First post newbie and story

[Roberry]

Hello all- finally found a good advice site.
I've had CP for about 8 years now with the last (current) flare ups lasting 6 moths where I had about 2.5 years of remission. I though I had this bugger kicked!

I strongly belive that the initial cause was a UTI which was not treated effectively with stong enough ABX. The infection lasted about 3 weeks and I think the constant discomfort/clenching due to the infection symptoms probably caused my dysfunction in the pelvic floor.

Mostly my symptoms are frequency (once per hour) and burning for 5-30 mins after urination. Acute pain is rare for me. symptoms worsen after bowel movements. Coffe is a no go area during a flare up.

Things that seem to help: Basically anything that helps relaxation, alcohol, exercise (paticularly running), hot baths.
Not helped by Flomax or cardura or long courses of sulpha ABX.

Eventually found a PT that does pelvic floor work and the symptoms resolved after about 6 sessions. The treatment included pulsed electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor after a 5 min work up of internal trigger points.

This current flare up started with work trip to Ukraine which was highly stressful- and also included long periods of sitting with no real oppotunity to exercise. On returning home my father in law died 2 weeks later. All these stressors combined resulting in my flare up.
Thinking back on all the bad flare ups I've had over the past eight years they all to coincided with periods of high stress- duh!

I wnt back to PT who is helping but symptoms seem to be taking a lot longer to resolve. I'm now currently doing pelvic stretching exercises 1X day which is helping a little.

I have not gone down the route of muscle relaxants as a means to prevent the initial flare ups from worsening and would like some advice- is it worth it? or should I just stick with a route that has worked in the past.

I will kick this again but plan to start with relaxation soon (once the stress managment workbook arrives)

Thanks
Rob

[Sleeper Service]

Sorry you have to be here, mate, but it's a good place to be. Check out the main site and the advice there and browse the posts of those guys who are making progress - not just the success stories, there are a lot of guys who report they're getting beter and then stop posting too.

You will get better. It's just time, effort and doing the right things.

[tamdc]

I have found that Flexeril works very well for me, but makes me very tired. So I have to really consider whether things are painful enough to start a short term course of it. Once I can get past the fatigue (don't know why sometimes it's worse than others), Flexeril is great. The highest dosage I have taken is 30 mg/day, but I have also had success at just 10 mg/day.

I have used it to help prevent flare-ups and to manage them once they start. It seems to work better once I've been on it for a day or so. I say go for it, but don't take it if you have to be alert for anything.

[carld]

I would stay clear away from flexeril. Can cause retention and when you have frequency and the feeling of having to pee and you can't pee it out, it makes it worse for me. So I hated flexeril, won't ever do that again.


Seems like you are well aware of what's going on my friend. I would consider .25 of Xanax as needed to break the flair, but be careful as you know it can be addicting.

Look into a free sample of any accredited quercetin product from the link in this site.

consider low dosage 10mg Elavil, ask your doctor about it. Can help with the frequency at that dose and help with anxiety.

Read A HEADACHE IN THE PELVIS book and as you know this is all caused by stress and food irritants. I'm not a doctor...