I came back from physical therapy smiling today, almost the opposite reaction from last week. Today we hooked me up to the biofeedback machine in order to show me how my pelvic muscles contract. It was very interesting to see. My last experience with the machine was awful- I had to insert an extremely large sensor, but this time I had tiny senors put on externally below my vulva.
At rest, my pelvic muscles were pretty calm, at a steady 2 or 3. They would randomly spasm like I had seen before and jump to 20 or 30 and then back down again. I was told to keep looking at the machine while I went through therapy to get a better feeling of when my pelvic floor contracts.
The external therapy was significantly less painful! My right side was very easy to endure, and my left side was much worse, but still better from the last time. Stacey said I wasn't kicking her as much which was a great sign. When it was time for the internal exam, something interesting happened. Stacey was just putting on new gloves and getting lubricant, and my levels on the computer screen jumped from 3 to off the charts beyond 50! My brain anticipated the pain to be so great, my pelvic muscles contracted before they were even touched. Slowly, I tried to calm down and relax. We did the breathing exercises I went over last post and then she had me push my muscles out which can be best described as trying to let out gas. While doing that, it is much easier and much less painful to insert her finger or my dilator at home. My new homework is to insert Excalibur for ten minutes, remove it by pushing it with my muscles, and then re-inserting it for another ten minutes.
Just by beginning to learn how to relax, I feel like I've already made progress. I know this won't be an easy fix, but I finally feel hopeful again. I can't wait until Winter Break when I can go twice a week. As hard as it is to commute into the city and go through the therapy, I'm being proactive. I can do this.
I'm still sore after therapy, but it's not such a sharp pain. It's not a very significant change, but I'm going to celebrate about any slight change. On another note, Stacey wants me to start seeing a psychologist. She says she recommends this to all her patients to help them go through the process. I've never seen one before, but she's been right about everything so far, so I'm going to do what she tells me. I was wondering if anyone had experience with this and could offer recommendations?
2 comments:
Sounds like you found a good PT! My PT was great too. One thing she told me which has stuff with me is the "elevator visualization." When I can feel my muscles spasming, I need to visualize it as an elevator, and I use my relaxation techniques to allow those muscles to relax and let the elevator go down to the ground floor. I just had my yearly PAP today and used that visualization as always; made it through in less than a minute! :)
Hi Tamra. I am a newcomer to your blog, and a relative newcomer to vulvar vestibulitis--four months in and just beginning to appreciate what a frustrating and isolated experience it can be. I appreciate your posts very much! I too would like to break the silence and create an intelligent, vibrant community of women who can together do what medicine seems unable to do--support each other in finding a path to healing! I am set to begin PT in the next few weeks and am wrestling with the question of surgery. Anyway, thanks so much for putting words to this private struggle and best of luck to you with the PT treatments.
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