Self PT attempt.. did it work?

[borat1]

Hi all,

So as not to hijack a similar thread on here I decided to start my own on my self PT experience.

I've had what I'm pretty sure is chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome for the last year and a half. It started with burning at the tip on my penis followed by golf ball syndrome with some minor hemorrhoids. I had good success going to a PT in California, but as I've moved states, I am now on my own.

I had a recent flare up this week that consisted of a pretty constant burning in the urethral opening and overall sensitivity of my genitals. I also had mild burning with urination and my urine flow seemed constrained.

A hot (104F) jacuzzi had been helping when I felt tightening previously, but with this flare up, the burning in the urethral opening was really annoying.

I decided to try some self PT. My previous PT had mainly worked internally on tight areas she felt on the sides, but hadn't worked around the prostate too much. However, she had checked it routinely and I didn't have a trigger point with it.

When I did my self PT yesterday, I worked the sides with little effect, but when I got near and on the prostate it was like hitting an electric buzzer. Immediately I felt the burning more severe than I normally do in the tip. I worked it a little yesterday and then again today.

The burning has receded and now my penis feels a little ropey... and a bit cold at the tip, kind of like someone put out the fire.

When I was in there today, massaging around prostate was pretty mild and was barely noticeable as a trigger point.

I have some tingling in my perineum, and I'm hoping things are relaxing.

So, does it sound like I did it right with this one? Time will tell, but for those of you that had burning in the tip and found the trigger point, what was the after effect like?

Thanks for your help all and I hope you're feeling better today.

Cheers,

Borat.

[webslave]

Sounds like you are doing the right things, more or less. You have read Wise's book, I take it? The penis pain, especially the penis tip pain symptom, is reported by many patients as originating in the insertions of the levator ani muscles. You can see the insertions in the diagrams here

[borat1]

Thanks for the good diagram...

In general that is where I'm working, but unfortunately I had some minor pain today. I'll keep at it, but I may need to find another PT around here. One thing my old PT used to do is work the glutes via external therapy. I can tell they are a bit tight, and I'm wondering it that will help in combination with the self PT.

As for the Dr Wise book, yes I've read it. It was very reassuring to read that chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome has the exact symptoms I was having. Before that book, I was worried it was an STD or something worse.

Thanks again for your help. It's very generous of you to stay and help those of us with this issue even after you've been cured.

Cheers,

Borat

[samgg10]

Do the external stuff yourself and pay nothing, it's cake. Find some kind of ball, tennis/baseball/softball/lax, sit with the ball underneath one thigh, and probe from your knee all the way up for sore points. The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook points out where all these are, it's magic. Theracane may be useful but is not crucial. Try this on your abdominals also. Once I learned to do this myself, feeling these muscles day-by-day lengthen and shed their soreness, I gained a treatment self-confidence that nobody else could have given me.

The internal stuff is harder but it's the same mechanism. It feels weird afterwards (a hot bath helps to reset, I've found). It's a weird thing. I've been doing this for much of 2010 and still feel "off" in the post-treatment interval. You never really feel good about it, except those rare times when a muscle clicks off for good (or so it feels). Don't neglect the sphincter either; it's easy to stretch and seems like the key to lots of problems; how it snaps unnaturally shut at times, maybe post-bowel, and starts an unpleasant cycle. I'd say stretch it even if it lacks referred pain.

Also a little impertinence. I've found there's no use in getting creative about descriptions of pain and documenting each little monster. It's a solipsism that doesn't translate. Everyone experiences, vaguely, the same sort of things; only no one quite has what you have. Everyone goes through the 'laborious describing' phase, and, I believe, everyone who desires serious healing must at some point pass calmly beyond it. Has to let go, zoom out, seek perspective, go quiet, chill, --whichever word you like.

Best of luck. Really, really, really.