Pretty much healed

[marc515515]

Guys:

I used to check this site regularly but for several months now I have not needed to. My condition seems to have resolved itself, and I have made almost a full recovery. Once I started feeling better, I moved on psychologically and stopped visiting this site altogether. I received a PM yesterday from a poster named Vladimir who saw one of my previous posts said his symptoms were almost identical to mine, so I told him what course of action I followed. I promised him that I would post to the site and describe my experience.

My experience with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome seems different from and less severe than many that I read about on the site. In the summer of 2003, I developed sharp pain in my right testicle. It was intense for a few days, then became intermittent. I saw a urologist who gave me the usual evaluation. He suspected it was epidiymitis and subscribed antibiotics. The ultrasound I had done revealed no abnormalities, and the antibiotics were ineffective.

The pain continued. It was a dull, aching kind of pain, most prominent when I was sitting, and often it was focused more in my inner thigh, buttock, hip joint, and lower back rather the testicle, always on the right side. I never experienced urinary problems of any kind, nor did I ever experience the "golfball in the rectum" feeling.

I discovered this site and bought "Headache in the Pelvis" and attempted the meditation and stretching but did not get much relief. I e-mailed Dr. Wise and asked if there was a urologist in my area (New York City) whom he could recommend to me. He recommended David Kaufman of Central Park Urology. I checked out Dr. Kaufman's site and noticed that for physical therapy he recommends his pelvic pain patients undergo a kind of massage therapy called Hellerwork.

I never made an appointment with Dr. K, but I went ahead and found a Hellerwork therapist. Hellerwork is an offshoot of Rolfing, and many people are critical of it. It has some "New Agey" elements to it that I myself was skeptical about. There are elements of it that contradict some of the standard recommendations that I've read on this site. For example, there is a small amount of Kegeling done in Hellerwork. Though a small part of Hellerwork does involve releasing the muscles of the pelvic floor, there is no work done inside the rectum.

Hellerwork consists of 11 sessions and addresses the alignment of the entire body. It took a while for me to get results from it, and their were times when the pain moved, e.g. I stopped having pain in the right side of my groin but began having it in my left shoulder, which I had never experienced before. Much of Hellerwork deals with posture, which helped me a lot, as my posture before was terrible. I no longer sit in an office chair-- instead I use a flat piano bench keeping the top of my thighs parallel to the floor. This has helped me a great deal.

It's been two and a half months since my last Hellerwork session. Most of my days are completely pain free. I still get pain sometime in my hip or buttock or inner thigh, but never in the testicle. Sitting in uncomfortable chairs, especially those where the seat is too high or too low, exacerbates my condition. I'm thinking I might go in soon for a "tune-up" Hellerwork session and see if I can get a little bit more benefit. But overall, I am very, very happy with my results.

This has been my experience. I can't guarantee that Hellerwork will give everyone the same results. I would be happy to correspond with anyone who might have questions for me. I wish everyone happiness and freedom from pain.

Best wishes,
Marc

[robertpagen]

I was refered to Dr Kaufman in 2003 and he refered me to PT Duffy & Bracken, who I found very helpful. I too was initially sceptical of Hellerwork and I regret I put it off for a year before I finally used the PT. Money was also a factor at that time, as I wonder if I am the only person on this site who feels that many or most PT's out there are milking the pelvic pain patients for all they can.

I also can relate to your feelings of needing to move on once you feel better. What had been such an all consuming part of my life has faded to almost nothing, yet it is difficult to recall how hard it was, almost unbelievable, unreal, like a bad dream that is over.

[marc515515]

Robert:

Glad you're feeling better. My experience with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome was also nightmarish at times. I wondered if I had somehow permanently damaged myself. IT turns out I hadn't. The first time my therapist saw me she noticed that my body was badly torqued, my right foot wanting to twist outward. I liked the fact that Hellerwork had a set course to follow and was not meant to be an indefinite commitment.

Of course, I can only speak for my results. I wish everyone well.

[LightningTree]

I also can relate to your feelings of needing to move on once you feel better. What had been such an all consuming part of my life has faded to almost nothing, yet it is difficult to recall how hard it was, almost unbelievable, unreal, like a bad dream that is over.

That's the best description of what it was like I have read yet. When people ask me what happened to some computer code I was working on last spring, I have to tell them that my colleague (a nice guy) took care of it for me, and that I don't remember much from around mid March until June of that year. All my feelings from that time are sort of floating in my memory. Everything from that time feels nebulous and intangible.

[robertpagen]

The tag line from the movie theMachinist with Christian Bale was right on.

"How do you wake up from a nightmare when you're not asleep?"

[CppsDad]

The "bad dream" feeling is really hard when you have kids. I get that too; entire months seem to disappear when I'm in pain. Yet at the same time my kids are growing up and doing miraculous things. It makes me feel really bad when my feelings towards that time period are so "distant". I get bitter thinking about it, like I was cheated. I know some songs bring me back to my high school days when things seemed so simple. I bet 25 years from now, there will be songs that fill me with dread because they were my favorites during this very hard period of my life.

Good description, though. I agree. It was right on.

Mike