This is Tony’s story of recovery from Pelvic Pain
Many thanks to Tony for sharing his story of recovery. I know many readers out there will find huge relief and benefit from his words. It is perfectly possible to recover from pelvic pain. Tony is proof of that. He is now able to do the things he has avoided for a long period of time. Hats off to you Tony for sticking with the plan. You are clearly reaping the rewards
Tony is a 75 year old, healthy male. We had our initial Skype appointment in March 2019. Tony had previously suffered with pelvic pain back in 2010, when he was diagnosed with Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS). Tony was prescribed Pregabalin and told to treat his symptoms with acupuncture. In 2018 Tony had a transperineal biopsy and was diagnosed with moderately aggressive prostate cancer. Tony started to experience pain on sitting at work, although this was relieved with respite. He was prescribed Ciprofloxacin (for the pain and previous diagnosis of CPPS) and an anti cancer medication. Slowly Tony’s pain began to increase and he ended up in A&E. He was put on 2 more types of antibiotic in this period – Trimethoprim and Doxycycline even though there was never any infection identified. Tony was also put back on a very low dose of Pregabalin which did provide him with pain relief. He was once again diagnosed with non bacterial or inflammatory pelvic pain syndrome. It was at this point that Tony made contact with myself and our treatment began.
Tony’s symptoms included pain in the following areas:
- Base of the penis
- Perineum
- Above the pubic bone
- Inner thighs
- Lower back
He was unable to sit for longer than 15 minutes without experiencing discomfort. This meant he often avoided sitting. As a result of this Tony gave up working, socialising and all travel plans for the foreseeable future throughout.
I saw Tony for 3 face to face sessions and the initial Skype session. As with all my patients I provided full email support to him during his recovery, answering questions and providing reassurance to him.
In the first session (100 minutes) I spent time listening to his case and building up a complete overview as to why he was seeking my help. I carried out a range of assessments, internally and externally, including a movement and sitting assessment. I provided Tony with a range of simple, daily exercises for him to practice at home. I provided an explanation into what pain really is and how it is impacting him in the way it has done. We discussed the effect it was having on him socially and his fears and hopes for the future. We identified a range of meaningful activities and set out a realistic plan in which these could be achieved. The most significant of these was a graded sitting program. Gradually increasing the duration of time spent sitting in various locations and various seats over an agreed period of time
At his follow up sessions I reviewed his progress and adjusted his recovery plan accordingly. The aim is to always encourage a patient to step slowly and safely out of their comfort zone. This increases robustness and trust in themselves once more. I upped Tony’s plan to include some light gym based exercises and we extended his sitting practice to the cinema, socialising and driving. On the third session we discussed Tonys return to work and how sitting for 6 hours was causing pain and discomfort. He was also anxious about his upcoming 3 hour flight to Spain. We once again amended his self care program to include some conditioning exercises for this pelvis and lower limbs. This included variety of functional squats and lunges. I encouraged him to expand his sitting practice and explained the purpose of graded exposure. I explained the sensitivity vs damage theory in recovery from pain and this further increased his self confidence and trust.
This is Tony’s testimonial here:
“Abandoned by mainstream medicine and urologists who just did not want to know, despite having inflicted the pain on me in the first place, I eventually stumbled out of the pelvic torture chamber into the hands of Karl. He took a more detailed history than any doctor had taken and after a thorough medical examination gave me five exercises to do.”
“Within two days I was reaping the benefits and three weeks later I seemed to be permanently out of pain. It’s many weeks on from that now and I’m getting my life back together after months without working and avoiding social situations, although there were still up to three days of discomfort after sitting for prolonged periods. “
“Karl worked out a strategy for dealing with this and recently I came close to conquering this final barrier by first surviving a three-hour flight to Spain and back, and then coming out of a six-hour shift seated at work with no after-effects. Now I can start contemplating a 12-hour flight to Mauritius where my son is working. “
“So thank you Karl for saving my life!”
Thank you once again Tony. It was a pleasure working with you in your recovery.
Read Howard’s successful recovery from Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome here
Check out Adam’s successful recovery from Pelvic Pain here
Follow Robbie’s successful recovery from CPPS here
Learn about Tommy’s successful recovery from Prostatitis here
See Ben’s successful recovery from Pelvic Pain here
Discover Chris’s successful recovery from Prostatitis here
Find out how Jamie got back on his bike again after recovering from Pelvic Pain here
6 months on and Anthony still has no pelvic pain here
Tony is now able to sit pain free. He is back working, driving and travelling here
Mark suffered for over 10 years with pelvic pain here
Read David’s recovery from 8 years of pelvic pain here
Read Brian’s account of his recovery here