Myself PFD

[harleyk]

I just found a product called Myself on Amazon. Has anyone used it? Should we use it? Any ideas for help doing Kegels at home between pt sessions??

[icnmgrjill]

Noooo.... you do NOT do Kegels when you have PFD... because PFD patients have muscles that are too tight... and when Kegels only tighten them and make the tension and discomfort worse. Rather you do exercises that are designed to help relax those muscles.

Two things that can help. A brand new book called "Heal Pelvic Pain" describes the exercises in depth that you can do at home. See the picture of the book in the lefthand column. It's in our shop under pelvic pain resources.

Also, you'll want to buy a CD called Relaxation for Pelvic Pain (or something similar) that is an audiotape that you use at home to relax those muscles. It's also in our store under pelvic pain resources.

http://www.icnsales.com

Jill

[harleyk]

My therapist is having my do Kegels after I go to the bathroom. Should I stop doing that too?
I was just diagnosed and I am totally lost. Thanks for the suggestions from the store!
Marcia

[Briza]

No disrespect to anyone but I think it has been pretty well established that whether Kegels are recommended or useful or not to a particular PFD patient is most often determined by which type of PFD the patient has.
Patients with tight pelvic floors muscles it seems are NOT recommended to do Kegels because they can aggravate already tense pelvic floor muscles.
Patients who have weak pelvic floor muscles (possiblly a result of childbirth or other reasons) seem to benefit from practicing Kegels to strengthen and regain control over their pelvic floor muscles.
So from what I have learned here on ICN and my own other research, it depends on the type of PFD the patient has to determine whether Kegels might be helpful or not.Best wishes,Bri

[harleyk]

Thanks for the information. I did not know there were different types of PFD.

Marcia

[cia]

I am allowed to tighten my pelvic floor 5 times a day. Only one tightening per session. My problem is I can't relax the muscles after I tighten them, well... I can if I have a dark room and soft music, and a whole lot of time, but for reality's sake I can't practice the relaxation without pulling my pelvic floor up before I try to relax it. (no pushing, no pushing, it's like a broken record in my head) I had 8 weeks of intensive therapy before I was allowed to get even this close to a Kegel. I did purchase a Crystal Wand Acrylic Kegel Exerciser from Amazon, on the advise of my PT, to be used only for trigger point relaxation, not for Kegels. We did a ton of training with this little torture device and two weeks later I ended up with tendinitis. Oh well. I'll have to tell Santa I want the new book.

[harleyk]

I am glad you warned me about the device too! IC has become such an "interesting disease" with so many twists and turns!!!