Light Therapy

[Richard.N]

Not directly related to chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptoms - and probably only limited to those of us living in dank, dark climates - but I've just got hold of a light box to see if I can improve my mood during the rest of the winter.

Historically, my chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome has been at its worst during the winter, so I'm hoping to benefit from light therapy to cope better.

Anyone had experience of light boxes?

[carld]

Not directly related to chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptoms - and probably only limited to those of us living in dank, dark climates - but I've just got hold of a light box to see if I can improve my mood during the rest of the winter.

Historically, my chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome has been at its worst during the winter, so I'm hoping to benefit from light therapy to cope better.

Anyone had experience of light boxes?

Looks like you need to come back out to Santa Monica, California Cheers Richard, don't get sunburned on that thing...

[Richard.N]

Looks like you need to come back out to Santa Monica, California Very Happy Cheers Richard, don't get sunburned on that thing...

Cheers Carl! I want to go back to Santa Monica forever, but until then...

I've just been in Fuerteventura, Spain for two weeks - one of which was a complete washout: overcast and drizzle. Not what would expect from an island off the west coast of Africa!

[carld]

Glad you got to get away. How were your symptoms while on vacation?

[Clay]

My wife has me under a light box daily. I started a few weeks ago when my colitis went nuts. My colitis is improving. My rectal pain isn't, but then I can't go the PT with colitis.

I've no idea if the light helps. So many things change over the course of weeks - diets, different supplements, drugs, daily stress.

[Ginty]

Bit of a tangent but I've actually been wondering recently whether this board is overly biased with Brits and scots in particular.

There seems to be about 6 or more scots guys who post regularly out of a pool of what, maybe 50 guys who write regular updates here.

To me that seems a pretty high percentage based on a country with a total male population of ~2m. Compare that to say Australia with a male population of ~10m and I've seen maybe 1 or 2 guys here ever.

Also it's interesting that one of the few physios in Europe is based in Scotland where he evolved independently of Stanford, presumably because he came across many cases to ply his trade.

I doubt if this really tells us anything other than dark damp weather, and perhaps copious amounts of alcohol, generally poor diet and seasonal depression are contributory factors.

I've just recently emigrated to sunnier climes were I hope to try and follow a more healthy lifestyle, we'll see what effect this has.

Cheers.

[webslave]

It is climate-related. Muscles are tenser in colder climates.

[Richard.N]

Glad you got to get away. How were your symptoms while on vacation?

Er...a bit rubbish. I was pissed off because it rained for the first half of the holiday, plus I couldn't resist drinking. Also I freaked out a bit one evening on Tramadol. So not a great success. The penultimate day I was so relaxed as the weather was great and I just sat in it all day = symptoms much better.

I've no idea if the light helps.

It'll be interesting to see if you think it affects you over time, Clay. Curiously, the 'depression score sheet' that came with the light box lists "Physical symptoms such as...having to urinate frequently" as an option. I hadn't realised that frequency is associated with SAD, but I suppose that some people do urinate more frequently in the cold due to muscle tension. No mention of pelvic pain though!

this board is overly biased with Brits and scots in particular.

Yeah - difficult not to notice that. Not sure about the poor diet observation though - we're not all eating turkey twizzlers

[Richard.N]

Following on from Mark's link (thanks Mark):

"Higher education and a longer time in sunlight were associated with a decreased likelihood of chronic prostatitis-like symptoms."

http://tinyurl.com/3888rz

[Ginty]

That's pretty cool, and I buy the lack of sunlight as the causal factor more so than the temperature.

I know and agree from experience that colder temperatures do exacerbate symptoms but I'm not sure I believe that this is what caused them - after all in these cold/dark countries people tend to stay indoors where it is warm anyway.

Seems more likely to me that the lack of sunlight triggers off chemical processes in the brain which lead to things like depression, anxiety and CPPS.

[Richard.N]

I think that cold and lack of sunlight are part of the glorious synergy of factors that induce and/or perpetuate and/or exacerbate CPPS.

I wonder how the forum's stats are looking? Don't they usually peak in the northern hemisphere's winter?

[webslave]

Yep, in summer we have a fall-off in posting, like clockwork.

About the higher education thing: I presume people with lower education are more likely to have chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome because of the tendency for anxiety disorders, which are very common in men with CP/CPPS/pelvic myoneuropathy, to disrupt the often stressful endeavour of tertiary education. Any other theories?

[Ginty]

Agreed there's probably an influence from both.

However I was thinking about this some more and multiple sclerosis also has a very high incedence in Scotland and I believe that studies have been done on this which directly correlate the rate to incedence to the distance from the equator where further away = worse.

This disease has parallels with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome in that it is some sort of neurological disorder of which no-one knows the cause or cure. Also from personal experience I have seen that it is a disorder where the state of mind plays a huge role.

Anyway the mother of a friend of mine has had this affliction for 10+ years and she has done very well with it, you almost would not know to meet her. The first thing that strikes you is her positive attitude towards it but more than that she claims that taking regular vitamin D has been a key factor; the rational behind this being that it counteracts the lack of sunlight.

So you are obviously now trying the light box thing, but has anyone ever tried taking vitamin D for this and/or should we start?

Finally just another cheery anecdote to end with is that the male teenage suicide rate in Scotland is one of the highest in the world and I wonder if chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome is a causal factor in this or if they are related by a shared cause?

[Ginty]

About the higher education thing: I presume people with lower education are more likely to have chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome because of the tendency for anxiety disorders, which are very common in men with CP/CPPS/pelvic myoneuropathy, to disrupt the often stressful endeavour of tertiary education. Any other theories?

To me lack of higher education (because of either poverty or lack of academic ability) on a general scale will correlate with poorer diet, increased consumption of alcohol, drugs and tobacco and therefore poorer health.

This combined with the increased likelihood of depression due to poverty and perhaps dissatisfaction with ones position in life are probably all influences.

[webslave]

To me lack of higher education (because of either poverty or lack of academic ability) on a general scale will correlate with poorer diet, increased consumption of alcohol, drugs and tobacco and therefore poorer health. This combined with the increased likelihood of depression due to poverty and perhaps dissatisfaction with ones position in life are probably all influences.

Yes, quite, but that would account for lack of advanced education in the general population, not specifically our population. What is it about us that would mean we generally have lower educational levels (this is just in general, since many men posting here have advanced degrees or professional degrees). As a group, I do not think poor diet, drugs, tobacco, alcohol or poverty are factors. But anxiety certainly is.