new to this forum

[katielynch]

Hello,
I'm new here. I'll try to keep my history short and get up to date where I am. 9 months ago felt as if I pulled a groin muscle. sitting, climbing stairs excrutiating. 7 months ago, felt sharp, burning, oversensativity in my clitoris/labia area. Also painful muscle spasms. Have been seeing a PT specializing in Pelvic Floor dsyfunction since August. Have had MRI on hips, lumber spine, hamstring. Osteoarthitis in both hips, high grade tear on left hampstring and well as tendinosis on both. Have had 3 trigger point injections with minimul, short term relief. Had 1st nerve block last Tuesday. Felt numb in vaginal area for 1 night and then major flare up since then. No relief, but I guess closer to diagnosing whether I have PN or PNE or plain pelvic floor dysfunction. No one has been clear with me on this process and I'm extremely frustrated. The Pain management Dr. who gave me the nerve block was recommended by my PT, but I wasn't pleased with the way I was treated. No follow up, never explained to me what the procedure would be like, what I would feel or look to feel. I'm partly responsible for not asking, I didn't want to know. Ive been in denial about this for months and want to accept it and take charge of my treatment. I would be grateful for any guidance from this forum.
Thank you,
Katherine

[Alli]

Hi Katherine,
I am not sure where you live but you may want to get an appointment with a PN Specialist. You can find a list of the doctors on this site

[katielynch]

Hi Alli,
Thank you very much for responding. I live in NYC and have been seeing a PT at Beyond Basics Physical Therapy since August. They specialize in pelvic floor dsyfunction and my PT has been very helpful in getting my pain down from 7/8/9 to at times 2/3/4. Its just seems that the nerve block I had done last Tuesday wiped out any progress Ive made over the last 6 months. My clitoris is extremely hyper-sensative. There is no sharp pain anymore, but it's maddening. And he injected some steroid into my hampstring while i was there, for my partial tear and it's more painful now than ever! Very hard to concentrate on anything, and very discouraging. The pain management dr. finally called me back and said to be patient (easy for him to say). My understanding from reading on PN and this site is that PN specialists recommend at least 2-3 injections in order to diagnos PN or PNE? Is that your experience?

[BEEZIE]

Hello
I am also new to this forum. I've been struggling with PN for the last 14 weeks. Like everyone else on this forum, my life has become very limited and frustrating. I used to go to the gym and lift or swim every day. For me walking really cranks up the pain so that's out as well. So far no luck with PT and massage.

My gym has a bike that is pedaled using your hands. Maybe you could try something like that. I still do very limited lifting with very light weights. It's depressing to watch my level of fitness go down hill. We are all slaves to the pain.

I was happy to see that you got some pain relief from PT. I hope that I am as fortunate.

At this point so many of my regular activities have been side lined. I am grateful for this forum and probably will end up spending too much time here. This informative and supportive environment is something we should be grateful to have.

Best of luck.

Beezie

[Violet M]

Katherine, I'm sorry you are having a bit of a pain flare-up after your nerve block. I wanted to reassure you that it's very common to have a pain flare-up for several weeks after receiving a steroid nerve block. I never had much relief from nerve blocks -- just a bit of temporary relief for several hours after the 1st two. Most PN surgeons like you to have several blocks (3 typically) before trying surgery.

Are you receiving any medications for your pain? You can read through the medication section of the forum and you can also read more about nerve blocks and medications on the website. http://www.pudendalhope.org/node/11 (click on the sections that interest you). Ice can be very helpful, especially after a nerve block although it's kind of tough to find a way to use that at work. You are in very good hands at Beyond Basics PT -- Amy Stein & Co. are some of the best.

Since you are in New York you might want to consider having an MRI from Dr. Hollis Potter. She's considered the best at finding nerve entrapments on MRI's and although there is no guarantee that even hers are 100% accurate you may gain some valuable information if you have one.

Welcome to the forum. I hope you find some answers here.

Welcome Alli and Breezie also -- did you post your stories somewhere yet? I don't see them in the welcome section but maybe I'm blind.

Best,

Violet M