Mind/body

[Icybonz12]

Has anybody had success with mind/ body meditation, or books to help deal with pelvic pain? My pf muscles are back to functioning 90% correctly but the discomfort still exists. Been in pain since Feb. If I am told to deep breathe during the day and make sure pelvic floor is not tense, do exercises it seems the mind is constantly on alert in regards to pelvic area.

[Rocky68]

Amy Stein's book on healing pelvic pain offers suggested stretching and deep breathing. All my discomfort is backside with no pelvic issues. Very intense tightening. Exercises and analgesic rubs help. Amy Stein suggests we can heal ourselves but doubt she has had pudental neuralgia. Baclofen (muscle relaxer) helps but you get groggy side effects. Going for second bilateral pudental nerve block in January. First one offered no relief. Rocky68

[Icybonz12 in reply to Rocky68]

Does PN affect your sleep?

[Rocky68 in reply to Icybonz12]

I take 5 mg of Clonazepam an hour before bedtime just so I can sleep. I would be unable to sleep without some sleep aid.

I sometimes feel need to evacuate bowel very early in morning. I take three stool softeners every night since I take two Tramadol 50 and two 10 mg of Baclofen twice a day plus the Clonazepam every night.

I wake every morning feeling uncomfortable. I found trying to breathe correctly, light stretching and using topical analgesic creme helps. I try to stay busy during day since lying and sitting are uncomfortable. I do not have stabbing pain. All discomfort is in buttock area and rectum. Going for second bilateral PN nerve block in January. Rocky68

[Icybonz12 in reply to Rocky68]

I know January cant come soon enough for you. I sure hope you get relief!

[Allthatjazz123]

Yes, I think you're right. We seem to be absorbed by our pain. We need to get out of ourselves and try to detach. Deep breathing into the belly and letting the pelvis go, exercise, keeping busy and meditation help me a lot.

[Hidden]

In time with regular meditation, breathing and exercising, the pain does retreat to the background of your consciousness. I found getting into a routine and doing these repeatedly throughout the day helped more than waiting for the pain to worsen, then do something to treat it.

I have a quick one which I do often whereby I think of the pain as a colour and change the colour to switch off the pain. There are loads on you tube. I do the body scan at bedtime. Through out the day I have some for pain, stress, anxiety, and if I know I'm going into a stressful situation or I'm going to work my body more, I do a suitable one.

If I am unable to do a guided one, or listen to music, I just do the breathing one where you sit and breath in for the count of 3, hold for 1, breathout for 3 and increase the count when comfortable with it, increasing for as long as you have time for.

I also used a few different meditations building up to multi brainwaves and found certain pains were produced by certain brainwaves. This was really a breakthrough moment and although I am unable to match the pain with the brainwave as I have no idea where I am in the meditation to know which brainwave is being used, I do this one if my pain changes. These are seriously heavy meditations though and coming out of them, I often feel hung over. I do these ones weekly.

The more you do your circuit of exercises and meditation, the more your body knows what to expect and it responds better, quicker and the results can last longer or may be more intense.

[Alaine1 Administrator]

Hi Icybonz12

I find mindfulness helps with my pain, not necessarily in reducing the severity but more in helping me cope and not getting caught up with it. There is good evidence to show that it can reduce pain, whether this is seen more in people who have one chronic pain condition or can be applied to those with more than one cause of pelvic pain I'm not sure. I have been using headspace, doing lots of reading on mindfulness since 2013 when my consultant suggested it too me. I do personally feel that with years of practice more benefits are seen

I do think with the tension in your pelvis this is something that you can learn not to do. When my pelvic pain starts my immediate reaction was to tense up in this area which in turn would increase the level of pain (not always), this was one of the reasons besides the pain generated by the endometriosis, adenomyosis and IC that resulted in me developing pelvic floor dysfunction. I have had a lot of success with women's health physio and have learnt over the last 9 months not to tense this area up. I am very quickly aware of when I am doing it and remember to relax the area either through some quick exercises using deep breathing or some mindfulness. It is something that you will learn over time. Good luck

[StevenM]

Meditation and mindfulness are good but please also consider AT (Autogenic Training) an effective variation on these.