Don`t forget about the stomach !!

[Viking]

Over the last year or so I have been trying hard to relax the pelvic muscles through the so called moment to moment relaxation. I have had limited success with this but on Saturday, I decided to focus on relaxing the ab muscles as well. I just let the abs drop and it kind of looks like I have a beer belly, even though I am otherwise thin and in pretty good physical shape. I now realize that I have been holding in the gut for as long as I can remember, and I really must say that these last few days have been probably the best since I came down with this shit two and half years ago. Relaxing the abs makes it a lot easier to relax the pelvis as well. Sort of feels like the tension all of a sudden disappeared.

I really hope that I am on the right track here, but like many of you, I am a careful optimist. This thing has a nasty of habit of creeping back and hit you smack in the face.

On a side note, my mother`s previous employer, a dentist who has struggled with this for over twenty years has been "cured" by using the alpha blocker Candura. Anyone tried that ?

[LightningTree]

I really hope that I am on the right track here, but like many of you, I am a careful optimist. This thing has a nasty of habit of creeping back and hit you smack in the face.

You deserve to be optimistic.

My brother says that the key discovery that reduced his symptoms was learning to not hold in his gut and just relax the abs. In fact, I am kind of in shock as to how similar his description was to yours.

Yeah, this should go on the short list of tips for moment to moment relaxation.

Keep up the relaxing work!

[MastCells]

If you use the search function (click on icon of magnifying glass above) to search for "Cardura", then you will get quite a few hits. Alpha-blockers help some, but I've never heard of anyone being cured by one before.

[BG0013]

I to have noticed this to help me tremendously.. I've always been into lifting weights, and always held my gut in at all times, even if it was to get up int he middle of the night to get a drink or pee, I was just so used to it...

[Pelican]

I've also always held in my stomach since it otherwise just like you say look like I have a beer belly when I completely relax. I've actually heard about this quite a few times before on a Swedish forum for CP/CPPS where many stated that they also been doing that for as long as they could remember. Maybe this is a big tension trigger and might be one of the causes. Keep us posted Viking!

Good luck

[CppsDad]

Considering how many trigger points I have in my abs, and the role they play in my testicular pain, I have no doubt that holding in my stomach is partly to blame. I guess I have a new reason to lose more weight!

[Viking]

Damn this shit....

Feeling good for a few days, suddenly the flare up came yesterday and this morning I could certainly feel that this will not be a great day.

The penile numbness and tingeling with loss of blood sensation is there again. The swollen and fullnes feeling in the rectum has been a bit better these past few weeks, but overall I can`t say that I have made much improvement over the last year or so.

Going to see the PT in Scotland in September I feel will sort of be a judgement day for me. If he can`t find any trigger points and my pelvic floor seems normal, I don`t know what the hell I will do.

Looking down the road, a life in this sort of condition is just not worth it......

[LightningTree]

Dont get too discouraged, Viking. After I discovered how to relax my abdomen, I still had plenty of symptoms for another 9 months or so. It really came down to learning to detect tension in other places, too, not just the abs.

Like you said, you can feel the pelvis relax a little when you release the abs. Now you need to work on relaxing the pelvis even further.

I'll bet you $100 dollars it is only half-way to the relaxed state.

The other thing I want you to take seriously is your mental stress. Tell us about what has happened to you in the past week. Not in your pelvis, but in your life.

[CppsDad]

If you read posts in these forums, you should be well aware that a) not every PT finds trigger points, b) some trigger points take a while to get to because they are housed beneath tight muscle groups that block them; these aren't accessible until you break through that tightness, and c) some trigger points are just darn hard to find, so don't put too much stock in your "judgment day", as that alone puts pressure on the whole situation - this is a long term thing, not a one time experiment.

Mike

[inflamed]

You may find you find your breath I s quite shallow, or you may be holding in your belly without even realising it. What I have been doing after reading a relaxation book is breathing in through my nose making sure my stomach is going out (effectively breathing in from my stomach) and then concentrate on breathing out through the nose. The breath is to remain steady. I have found this helps with the moment to moment relaxation.

I found that at the start of m to m relaxation I would be concentrating on relaxing my pelvic muscles and would be still be holding in my abdominals.

Hope this makes sense and helps

[winding_road]

It's not the first time I note on this forum, that abdominal trigger points seem to be behind the penile numbness and tingling. I do have that too.

Actually if I exercise my abdomen , I do get this immediately. Also there is a guy earlier who said that he overcame his sexual dysfunction by PT sessions on the abdomen... I am unable to give an explanation for this , if that s truly what happened


But I also have tingling and numbness going all the way to my legs .. and feet
it's around L1, L4 and L5
I do not get the feeling that this is common around here

[lupus]

Hi everybody (How are u doing Winding?),I just want to confirm what its been said here,I do have TP on the abdomen,and sometimes when I massage the abdominal muscles it feels good,as my doctor told me once "Sometimes the "mysterious" pain comes from the insertion of the abdominal muscles",in fact my urologist referred me to the traumatologist to check pelvic and abdominal muscles..... but all they seem to know is to prescribe Valium,Baclofen.....
The ED thing remains the same,no change with anything,thank God theres Viagra and Cialis,as my doc told me,"pudendal nerves pass very close to the prostate and they could be affected by the oedema and congestion,not much to be done in that case".
I thought I never would have to say this but Human beings get used to almost everything

Greets and good luck to everyone....

[MC]

I too have problem with my abs. I am in pretty good shape but must completely relax my abs so it looks like I have a gut. Obvioulsy this sort of sucks since I'm really into fitness and eating good. You'd figure I'd have less of a gut. But truth is that only about half an inch of the gut is fat. The rest is hard muscle that I can feel just below the thin layer of fat.

My symptoms are often worse first thing in the morning after I get out of bed. Since I am a side sleeper or back sleeper my abs are not pushed out like they are when I relax and stand. I figure this is why I feel the worst symptoms first thing in the morning. But as long as I do some stretching and meditation before I go to work, I pretty much reset my abs into looking like I have a gut. Other than it looking like I am fat, lol, it is also very hard to maintain that position all day. If I simply stand (never sit) in front of my computer all day then it is easy but if I have to work outside I constantly catch myself sucking in the gut due to simple muscle tension or just to not look fat.

It also feels like the process of relaxing the abs and somewhat pushing them out not only is relaxing but it stretches the abs and perenial muscles out. So for as long as I can hold the gut I am also stretching the muscles. Sort of interesting.

I also wonder if getting my colon cleaned out would reduce the size of my gut. It seems very large to me. Has anyone had this done and noticed a large difference in their gut size?

Thanks!

[CppsDad]

My symptoms are often worse first thing in the morning after I get out of bed. Since I am a side sleeper or back sleeper my abs are not pushed out like they are when I relax and stand.

Have you tried sleeping with pillows between your legs? This helps me tremendously.

Mike

[MC]

I tried that in the beginning (about 2 years ago) but I had trouble falling a sleep in that position. But hey, I'll try it again. Anything is worth another shot for me, thanks. Like most of us, some days I feel like I found the trick because I don't have much tightness at all but of course it just comes back the next day or a few days later. For me mostly just tight perenial, abdominal, and anal muscles. It was much worse for the first year but now that I take 100mg of Amitrytaline, do two stretching sessions, and meditate to build Chi, I have been a lot better. But unfortunately it seems I've been on this plateau for quite some time. But I'll keep trying. I can definitely tell you all that this problem has made me a better person. Maybe the chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome won't let up until I solve all my internal problems (easily stressed, anxiety, should be happier). I at least would like to think about it like that. Sort of a spiritual point of view.

Thanks again