I'm going to be doing Pelvic Floor therapy as well. I don't have my first apt till this upcoming Monday. I'm not sure what to expect either. I know quite a few of the ladies here have done it so hopefully you should get some responses soon. I'm curious to see what this is all about. I just hope that it works for the both of us so we can live pain free!

Hi,

pelvic floor therapy saved my life so i highly recommend it. Before my 6th lap on Nov 5 2010 and 6 weeks before that I had pain every since day and them worse ovulation pain and horrific period pain. After about a week pf pt i noticed a big change in pain and i only had the lap because i had a few cysts i needed to get rid of. It is an invasive therapy but you will only be doing the invasive part if the therapist wants you to feel for yourself the tight muscles.

The therapy itself is done by the therapist physically stretching out the pelvic floor muscles one by one ... imagine stretching out a charlie horse in your leg. It can be painful because like in my case my muscles had developed trigger points but the pain was worth it because i knew it was helping and i would usually take a 800mg before the appt and one after and after a few hours the soreness was gone. I did it six week before lap and 6 weeks after (i was cleared in postop) and havent had to go back sense. They will teach you exercises you can do at home to help keep those muscles from not getting as tight (they are similiar to yoga moves).

Again, i HIGHLY recommend all ladies with endo to have pelvic floor therapy. I know it may not help everyone but it is well worth a try.

If you have any more questions, ask away (I'm still sleepy so i may not be thinking of everything). lol

((((HUGS))))

I meant i had pain every single day. lol. I also had pain with sex and pain with pelvic exams. No longer have that.

Does anyone know if there's some sort of...list...of PTs who are qualified to do this?

My dad is a PT, and I've mentioned it to him, and he didn't really know what I was talking about. At all. (I mean, he's not stupid, logically it made sense to him, but it wasn't something he's ever really heard of, and certainly isn't trained in - which might be good, because, hello awkward!) So, anyway, he asked a friend/colleague of his who basically had the same response. The friend lives in a pretty big metro area, and still didn't know of anyone that specializes in it...

Any ideas, anyone? I'm in SD myself, my dad's in KS, and his friend is in the Twin Cities...

It is definitely a speciality. I found mine by calling the pt department at the local hospitals and asking if they had a pelvic floor specilist.

Check these out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX19PXy3lVc&list=UU5IrBaJbiNiG2Fl4EBSNzRA&index=4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWJwGvFDGLg&list=UU5IrBaJbiNiG2Fl4EBSNzRA

Looks like some completely external work that you can maybe do yourself, or somebody that you trust could do for you - very good and easy explanations!

Did you have your first apt yet? I had mine yesterday. It went well. She said that I'm doing good for now and gave me some stretches, yoga positions etc to do to relieve some congestion in my pelvic area.

I guess since I had my mastectomy I apparently position my body differently which has twisted my spine and hips slightly so the congestion has a hard time draining out of my pelvic area.

She said she would contact me in a month which is when my last lupron shot will wear off and we will go from there in terms of pain management etc if needed.

The first available is the second week of March. I'm in so much pain and can't wait to go. I had a nerve block a month ago (worked for a few weeks, but it agrivated my sciatic).

Thanks for all your feedback on pt! I am interested in the yoga poses. I have noticed some of the poses in yoga class that I take do help the pain.

I had pelvic floor PT at my Kaiser hospital in riverside, CA. Dr Troxler was amazing and worked a miracle on me. I understand your apprehension as I was worried too. It is strange, and painful at first. The pain gets less with every session though. My dr internally stretched out my muscles and ligaments with a gloved hand and then externally worked out the fibroid type adhesions on my stomach, thighs, legs and rib cage. This was extremely painful for me the first few times. It is all worth it though and now I can so these external massages myself at home along with an ILU massage and yoga type stretches. I hope your experience will be as good as mine so you too can have some relief.

I went for pelvic physical therapy afew times. They have various techniques but yes, some of them require them to insert fingers into the vagina to help release or relax muscles since tension can also cause pain. I came across another member on another board who was doing at home work as well, they have special tools you can purchase to use internally to help relax the muscles if they are always tensing up. They also teach you various stretches to do to help the pelvic muscles. I was told to purchase a body pillow for sleeping and for me, that made a huge difference, helps to support your pelvis and keep you aligned, plus it just makes sleeping so much more comfortable.