Is there a cure for Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome/Chronic Prostatitis? Lets start by asking what a cure actually is! According to the English Oxford dictionary a cure is to ‘relieve (a person) of the symptoms of a disease or condition’ and to ‘eliminate (a disease or condition) with medical treatment.’ According to MedicineNet a cure is ‘to heal, to make well, to restore to good health’ and ‘a time without recurrence of a disease so that the risk of recurrence is small.’
For me ‘a cure’ conjures up images of a travelling sales man in the 19th century roaming the lands from settlement to settlement. He stops for a few days, sets up his stall and sells his snake oil potion to the townsfolk. His marvellous and highly sought after snake oil ‘cures’ everything.. You get the picture! A cure has connotations of a magic tablet, potion or lotion for me. It suggests that one intervention will cure all who suffer with said illness. In my experience this is not the case.
Modern medicine has very few if any ‘cures!’ Yet if you type ‘cure’ into Amazons ‘Health, Family and Lifestyle’ category there are over 10,000 books that claim to cure a plethora of health conditions from Anxiety to Tooth Decay to Cholesterol… This can leave any patient looking on line for a cure of any sort very confused. Is there or is there not a cure to these health conditions!?
No Single Cure for Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome/Chronic Prostatitis
I am going to be bold and say there is not one single cure to Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome/Chronic Prostatitis. That is there is not 1 magic table to take. There is not one single protocol that will ensure every patient suffers no more. I truly wish there was. Having suffered with acute and chronic pelvic pain (read here and here) I know only too well how desperate I was for help and answers. As a therapist I wish I could click my fingers and have every single patient who walks into my office walk out again symptom free! Sadly, I do not have these powers!
How do we cure Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome/Chronic Prostatitis?
Individualised care programmes, addressing the multiple aspects of a patients case are the best inroads to get towards symptom alleviation. Considering the Biological, Psychological and Sociological aspects (here and here) of each patient provide us with the best chances of a successful treatment programme. Adjusting each patients lifestyle, diet, exercise, stress and relaxation (to name a few) can bring a patient symptoms very much under control with the right guidance. Considering the dosage of all aspects of a patients life…
- Intensity/Load
- Duration
- Frequency
- Rest
..can help to manage their day to day activities and help to manage and avoid flare ups. This is essential in the early days of recovery. Slowly introducing patients back to meaningful activity and movement increase their sense of robustness and ‘normality.’ One of the hardest things that many patients report is their lack of enjoyment of normal activity. So many patients remove themselves from socialising, relationships, sport, activity, fun and enjoyment. This is counter productive. With the right guidance graded exposure to these key elements of an individuals life will help them find their cure.
But don’t take my word for this. Instead you can read a series of blogs from my patients who have recovered from pelvic pain:
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
Karl Monahan is the owner of The Pelvic Pain Clinic, London. He has been successfully treating male pelvic pain since 2009. His depth of knowledge and personal experience on the subject provides his patients with a compassionate approach that is rarely found. His holistic approach to treating male pelvic pain addresses, lifestyle, diet, exercise, stress management and therapeutic movement. The clinics approach is very much aimed at empowering the patient, teaching them the tools and techniques to manage and reduce their own symptoms allowing them to be the driver in their own recovery and not just a passenger. www.thepelvicpainclinic.co.uk