A Headache...in the Pelvis?!?

My mom and I made it to California! For those of you who don't know yet, God has blessed my family in a huge way by allowing me the opportunity to go to a pelvic pain clinic. If you want to check it out, you can go here:

http://www.pelvicpainhelp.com.

A friend of mine went to this clinic a few years ago and he is really improving. Some of you may not know this, but men can have this problem too. He was miserable and tried everything to help relieve his pain - even going to China! He also had surgery. He told me that he regrets everything he tried except for this clinic - that is was hard work, but it was the only thing that has truly helped him.

The clinic is run by Dr. David Wise who personally struggled with pelvic pain for over 20 years. With no help of relief from any doctors he visited, he began to develop his own technique and decided to study how and why pelvic pain occurs.

His belief is that everyone holds tension in different places in their body - whether it's their head, neck, back, or clenching their teeth. He explained that some people deal with tension by tightening the muscles in their pelvic floor.

In the clinic, my mom and I will meet with a urologist and a physical therapist among other specialists and learn where my trigger points are and how to treat them. I will also learn relaxation techniques and how to think about my pain as helpful message from my body that it needs relief, instead of the enemy that I want to get rid of.

Well, I have recovered from the long trip here. Riding in cars is painful on my body because of the vibrations. My dad requested a wheelchair at the airport in advance which was a really good thing because I could barely walk by the time we got to Denver! My mom and I are going to go exploring today because the clinic doesn't start until tomorrow. I will try to keep you all updated.

I would appreciate your prayers as this is not an easy quick-fix treatment. My friend who has had it done told me that by the time the week was over, he felt like he had been hit and run over by a truck. And I believe him! So I'm anxious and scared, but also willing to work hard at this if it means in a couple of years I could notice a significant difference.

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For more information on this clinic, here is a quote from answers.com and another link. Really the best way to get info on the book is to read or scan some pages from the Pelvic Pain Help site.

"...a treatment called the Stanford Protocol, developed by Stanford University Professor of Urology Rodney Anderson and psychologist David Wise in 1996, has recently been published. This is a combination of medication (using tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines), psychological therapy (paradoxical relaxation, an advancement and adaptation, specifically for pelvic pain, of a type of progressive relaxation technique developed by Edmund Jacobson during the early 20th century), and physical therapy (trigger point release therapy on pelvic floor and abdominal muscles, and also yoga-type exercises with the aim of relaxing pelvic floor and abdominal muscles). While these studies are encouraging, definitive proof of efficacy would require a randomized, sham controlled, blinded study, which is not as easy to do with physical therapy as with drug therapy."

(Dr. Wise told me there is about an 85% chance of success and that he thinks he can help me. He is very honest about his results. After asking me a set of detailed questions, however, he thinks that I have certain symptoms that would do well under his treatment. By God's grace he had one open spot left for the August clinic - otherwise I would have had to wait until November!)

A detailed description of what I will be doing at the clinic