Need to get this off my chest (Garyholc's Case)

[webslave]

Eric, I would keep away from the female forum if I were you. Firstly, they are behind us on this issue. Secondly, products Interstim are heavily promoted to women without enough proof of efficacy. Oddly, women are also more likely than men to go for extreme supposed solutions like surgery. They are also all over the place on what's causing their problem. In addition, there is some antipathy between the owner of that forum and David Wise, which has led to a slant away from him IMO.

Botox can have some negative outcomes, the word on that is somewhere on this forum, read up. And we have quite a few guys who tried it without improvement, some who did have improvement.

Always start with the least invasive or harmful treatment. Be conservative.

[elitynski]

Thanks Web - I'm actually sort of chuckling to myself as here I was trying to take everything in. I appreciate your candor about the forum.

The women's forum does seem more oriented towards invasive procedures. When you're taking all this information in - it's hard to know how to sort through it.

Your advice about most conervative treatment (in my case weight loss & anxiety mgmt is well-warranted).

That pretty much tells me that if I were to do something after the weight loss - then going to Stanford might be my next step.

[garyholc]

Hi everyone

Dont come here that often anymore but thought I would give you some progress.

Came back from a lovely week in Ibiza last week and had an amazing time. My aches and worries totally went, I walked miles, went clubbing every night, drank lots, even drank coke and fizzy drinks, ate what I wanted, had sex on the beach, I just lived for every day and I had one of the best holidays in my life. I literally cried when I got home.

Been in work for 2 days and guess what, after sitting all day, the stress etc, the usual aches have come back but nothing like I have had in the past. So my belief is the cure to this thing is win the lottery, live somewhere nice and hot and just chill every day !!! Ahhh wouldnt that be nice.

Frequency has not returned, the Bowen Technique massages seemed to help me a lot, will have to consider now if I need to go and see Bill Taylor again, though at present I think it will be a while if at all. Dare I say it but the past 2 weeks I have felt more normal that I have ever felt during the past year.

[webslave]

And this coming from a guy who was one of the most pessimistic about ever getting better!

Anyone who is losing hope should take note how men get much better even after believing for a long time that it cannot happen.

[carld]

Great to read this Gary...Try to remember the relaxation you felt on vacation when you are back in the grind...

[graeme]

Great stuff stick at it live life if you go bad remember your holiday and how good you was

Gaz I've been almost normal now for the best part of 2 months even though I've flared myself up the last few days and I know why and I also know it will ease back down

To much sex I should no better and leave a few days in between

[2travelers]

Frequency has not returned, the Bowen Technique massages seemed to help me a lot, will have to consider now if I need to go and see Bill Taylor again, though at present I think it will be a while if at all. Dare I say it but the past 2 weeks I have felt more normal that I have ever felt during the past year.

Gary, it is always good to read of a success story. I would like to know more about your Bowen Technique. How many sessions did you have? Did you begin to feel better right away? How many days between sessions?

I am in the Denver, CO area and went to my 2nd Bowen session on Mon. On Tues and Wed I had bad flares but today is better. The therapist warned me it would probably get worse before it got better. I signed up for 6 sessions with 5 days between each session.

I think my problem is self imposed tension. I may be feeling little or no pain but when I leave my RV I start worrying that I will have pain and sure enough it happens. Maybe I need a shrink. Many of you guys probably can’t relate to me…..I am retired, have a wonderful supportive wife and don‘t have a stressful job to go to. I tried relaxation tapes and that helped for a while but for some reason the stress returned.

Anyway, in a few weeks we will travel to Yuma, AZ and spend the winter months in an RV Park. I will be across the street from the pool and hot tub. Hopefully that will help relieve stress.

Gary

[garyholc]

Hi Gary

I actually felt better after my first session, then after 5-6 days the aches came back, had another session, they went away again within 2 days. Amazing really but people I have spoken to who suffer from pain seem to find the Bowen Technique really helpful so there must be something in it!! My therapist wants me to do to 4 sessions. I was due to have one on Tuesday but was on such a high from my holiday that I forgot, will go next week now


Webslave - yeah I agree, sorry about that!!! And Carl too..... apologies both, you know what for!

[garyholc]

Thought I would give you an update. Since 1st September I have had absolutely no pain whatsoever bar 2 days a few weeks ago. I have been keeping a log in Excel from March this year of every single day, with every symptom logged, what I did to address it, and including graphs etc. and I have never had a prolonged period like this ( I will make my Excel diary available next month if people want a nose ).

My only symptom at present is slight frequency which I can deal with if I ignore it for the first hour or so. For example, today my first hour in work was the worst, then I went all day until I got home without having the feeling.

I havent done any PT, no stretching, and no relaxation, I have just been living my life, went to a themepark again this weekend with a nice girl (yes G, Alton again!!) and walked 8 miles. No pain today, no aches, nothing. But generally, I havent followed the protocol in HITP as such, except when things got very bad, and then I would attempt a few stretches and PT on myself. My confidence is slowly coming back, and I dont feel so afraid of this thing anymore, not compared to when I first came down with it. I can't remember the last time I took painkillers to get through a day :)

I've made a few lifestyle changes, such as not drinking tea/coffee or fizzy drinks, but generally I have been eating and drinking whatever I want. Maybe this will come and bite me in the butt one day, but for now I'm living my life.

So to the guys who are just starting on this adventure, and it is an adventure, if anything to learn about yourself and your body, and what a powerful tool it is, all I can say is that things do get better, they take time, but you have to live your life, keep doing the things you love doing (unless they make you really much worse!!!) and stay happy. And as others will testify on here, I would have never thought all this many months ago when I really thinking the worst.

As for the frequency, like I said, its my only issue right now, if I can get rid of it then I would be back to normal so to speak. I'm going to try some work on my abs and also some internal PT to try and address this. I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Oh and incase some of you are wondering, the symptoms I had included:

testicular pain (usually just left)
pain in shaft of penis
golfball in rectum
tailbone pain
pain in lower back
pain in thighs
pain in lower stomach
some ED issues (also due to anxiety I think)
pain sitting for long periods
stabbing pain in rectum before bowel movement

.... they come, and they go, so just bear with it and believe that the next day you might wake up, and the pain will have gone.....

[graeme]

Great news Gaz seems like you are heading into a remission like many of us lucky ones do. I've had one bad day in the last 2 weeks but in general sticking to no alcohol or just a few beers now and then and sex once a week max I seem to be able to avoid flares and and be pain free most the time. I do no treatment now and will always be on guard as I know remission is not cure and this can and has before re strike. I will always be around this site as I know to well even if symptoms are silent I have CPPS

[Hacksquat]

Anyway, I have never felt something so uncomfortable or painful in all my life!!!! After the first 10 mins he gave me a break. I started getting a shooting pain in my left testicle. He came back in and I told him, and little bit more PT again agonising, and it had gone. Amazing.

That's interesting, I newer knew there were internal trigger points referring testicular pain. What internal area typically refer this?

The last few days I've had some sensations and pain in my testicles, and my urethral burning has been somewhat better. I've been searching my abs but still haven't found any TP that refers the pain.

In two weeks now I will go see Bill for the first time too, glad to hear he has helped you so much.

[garyholc]

Bill is a good guy, and can help mentally as well as physically so I have no doubt you will walk out feeling much better. I can't remember the TP's for the testicular pain, but I have also found some external ones in my lower abs, they are quite deep however and I find using my Theracane is best to locate them.

I'll be travelling back up to see Bill next month or so just to resolve a few minor niggles I have. Let us know how you get on.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, sometimes I find laying on my back, putting my legs up vertical on a wall and then opening them as wide as I can and holding it for a few minutes sometimes useful for the testicular pain. Dont know why, but it does seem to help me so give it a go.

[Jay]

That's interesting, I newer knew there were internal trigger points referring testicular pain. What internal area typically refer this?

Hi there,

Trigger points for my testicular pain were actually the first ones discovered by my physical therapist. As I recall, we didn't locate them until we were up around my prostate. The anterior pelvic floor turned out to be the host of a lot of issues for me.

Best of luck with Bill! Please do let us know how it turns out for you.

Best,

Jay

[Hacksquat]

I will post a report as soon as I get back from Scotland!

Garyholc, I have been doing the Y-stretch as part of my stretching-regimen, will do so in the future too, hope it helps with the testicle-pain.
As for the moment, I have been off stretching for 2 weeks now since my PT said rigorous stretching can cause pelvic misalignment. I'm gonna start up again soon, but first I think I want to rule out nerve damage in my spine, will have to go see an orthopaedic or similar. Never went that route last time I had these problems.

[garyholc]

Guys, i'm getting a new symptom which is worrying me a bit given that I have been doing so well the past few months.

Its in my rear, and around the entrance (or exit!) and I can only describe it as a sort of burning/shooting nerve pain now and then around this area. Its not the same as the shooting nerve pains I get deep inside my rectum usually when having a bowel movement, but this pain, or sensation is disturbing and not one I have had before. I think I sparked it off from excessive fun in the bedroom two weeks ago.

I'm off up to see Bill in 2 weeks, but in the meantime, anyone else got this sensation who has been able to shed light on where I would need to focus on resolving it. Is it muscular or nerves? I've been doing some very gentle TP work internal just to open up, but not sure if this could be aggravating it more.... any ideas?