For Some, Stress is NOT an Issue

[alphacentauri]

For the first time in about 7-8 months, I am happy to report that my symptoms have enjoyed a period of sustained improvement. I'm not well, but my symptoms are more like a mild background irritant that I don't even notice half the time, rather than a serious impediment on my quality of life. For that I'm grateful.

I'd also like to add that throughout this time, I've been going through a period in my life filled with stress - job-related mostly. And since there's been many posts here regarding anxiety & CPPS, I'd like to weigh in by saying that I've seen no connection between stress & anxiety and my CP symptoms.

This is not a case of being consumed with a stressful situation that takes one's mind off CP. No, I have definitely experienced sustained improvement. But no, I have not noticed this bearing any relation to my psychological state. I've clearly observed my symptoms triggered & worsened by certain physical factors - drinking and sex are two biggies - but never by my state of mind - at least not beyond the first couple of months.

This is not to say there's no connection between subconscious muscle tension & CP. There may well be. But in my personal experience I have seen no evidence of a conscious state of stress or anxiety having any effect on my CP. This fits into the pattern of my condition. I first had my symptoms after a bout of drinking & screwing around while I was probably the least stressed out I'd been all year.

Anxiety arising from focusing on one's CP symptoms probably can make matters worse - that seems self-evident; but IMO, at least for some of us, stress in general is not a CP-related issue.

Dave

[webslave]

Don't confuse external, often healthy stressors, like a challenging job situation, with destructive internal anxiety, which can occur even when life is going along smoothly, and can bear no relation to external factors.

My personal experience of you, through private email, is that you are very capable of hypersensitive reactions and anxiety.

I think it's possible that the information you gleaned from this forum has unwound some mental "trigger points", and led to your improvement.

[cr]

I totally agree with webslave.

I think the key here is the distinction between internal and external and subconcious and concious anxiety.

External (concious or subconcious) stress is generally fine, but internal, whether it be concious or subconcious, stress or anxiety can have devastating effects on one's symptoms. And I think this is where all the relaxation etc. techniques come in: while one's concious (~= at any given instant) anxiety might be non-existent, the subconcious (and the symptoms caused by it) always lags behind. The obvious implication of this that symptoms caused by subconcious internal anxiety are slow to heal because the subconcious heals, so to speak, slowly. And this is why it can take months to get maximal benefit from relaxation, meditation etc.

And this is just my theory, I don't know really know anything about this stuff.

[alprost]

I think we need to resist the temptation to generalise that anxiety is central to everyone's symptoms, and that there is only one personality 'type' which suffers from CPPS. A high proportion of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome patints undoubtedly have developed chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome as a result of contracting their pelvic floor under stress, and adressing these issues (both managing the stress, and the habit of tensing the pelvic floor) is absolutely central to their recovery. However, this is only one of many possible intiating scenarios.

We also need to remember that there are many peolple who suffer from stress and anxiety who will never develop pelvic pain, and in whom stress manifests itself in other health problems.

Many people did not develop chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome as a result of stress, and may instead have developed it after an accident, an infection, or pelvic surgery. The Stanford book itself lists a whole host of possible initiating factors. Some patients may never have suffered from stress in their lives, and may have never tensed their pelvic floor either.

That being said, I think relaxation techniques, such as those used in the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol, are very important both in dealing with the effects of a chronic pain condition, and promoting a healing environment in the body. I just think we need to look at the big picture on this issue, and every case needs to be viewed on an individual basis.

[webslave]

Many people did not develop chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome as a result of stress, and may instead have developed it after an accident, an infection, or pelvic surgery. The Stanford book itself lists a whole host of possible initiating factors.

All of which lead to the same "guarding" response in the pelvic muscles. Stress too leads to this guarding response, and is by far the most common initiating factor, IMO.

[alprost]

Many people did not develop chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome as a result of stress, and may instead have developed it after an accident, an infection, or pelvic surgery. The Stanford book itself lists a whole host of possible initiating factors.

All of which lead to the same "guarding" response in the pelvic muscles. Stress too leads to this guarding response, and is by far the most common initiating factor, IMO.

Yes, I agree that this is likely to be the most common initiating factor.

[Guest]

About external stress:

viewtopic.php?t=1658

[alphacentauri]

Don't confuse external, often healthy stressors, like a challenging job situation, with destructive internal anxiety, which can occur even when life is going along smoothly, and can bear no relation to external factors.

I agree that there different types of stress & their effects on our bodies is very different. I guess what I wanted to point out is that not all stress across the board is relevant to our pelvic pain.

My personal experience of you, through private email, is that you are very capable of hypersensitive reactions and anxiety.

Well Mark, I can definitely reciprocate the sentiment.

I think it's possible that the information you gleaned from this forum has unwound some mental "trigger points", and led to your improvement.

Yes, but I would also give strong credit to other factors, like time & the Protocol on your site. Currently I'm in my second month of Prosta Protek & I think it's no coincidence I have felt sustained improvement. I think months of any accredited quercetin product & other supplements before that have all helped as well. As for meds, I've felt well enough to discontinue hydroxizine & now all I take is Xatral & a steady dose of 2.5 mg of valium before bedtime.

I also agree with Alan that we are not necessarily a homogenous bunch with the same personality types. Since I think it's roughly only 3% of all men who suffer from chronic pelvic pain but probably at least ten times that many have serious stress & anxiety issues, it is clear that an overwhelming majority of men suffering from stress & anxiety do not have pelvic pain as a result.

[webslave]

In my dealings with many, many men who have this condition, I typically find that they are the tense, anxious types. I count myself as one of that group.

Yes, there are people with anxiety and tension problems who do not get chronic pelvic pain, and that's a case of diverse genetics at work.

Then there are those relaxed types who do get pelvic pain, and of course we must point to the other possible precipitating factors: genes, traumatic incidents, infections etc.

I suspect we shall find that there is a typical genetic profile for CPPS/PM, when they finally get around to studying it.