of advice I have is, make sure you go to someone you have gotten a referral from and that you feel comfortable when you meet them. The sessions are quite intimate, and as far as I know, we will be doing trigger points at each one. It would be absolutely horrific if I was with someone who creeped me out!

Good luck!

Mystery Therapy

Wednesday morning I will have my first physical therapy appointment. When I saw a specialist 2 weeks ago, he concluded that I certainly have PCOS, but luckily, I do not have the metabolic symptoms (weight gain, high blood pressure). He also determined that my pelvic floor muscles are EXTREMELY tight (vaginismus), thus, I am having constant involuntary contractions. He said this could also be related to a history of trauma and he noted that it's a positive step that I am working through that in therapy. The plan is that I will go to weekly physical therapy and if there is not a drastic improvement in my pain over the next 4-6 weeks, he will perform a laparoscopy (finally). I have been in so much pain lately that I have begged my general gyno to do one, but she refuses since I had one 6 years ago that provided no answers. However, this doctor told me that he can tell from looking at my incision scars that there was no way they were able to see everything from where they entered the scopes before (swear word), so since he does them routinely he is confident that if there is something going wrong in there he will find it. Wow, I just wanted to hug him! It felt soooo good to have a doctor give me some actual answers and directions rather than throwing hormones and pain pills at me. I am so curious (and a little nervous) to see what this physical therapy is like. I am sure it will be a little awkward. I promise to post as many details as possible for those of you who may face this unknown in the future. It is really not something that's talked about.... Wish me luck!