Acute Flare

[mach5]

So I am in the middle of an acute flare-up. (ie, tons of pain in the perineum and tip of the penis. I want to ball up and rock back and forth for 2 days now).

I am taking T3 (codeine and Tylenol) and lorazepam. I've done hours worth of Dr. Wise tape. Some minor walking around in my apartment, as that is all I can manage. Very minor stretching as that flares things up worse. Very hot bath post-urination

So far, the best offence is just to know that its only going to last a few days, and that things will generally be back to normal. Mentally it brings me back down. No real damage, and self-limiting.

I had a fairly stressful event that set it off likely, however that event has now passed for the most part. (First time to see an ex in a month who cheated on me, when I dropped off all my stuff at her door and picked mine all up. No talking, just exchanging stuffs).

My question is, do others here keep doing the stretches and TP ex/int. when they are having such an acute flare? For me I feel it makes it worse at first, but in the end also may bring the flare to a quicker end. Its more a matter of whether I can deal with it in the mean time. In this case I am voting against because the pain is already a 8/10 and I cannot leave the house.

Anyone else have any good tips or advice? I've been around for awhile so maybe I've heard it all. But you never know what you block out before, but then suddenly realize has value when your brain is finally ready to accept it.

Thanks Everyone

[samgg10]

Hi mach,

I wonder what your baseline discomfort levels are. Because, as you mentioned, you've been around for a long time and the flare you are describing seems rather incredibly grave (mentally-triggered, lasting days, cannot leave the house, etc.). These things suggest that you have not really conquered your mental condition, which makes all therapies less effective & sometimes even detrimental.

When I was at my peak symptom-level w/ chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome I sometimes suspected that PT was prolonging the flares. I think, now, that mentally I was never truly relaxed in those moments, so the TPs and taut muscles had nowhere to go, e.g. I was still unconsciously pressing them. Pretty sure you need to be mentally 'loose' for stretches and TP-therapy to work, meaning that you aren't impeding the physically-forced loosening of your muscles. That's how it works for me.

The other day I had a sort of devastating flare (not horribly severe except in contrast to the zero-pain periods I had been enjoying). I cycled through a relaxation-bath-PT protocol immediately and did not improve, nor did I improve with medication. Too distraught, probably. But after a few more hours I was able to lie down and really commit to a relaxation session, which for me means exterminating thought. It's hard. I lay there thoughtless & dwelt in my symptoms & somehow assimilated them, sort of gobbled them up. The relief lasted a while, then I was able to do it again.

I know you don't really have a question here, just a flare and some desperation. And I totally sympathize. My advice is to get your head straight: chill out, etc. The mental stuff is holding you back.

Hope you feel better soon.

[chewydog]

I stretch right through a flare up, even tho I've not had one to your level, I still try to keep my head straight and tell my self it will end! I've extended my PT to 30 days and I've made it, going in the morning, nothing to bad, but had a few nasty days all related to stress!! I thought I handled stress well, I guess not!

[mach5]

Agreed mentality has a huge part to play right now for me. I was at 40% pain a week ago, now I am back to around 90-100% pain. That's a huge jump for me in a short amount of time. Usually I have been hovering around that 30- 40% mark for a few years. Never quite dipping below that. But being functional.

Depression and emotional factors play a big role. The difficult thing is right now I am happy (other than the pain). I am happy about my love life, and excited to be in classes. The problem is, I am missing classes these past few days because of the pain. Classes that I cannot afford to miss (I am a post-graduate student studying in a foreign country).

But I am perfectly aware the more I stress about missing them, means the more tension I am holding. It is one of those typical catch 22 chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome deals. Alas, missing them means going before a board and explaining my actions and potentially being kicked out of a 3 years 50,000$USD plus program. Very stressful indeed.

Most of my work has been on the wise tapes and meditation and mental change. Rather little on the TP actually. I found it to be not that effective, even after more than a year of doing it. Things just tend to rebound that way unless your head is on straight. Hence I am no pro at it now (for sure).

Usually when I have a flare, I am able to just wait it out over the few days. But I don't think that will be the case this time because of the consequences of just not being able to be somewhere when I need to be.

Thanks for your response. To be honest I don't feel so desperate by the pain. Its something that we deal with. Its the situations that it puts us in often. (Or situations that we put ourselves in often). In this case I feel quite frustrated, which is not conducive to relaxing either. Anyways, I am sure you know what I mean.

Thanks again for your response.

[mach5]

In the end I didn't stretch through the first 3 days of the flare. The last day or so, I gently did it. Time as usual was the key. Almost back to "normal"

[chewydog]

I'm glad your almost normal, I forget sometimes what normal is! I just had another internal session with my PT, she gave me some more stretches to do, I go back in another month. Have you used Elavil or Flexeril yet? For me they have been a god send! I'm currently about 85-90% normal, just getting some burning at the tip sometimes, but it only happens when my scotom and tip of my penis gets cold. Not sure why but it's cold to the touch. So a heating pad at night and some foot warmer pads on the bad days! But this too shall pass!

[mach5]

Yes and no. I was put on Elavil about 7 or 8 years back towards the beginning for me. At that time I had no idea about this forum, chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome or anything of that nature. I remember my dose being quite high and stopping. At this point I dont remember why. However I think I will try it again. When I say "normal", I mean my normal. Which is around 50% improvement. I've been thinking about it for awhile but havent done it (Elavil). Now I use the wise-anderson protocol and chinese herbs, which both act as a stop-gap for me, but neither has brought about any full relief. (However they are better than nothing)....