Dr. Kaufman put me on the road to recovery

[lookouth]

I've posted recently, about my problems dealing with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (you can see the whole trian of my symtpoms on my other posts), yesterday I visited Dr. Kaufman of Central Park Urology in NYC, http://www.centralparkuroloy.com - he confirmed my prior diagnosis of pelvic floor dsyfunction and pointed me to a special physical therapist for such conidtions as well as changing my medication from symptom relief (anti inflammatories) to medicine that will help to break the cycle of the tension in my muscles (most prominently my Levator ani muscles), the drug is Ativan, the same as valium. No prior doctor had ever given me conclusive evidence that what they were actually diagnosing was my source of the pain- my prostate never hurt during examinations, ect, untill Dr.Kaufman applied direct pressure to both sides of my levator ani muscle on both sides, there was considerable pain (identical to the type of pain you would feel if yo upressed a stiff muscle hard) and I was sold. I have yet to intiate physical therapy but am confident, and feel tons better already- no doubt due to the phsycological relief from finally seeing a doctor who understood my frustrations coupled with finally seeing a causal problem to my pain- namely the tightness and soreness of my levator ani muscles.
That has been a huge help and I can say my symptoms have decreased by almost 20-30 percent simply by knowing I am finally, for sure on the right track. I can't stress enough how important it is to have piece of mind that you in the right hands, and actually understand your problem, I urge you all to find a doctor who is knowledable in physical therapy and or the specific chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome problem, I highly reccomend Dr. Kaufman if you are in the metropolitan area (NYC), finding physical therapy after a correct diagnosis is in fact quite easy, as many more physical therapists understand chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome and its accompanied problems than doctors or urologists. I would investigate LAS (levator ani syndrome) as this seems to be main cause of my problems. LAS is not like a normal strained muscle or pulled tendon, it cannot heal by itself, because it becomes self perpuating, thus you need a physical therapist and perhaps a muscle relaxant (like valium) to break the viscious cycle of hyperactive nerves and strained muscles.I will keep you all updated on my progress, thank you guys so much for putting me on the right track to recovery.

[webslave]

[Paso]

WOW,

I wish you all the best of luck. Congrats.

/Paso

[scotsman]

Great news

[Maurice]

Great news, just make sure you follow your countries maximum number of days that you use the drug. (typically 28 days), it is an extremely addicting type drug (same as valium), and yes it does work, when I look back 7 years ago when I was put on a benzodiazapine (ie valium, or Ativan, klonopin,etc), but it is very hard to come off of if you stay on it for any amount of time. I am still on a benzodiazapine and the taper at times is like going through hell.

Hope it works while the uro works on stretching the muscles inside.

Maurice

[MastCells]

Great news, just make sure you follow your countries maximum number of days that you use the drug. (typically 28 days)

Could Maurice or somebody else clarify what is meant by this? Is there actually a law in some countries preventing doctors from prescribing benzos for more than 28 days? THX.

[Maurice]

Great news, just make sure you follow your countries maximum number of days that you use the drug. (typically 28 days)

Could Maurice or somebody else clarify what is meant by this? Is there actually a law in some countries preventing doctors from prescribing benzos for more than 28 days? THX.

No, there is no law that I am aware of that limits the number of days that benzo's are prescribed. Health Canada advised as early as 1982 that benzo's should not be prescribed longer than 4 weeks due to their extremely addicting nature, yet benzos comprise the worlds largest drug class of sales in the year 2000 at 21 billion dollars. If the patient keeps complaining and the doctor keeps prescribing, think about who educates the average doctor (the pharmaceutical rep), add this to the extremely addicting nature of benzo's and you see quite quickly that something is wrong here. Don't get me wrong, benzo's MAY have their place, but if you have ever tried to come off them after being put on them for any length of time, your original symptoms plus a whole plethora of other documented withdrawal symptoms that have nothing to do with your original problem can occur and last for years for some people. The country with the most progressive campaign for awareness of these types of drugs is Britain where they are even considering making them a class 2 drug instead of class 4. (Similar to oxycontin where each dose is tracked). Britain has figured out that they are paying for over a million people that are hooked on these drugs.

If you need more information with respect to what can happen with a regular dose of these drugs PM me and I will provide you information of a documented withdrawal clinic and potential side effects. I am not trying to scare anyone, but I suffer from pelvic pain and I am also trying to slowly taper from benzos after 7 years and hell is a mild word for some of the days that I have experienced so far in my 14 month taper.

Maurice

[MastCells]

No, there is no law that I am aware of that limits the number of days that benzo's are prescribed. Health Canada advised as early as 1982 that benzo's should not be prescribed longer than 4 weeks due to their extremely addicting nature, yet benzos comprise the worlds largest drug class of sales in the year 2000 at 21 billion dollars. If the patient keeps complaining and the doctor keeps prescribing, think about who educates the average doctor (the pharmaceutical rep), add this to the extremely addicting nature of benzo's and you see quite quickly that something is wrong here.

Thanks for the comments. I think that benzos, like narcotics, should only be taken short-term to abort flares in chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome patients. I have been taking small doses of benzos on and off (only when things are at their worst) for over a year, but I never take them for more than 3 days in a row. I've never felt the need to increase the dose, and I sometimes go weeks at a time without taking any. Since I take a low dose and infrequently, I have not experienced any withdrawl symptoms.

I realize that some doctors prescribe benzos and tell their patients to take them every day for a month straight or longer. (One chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferer I spoke to was given a high dose of Valium to be taken every day for 6 months straight!) I think this is the wrong approach. It seems very risky to me.