How the world changes for a PNer

[DoubleEdgedSword]

DES - just a thought - I would suggest not to focus too much on 'finding the cause' of your problem. Many of us never find out exactly what caused it, and spending a lot of time and effort on this is not always helpful. What should help a lot more is focussing on management, looking forwards instead of back....

While I do strive to move forward, I believe that finding the cause should help with that. I'm not crazy on taking meds to start with.. I'll go 3 days with a headache before I take a tablet for it.. So taking meds when the underlying cause isn't known seems counter-productive to me. If mine's caused by stress and tense muscles I'm sure the doc can suggest something for it. If it's caused by something physical, like varicose veins or actual nerve entrapment, I'd rather have a treatment geared towards that, even if the only option proves to be surgery..

I think I'd prefer to go from least invasive treatments and progress upwards from there. While my wish would be to wake up one day and this nightmare be gone, I'm not ready to jump on the idea of an invasive surgery or an addictive medication if all I need is to learn how to relax and handle my stress better.

If my only option is to take meds, once my doc explains everything to me, I'd be okay with that too.. But it seems like so many treatments haven't worked for folks and I wonder if it's because the underlying cause isn't known? Just a thought from my late-night random mind..

[helenlegs 11]

I know the underlying cause for my PN (and PS) although getting the diagnosis was problematic (won't go there, we all know how hard it can be)
Because mine, like many, was 'trauma' I believe I will need surgery for a chance of recovery.
However because one place in my pelvis is injured it often causes greater problems, in that the more I do the more disabling it can be. The pelvis is a complicated area and while finding the 'reason' is the holy grail it is often so difficult to find. the knock on effects of pelvic pain with so many inter reacting nerves, organs, muscles, ligaments makes the actual reason almost impossible to find. Do I have piriformis synrome because of PN, No I don't think I do, but MANY people get this problem through PN. I think I could reason this (more unusual diagnosis PN because of PS) with any clinician who knew their stuff but maybe my SI joint is involved? If I got that fixed would the rest disappear? What about the post femoral cutaneous nerve. . . .blah,blah the whole thing just does your head in after a while because there are even more things to consider.
I would love to see an experienced Physio and go through it all with them but I bet it would still be guess work, slightly educated but guess work all the same.
What I was going to say before I went off on one was, I was a carbon copy of you, would not take the tablet, headaches pah! I now get muscle spasm problems in my upper back!! and dreadful headaches from inadvertently clenching my teeth because of the pain (yeah great coping mechanism) and I know the best way to try and break the cycle of pain is take a pill. It may not stop it altogether but it does stop it escalating.
Going to take some of my own advice now
Take care
Helen