We’ve spent the last couple weeks sharing our stories about how endometriosis has affected us mentally and physically as well as talking about infertility but we would love to end the campaign on a more positive note and share some strategies to cope with this awful disease.
In the last eight years I have tried just about everything to find a way to cope with the effects of endo – surgeries, every kind of birth control you can imagine, changing my diet, herbs, even some off-label treatments in hopes that something would help. Some things worked ok where others did not. I had a lot of success with the birth control patch but obviously if you are hoping to get pregnant it takes it out of the pain relief equation. Most of my surgeries have provided at least some short term relief, even the one performed by the specialists in Atlanta. However, I won’t waste your time today telling you want hasn’t worked for me but instead offer an option that we’ve just recently tried: pelvic floor physical therapy.
It sounds scary, I know but if you can find the right physical therapist it may be worth a shot. My PT specializes in this type of physical therapy and is very knowledgeable about endometriosis as well as other pelvic issues. She explained that as the body is trying to protect itself, for example from endo, the muscles will lock down which will in turn cause more pain so the muscles lock down even further. Its a vicious cycle and one of the reasons women struggle with the unspoken side effect of endo.
On my way to my first PT appointment I was more than a little nervous as I had no idea what to expect. Because of the amount of doctors appointments I’ve been to and all of the fertility treatments we’d done, my modesty went out the window a while ago. Between being highly recommended by my doctor and knowing pelvic floor PT is all she did, I felt a little more at ease.
The initial evaluation was done in two visits. The external evaluation included checking out the lower back and hip muscles (which she found were very, very tight). The internal evaluation involved checking the pelvic floor muscles. A lot of women see a PT because the need to strengthen those muscles to have better bladder control but in my case, the PT would involved getting those muscles to relax.
Following treatments were focused on working to get these muscles relax and included stretches, deep muscle massage, and trigger point therapy. I will not lie. The first month of therapy was excruciating because everything was so tight. Many sessions I left in tears or sick to my stomach. But as time has gone on, I have gotten to the point where I can see the results. I’m still having some pelvic pain but its not quite the same as it was when I first started and I can tell a big difference in marital activities.
I wanted to share my experience with pelvic floor PT as a pain treatment option that didn’t include surgery or medications. I think its is a treatment option that is not regularly tied with endometriosis but as all of the lower back, lower abdominal, and hp muscles work extremely close together, it is a viable option that you may want to consider.
If you have any specific questions, please ask! I’m an open book!
Be sure to check out the other posts with coping tips!
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i’m so glad you’ve found something helpful
I’m really thinking I should look into this! I have now heard about from several different endo warriors! I am so happy it’s working for you!
I definitely think it should be a treatment option worth considering earlier in someone’s journey with endo! I know it wasn’t brought up for me until we had literally tried everything else out there!
Hi, Jamee, how are you? My name is Caroline Salazar and I’m from Brazil. I found your blog on the website of Endometriosis UK. I am also suffering from endometriosis, very pleased to meet you. As in my country, the disease is quite unknown to the population, I’m a journalist and decided to create a blog to help the millions of Brazilians who also have the disease. Only in Brazil are 10 to 15 million women with endometriosis. I also suffer with the disease. Despite not having been infertile, my endometriosis almost killed me. My first surgery was in Juho 2010, and I will have another soon. Despite my be considered mild, I have pain 24 hours a day, for my part of the muscle is weakened. My great consequence was dyspareunia, pain during intercourse. To relieve my pain and help the women of my country, I created the blog a Endometiose Eu (The Endometriosis and I). I really want to invite her to participate in the blog. I write very nice articles, that talk about how the disease works in our body. Example: our stool are different from a woman without the disease, urine, and also to our menstrual blood is different because it is sick too. It has articles talking about my treatment, international studies, among many others. It is a very informative blog and it is accessible worldwide, after he was quoted in a Brazilian soap opera large audience, the station’s most famous in my country. I also help women to look good specialists, which has little in my country. I want to exchange knowledge with you because you live in a first world country. Along with carrying a severe illness, I am opening an ONG here. I really want to keep in touch with you. Hope you are well. I walk through with many sorrows and live-based remedies and my muscles pulsing, throbbing 24 hours a day.. Congratulations on having found your baby by adoption. I am also in favor of it and encourage my readers infertile do to the same thing. After all, biological or adopted, all the children are sent by God. Excuse me for my mistakes in my English, because it makes more than 10 years who did not study the language. I hope you enjoy my blog http://aendometrioseeeu.blogspot.com.br/ My email is carolinesalazar7@gmail.com Kisses with love!
[…] or alternative treatments for chronic illness. I have seen a chiropractor for chronic pain and a physical therapists for endometriosis. I checked out various herbs and supplements when we were going […]
[…] find new ways to control my chronic pain, I have been seeing a physical therapist who focusing on pelvic floor physical therapy. It has most definitely been a learning experience and I only wish that I had discovered it […]
[…] have been back in physical therapy for about ten weeks and we’ve mainly been focusing on pelvic floor physical therapy. I had great success after the first round but the surgery this summer did a number on my core […]