Electric Stimulation

[Late Owl]

Could I please ask has anyone had treatment with vaginal electric stimulation ? I have been diagnosed with vulvodynia. My symptoms are very painful muscles around the entrance to the vagina. Burning sore pain there and in the groin. Stinging around the anus and pins and needles in buttocks. This all started after intercourse in January this year. Although I have had a sensitivity in the vagina on and off for five years following thrush. I am on amitriptyline and seeing a physio at a nhs vulval clinic. Although I am constantly tightening my pelvic floor as I am an anxious person she wishes me to do contracts throughout the day as my readings dropped on the bio-feedback from slightly overtight to less so with this action. I find this confusing as well as when does vulvodynia become PN? I have pain on sitting. I would be grateful for any thoughts.
As an after thought does anybody think that by me gripping my pelvic floor in great anxiety at the beginning of my second incident that I could have irritated the nerves that much that it caused the spread of the pain? Because there seems to be so little understood about these conditions you do feel you are on your own!

[Bertie]

Hi I am in the UK.......I personally feel and from a lot of research that volvydynia is another word for PN.......the NHS Physios I am afraid are no good at this......and the last thing you want to do is pelvic floor exercises.......as it tightens an already over tight pelvic floor you need to learn to drop and relax your pelvic floor.

There is a web site called the vulva pain society ......it is UK based with some good information on there.......if you are near or able to get to London this is where a lot of the good private physios are......or ask one of them who they would recommende in your area.

Thee is also something called restorative exercise by Katy Bowen......and there is a guy in Bridtol who teaches it. My advise to you is the less invasive things you have done the better.....as there is no miracle cure and most of the procedures make matters worse.

[Late Owl]

Thank you Bertie. I agree with what you say. I do feel that my NHS physio. is looking at the problem as' whacky nerves" rather than PN as you say I'm wondering if they know anything about PN? I have seen a private physio in London, I believe you may have seen her. I only saw her twice because of the distance so I crammed in two visits in the one trip. She gave me a plan of anti-inflammatories and anti-histamines and stretches. Guess I feel a little worse if anything. Do you think that physio is of little help? I try to get on with my days but all movements seem to tug at the sore areas but you can't lay in bed all day and you wonder if movement is making you worse! Some days I just feel like curling up in a ball! This is so hard. I've tried my best to get medical help but most don't seem to have a clue! Mmm don't know if I should turn down the electric stimulation but there doesn't seem to be little else on offer apart from acupuncture which is making no difference. She doesn'seem to look at my alignment or check for tight tissues or triggerpoints, no hands on! Yet in America they say it can be treated with physical therapy. Has anybody improved with tissue work? It is unbelievable how your life is altered when you can't sit, although I have a cushion it's not that brilliant. How are you Bertie and what have you found helpful? It's nice to talk with fellow suffers because family and friends don't seem to understand. Thanks for your time.

[Late Owl]

Oh forgot the private physio did say that my obturator internus muscle was a little tight on one side. Does anyone know how to relax this?

[Violet M]

I had very tight obturator internus muscles, especially on one side and after my surgery in France I used a TENS unit which was very helpful. In this thread http://www.pudendalhope.info/forum/view ... =32&t=4015 I described where to place the electrodes for the TENS unit.

I think I also tried vaginal electrical stimulation which was done in the physios office but it did not help at all.

You can try what's called reverse kegals which is a technique used to relax the pelvic floor rather than tensing it but I don't know if that will help. The pudendal nerve runs between the obturator internus muscle and the levator ani muscles. The chicken and egg question often arises as to whether the muscles are tense and impinge on the nerve causing the pain of pudendal neuralgia or whether the nerve is irritated for some other reason such as a ligament compression of the nerve and the nerve irritation causes the muscles to spasm. Which causes which -- the muscles causing the nerve irritation or the nerve irritation causing the muscles to spasm? I think the cause varies from person to person.

It's not typical for sex to cause so much pain, so rather than assuming that sex is what caused your pain, you might want to ask what is the underlying problem that leads you to have pain from sex. Good luck. I hope you can sort this out and find some relief.

Violet

[Rosemary]

Violet

I am trying my Tens again in the pad positions you have suggested for a tight Obturator Internus which i have on one side.

Could i ask you please if this helped with the muscle release or were you having internal PT as well as using the Tens ?

Rosemary X

[Lernica]

I had a very sore and tight obturator internus muscle for a couple of years. My pelvic physiotherapist worked on it for about a year, massaging it internally. She also taught me how to massage it myself with a crystal wand (which is available on Amazon). Are there any pelvic therapists in the UK that could help you internally massage it?

I agree with the previous poster that you should NOT be doing kegels. You need to be relaxing your pelvic floor, not tightening it. A pelvic physiotherapist could help you with this, as well.

[Rosemary]

I had a very sore and tight obturator internus muscle for a couple of years. My pelvic physiotherapist worked on it for about a year, massaging it internally. She also taught me how to massage it myself with a crystal wand (which is available on Amazon). Are there any pelvic therapists in the UK that could help you internally massage it?

I agree with the previous poster that you should NOT be doing kegels. You need to be relaxing your pelvic floor, not tightening it. A pelvic physiotherapist could help you with this, as well.

Late Owl

Ruth Jones who is a physio in Southampton UK would be able to help you with internal massage with a wand - i had some internal work with her last year - it made me feel worse and i didn't get as far as buying and using the wand which may have been the next step - i wasn't sure that sticking with the pain it caused was going to help me eventually.

You say that you maybe seeing the same physio as Bertie - she has seen both Ruth Jones and Maria Elliot physios so may be able to help you compare their approaches.

I last saw Ruth end June 2014 at Eastleigh Osteopathic clinic, 169 Leigh Rd, Eastleigh SO50 9DW Tel: 023 8061 2166 or 023 8062 0332 - this is where she had moved to a room there and you had to book through the clinic. At that time she was charging £120 per hour but often gave me over an hour if it was last appointment or someone had cancelled after me that day.

rosemary X

[Bertie]

Hi......I have seen Ruth and Maria......but have a look at Lucia Berry I went to a talk the other week and I was very impressed with her.....I am going to,see her myself, she also does pelvic floor scans so can see where the tightness is.

I personally would not have the electric stimulation, or nerve blocks.....why aggrivate ant already aggravated nerve.....what we have to realsie is there is no magic cure, that in its self helps......I am hugely bette than I was this time last year......I last did physio in September I just stopped everything others than walkimg and getting my bladder sorted....as a diagnoise of IC is a lazy one and is actually an imbedded infection in the bladder wall.

How old are you? What are your main symptons? and can you pin point what started it off?

[ezer]

late owl, have you explored the source of your anxiety? Was there some trauma? You may want to explore that aspect before moving to more invasive medical procedures.