The beginning of my regimen

[chrisphl]

I sent this message privately to one of the members here and thought it would be a good idea if I posed the question openly to everyone.

I've read several posts by users here who are giving me hope that there is a way to cure or at least reduce this to a bearable condition. After a few months of feeling sorry for myself and thinking that there is something I have misses, I started to address this directly. My first step was to read most of the headache in the pelvis. That alone makes me feel a little bit better, but at the same time the book seems to state that the only true treatment is going to see Dr. Wise in person.

Without a doubt, the #1 cause of this condition for me is stress. When I have no stress - on vacation or a long weekend - the problem reduces or disappears. When I work hard or stress a lot, it comes back big time.

I'm trying to escape the stress, but the 800 lb Gorilla preventing me from doing that is the company I own. I just closed funding and am in the process of opening an office and hiring a bunch of people. There is no real escape from the stress and this seems to make the condition work.

I'm making it my mission to offset daily stress via exercise and daily relaxation.

The actions I have taken are as follows:

-I'm moving my apartment close to my office so I don't need to deal with driving
-Daily TP exercises
-Alleve 2x daily
-I will be instituting a rule in which I'm not allowing myself to work or go online past 7pm
-Morning swim, afternoon workout, evening yoga & hot bath

I think this is a dramatic and good start, but I'm looking for more ideas of what else I can add to this daily regiment. Also, is the idea that the pelvis can truly be relaxed or is this therapy something that needs to go on for my whole life?

I would love to hear some feedback from folks who have actually visited Dr. Wise. Is it possible to beat this without a visit to Stanford? What else should I be working on?

Thanks,
Chris

[carld]

The key here is to find a PT that can check your pelvic floor and learn to do at home treatment. Dr. Wise told me that Himself. I have not gone to Stanford, but it doesn't mean you can't get better by following the protocol of SP by the book. Having a PT that understands the SP.

One thing I won't do is stop working or doing what I enjoy in life interms of work. You can charge hard safetly and still manage stress. I think you are off to a good start. Read up on this site as much as you can especially the theory behind pelvic myoneuropathy. It will tie everything together.

[webslave]

I have a slightly different view of stress. I think that you should do whatever it takes to overcome it, even if that means a change in work, lifestyle, relationship, abode or attitude. I believe stress to be incredibly damaging to health, based on my own experience, as well as recent studies into the effects of stress on human health.

I did not try anything like Paradoxical Relaxation (which didn't exists in the early 1990s) or any psychological technique, I simply walked away from things that stressed me. I believe that this was one of the fundamental reasons I recovered.

So I guess you need to ask yourself, if you have a very stressful job or lifestyle: "Do I absolutely need to do this?" If you are single with no responsibilities like children, a change may not be such a big deal.

And you need to ask yourself this because your body is telling you that you are not good at handling stress. Your genes are against you here. Others can do things we, as a group, cannot do. Just accept that.

[chrisphl]

I feel that the last post was a little defeatist. I realize that I need to make lifestyle adjustments. However I think that for me the problems started when I started ignoring my body and stopped doing things to relax. I really hope that by taking time from my day I can still continue to pursue my life goals and dreams.

[webslave]

If you can manage it, good for you!

[GP2]

I have a slightly different view of stress. I think that you should do whatever it takes to overcome it, even if that means a change in work, lifestyle, relationship, abode or attitude. I believe stress to be incredibly damaging to health, based on my own experience, as well as recent studies into the effects of stress on human health.

I did not try anything like Paradoxical Relaxation (which didn't exists in the early 1990s) or any psychological technique, I simply walked away from things that stressed me. I believe that this was one of the fundamental reasons I recovered.

So I guess you need to ask yourself, if you have a very stressful job or lifestyle: "Do I absolutely need to do this?" If you are single with no responsibilities like children, a change may not be such a big deal.

And you need to ask yourself this because your body is telling you that you are not good at handling stress. Your genes are against you here. Others can do things we, as a group, cannot do. Just accept that.

I agree although I dont wish to in some ways. isn't it more this - we havent coped well with stress all our lives, once recovered through the protocol and learnt methods of stress management we can deal with life like others do (work etc) but at a less rushed, anxious state?

Its difficult because I'm in a new job and although I've had some good weeks flares now seem to last longer simply because I'm under stress (even good stress).

Mark - do you think that this condition is so influenced by stress that we just have to do a job /career that our pelvis can handle? This is rather upsetting. I dont know the answer myself. I have learnt to deal with stress better but stress is natural for all human beings so we will always be under stress to some extent.

I guess for me now that I'm in a job I love with more responsibility to counter act every days stress I'm relying on daily relaxation. Without it I dont think Id be able to calm my body enough to facilitate healing!

[webslave]

If you have a job you love, hold on to it. Learn to cope with stress while staying in the job. I never had the advantage of things like meditation, paradoxical relaxation, and all the ways now known to counteract stress.

[mbaker]

Learning to do self-work internally is key I believe to getting better over the long term. It has a bit of the yuck factor for most of us, but like all things you get over that pretty quickly. Definitely find a local PT who can help get you started, but don't assume 1 or 2 visits per week is going to fix things. Nightly work is key here. Set aside 15-30 minutes to check your pelvic floor.

--MB