women and CPPS

[gifford]

I have two questions which no one one has been able to answer:

1. If chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome does not have anything to do with the prostate, why is it you don't see women on this site, using the Stanforfd Protocol, etc.?

2. Women do have chronic pelvic pain (CPP) but for them it is not a "syndrone" and treatment is available in "women's health" departments in many clinics in most cities. So why doesn't the treatment used for them work for men?

[treynor33]

In my case....I don't think the prostate has anything to do with my problems. But it does get involved very occassionally.

And when I went for PT, it was a women's health center. The PT said basically, they are the same muscles invovled. They are just affected differently cause of the difference in "plumbing" organs involved between men and women.

Most of us are not lucky enough to have PTs that specialize on men's pelvic muscle issues nearby so we have to turn to the women's centers. I think more of the women's PTs are now starting to see more and more men to treat as the health community has finally started to realize that Prostatitis is really pelvic muscle dysfunction and has more to do with anxiety and muscle spasms etc. Except the money grabbing UROs that don't want to admit it cause they would lose a lot of regular customers if they admit it is not a prostate infection.

[LightningTree]

I have two questions which no one one has been able to answer:

1. If chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome does not have anything to do with the prostate, why is it you don't see women on this site, using the Stanforfd Protocol, etc.?

2. Women do have chronic pelvic pain (CPP) but for them it is not a "syndrone" and treatment is available in "women's health" departments in many clinics in most cities. So why doesn't the treatment used for them work for men?

1) Women do use technques similar to the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol, but they don't call it that. In fact, a similar thing has been in use for several years for women. Women's physical therapy has often focused on incontinence disorders, but has evolved to apply the same modalities (biofeedback, etc.) to tenson reduction. This technique was developed by a doctor in, I think Penssylvania somewhere. Dr. Wise tried it and found that (trying not to put words in his mouth here) it didn't resolve his pain. He added trigger point therapy, added some behavioral concepts to the idea, and moved away from biofeedback towards guided relaxation with a physical therapist using their finger. All good ideas, in my opinion, although I have personally found that biofeedback was very useful as an additional technique.

Also, you won't see women on this site, in my estimation, because it is called "ucpps.men".

2) I got my latest physical therapy from a woman who treats women with pelvic muscular disorders, including pelvic pain. She was curious to apply her technique on a man. It worked well. I have had significant improvement in my symptoms, and despite Dr. Wise's negative exeperience, greatly improved my moment-to-moment relaxation through biofeedback training.

2) My brother got his physical therapy from a woman who had chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (diagnosed as vagisomethin-or- other) and was put on antidepressants and told to stretch for a year. She was so inspired by her remittance that she got a degree in physical therapy, and now does pelvic physical therapy for both men and women. She has treated guys coming out of boot camp (gee, I wonder where their stressors were coming from?)

So the answer is that these things are out there, but much of it is artistry at this point. The medical establishment is waiting for scientifically verifiable results.This is totally valid on their part. And because of the genito-taboo of human culture, there is not much talk about it amongst people. People will say 'Joe has a back muscle spasm. But not "Joe's testicles ache and his penis feels like it is on fire' cause people think you have a venereal disease. Very not pc.

In any case, I hope you get encouraged to check with your local hospitals and their PTs who treat female pelvic pain. They can be very supportive and helpful, those that are curious about applying their techniques to men.

[SickofCP]

Dr. Wise's clinic is open to women. These women have mostly been diagnosed with IC.

[LightningTree]

Yeah, and that too.