I haven't been on the forum for a while because I don't have the symptoms anymore. I think it is worth mentioning my experience as it might help someone with the same profile.
BACKGROUND
More than 2 years ago I woke up one morning, got to work, to the toilet and the last drops of my pee were pinkish. No pain at that point but I thought that would be good to have a doctor looking at this... then pain came on, I don't know if it was from an infection (which has never been proven by samples) or it was the antibiotics... then pain for months, I went crazy over this, I didn't think something so simple couldn't be fixed by modern medicine. I got all the possible tests (blood, xrays, stool, physio, CT scan, name it) and tried lots of things really seriously (antidepressants, chinese medicine, massages, saddle chair, fasting for allergies, etc, etc). No success whatsoever, and lots of money spent.
I work in an office, sitting most of the day, I don't really physical activity aside going out with friends and some rare bushwalks on the weekend.
ANALYSIS
I went back to basics, trying to find what was common to people pretending to feel better that had a profile similar to mine:
- Some people said the problem might be due to blood flow around the pelvic area.
- Some people said they felt better while on holiday.
- Some people said they felt better with physical activity like martial arts or the like.
- Some people said they felt better with stretching.
- Some people said that certain types of massages in certain areas where beneficial.
From there I started to see that physical exercise was a glue to all these points, because:
- When you're on holiday, you rarely stay static, you move and do physical activities.
- Certain types of physical activities increase blood flow in the pelvic area (and the rest of the body) which is much more reliable than all the food supplements people are trying to sell you.
EXPERIMENT
Buy a spinbike, cycle for 60 minutes from 7AM-8AM every morning before work from Monday to Friday for a month. The 60 minutes includes 5 minutes warm up, 45 minutes aerobic (sitting, standing and forward positions) and 10 minutes stretches.
RESULT
After one week I started to see a good improvement, I would say half the pain. From there it went to less and less pain. After 3 weeks I could barely feel it, no more problems with the toilet. After around a month an a half of religious morning spin biking, I stopped feeling it.
Why?
- Maybe you need more than a stretch, 45 minutes of aerobic training (no cheating thanks) makes you sweat like a pig and I'm sure the blood has had the time to circulate around more than one. Maybe the stretches are much more efficient after being warmed up.
- Maybe it's the psychological benefits of doing hard physical activity for a long enough period. I would also mention that work seem easier, I've got no problem sitting all day long because I spent an hour every morning cycling like mad. I know good regular physical activity has been proven to release some kind of endorphins and growth hormone which might regenerate damaged nerves faster. (I'm no expert here, it's just a guess)
- Maybe it's the bike seat who gives a perineum massage (unlikely)
- Maybe it's not thinking about anything else for an hour.
What I'm sure though is that worked for me.
CONCLUSION
If you have seen a urologist and tried everything you could and are running out of ideas here's what I suggest.
1- Find a gym nearby and try to get a "Try before you buy" pass or a month subscription.
2- Try to get into a spinning gym class if possible so you can learn how to adjust the bike properly. It it called all sorts of names around the world (RPM, Cycling, Spinning, etc) just ask your gym. If your gym doesn't have any make sure they have bikes with flywheels (Big disc at the front) this is really important. Then buy yourself an iPod shuffle or any good mp3 player and put music that motivates you (Dance, rock'n roll, electronic).
3- Go cycling every day of the week in the morning, don't go too hard at first. Rest on the week ends, it is really important to rest or else it will have the opposite effect.
If it works for you and you like it, you can invest in a spinbike at home so you can do it more easily before work.
If you want to try this, let me know, I'm interested to see if it works for someone else too.
Thanks for your time.
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise#Exercise_benefits
http://www.spinning.com/
