I suffered with chronic pelvic pain for over 28 years before I had my healing breakthrough. I share my story with you to offer hope and ideas for healing.

My bladder urgency symptoms first appeared when I was in high school. In college, I had my first vaginal yeast infection. It quickly became a chronic condition.

In my mid-20s I was diagnosed with endometriosis due to lower abdominal pain. My symptoms would come and go, getting worse on my menstrual period and during emotionally stressful times. The endometriosis was treated with surgery and drugs, neither of which worked well. I got very depressed and thought about ending my life.

I was convinced I had a systemic yeast infection due to recurring vaginal soreness, bladder symptoms, constipation, and abdominal pain. I went on a strict diet eliminating all sweet foods, acidic foods, dairy, and fatty meat.

In fact, I stayed on various forms of a restrictive diet for over 20 years.

It didn’t help.

Pelvic pain and childbirth

I had a C-section with my first child because she was 3.5 weeks early and breech.

Pelvic pain got worse in pregnancy with my second child when I went into early labor at about 20 weeks. Medication and couch rest for the second half of the pregnancy worked and I delivered my child vaginally only five days before the due date. However, my perineum tore quite a bit.

A year later my pelvic pain symptoms were worse with frequent urination and persistent pain in my lower right abdomen. I started on anti-depressants to treat the pain. I also tried many different alternative healing approaches.

Nothing was effective in healing my pain.

Seeking treatment

Eventually I was referred to a urologist 300 miles from home who specialized in pelvic pain. He did internal pelvic physical therapy through the vaginal area as well as dry needling and novocaine injections in trigger points.

I also saw a local physical therapist who followed the doctor’s instructions. I met with the doctor periodically for a couple of years and had a few rounds of physical therapy with the local PT.

It didn’t work.

Afraid to move my body

Every day I struggled with pelvic pain. I did my best to manage the chronic pain.

Stress would flare up my pain.

Sitting on hard surfaces would flare up my pain so I would often go places with my seat cushion.

If a certain body movement flared up my pain, I would avoid moving my body in that way.

I didn’t run, dance, swim or ski. I didn’t lift heavy things. I didn’t cross my legs. I didn’t stretch my muscles.

There were many ways I was fearful of moving my body. Even cat/cow flared me up. I got so that I couldn’t even bend down to pick things up off the floor without flaring up.

A turning point

One day in early 2008 I was so depressed I told my husband I didn’t feel like living anymore.

He said we would find help for me and that money was no object.

I asked my general practitioner and my chiropractor what they called my pain. They both said it was myofascial pain.

By this time the internet was well-established, unlike when my pain became chronic in 1981. I did an internet search on myofascial pain and found a local physical therapist who specialized in myofascial release. My insurance didn’t cover it so I paid out-of-pocket.

This physical therapist treated the whole body, not just the pelvic floor.

It helped.

I started to get some relief and I could once again bend down without flaring up.

Trigger point therapy

The physical therapist had a website where I found reference to the book, A Headache in the Pelvis, by Dr. David Wise and Dr. Rodney Anderson.

I attended Dr. Wise’s six-day pelvic pain clinic. The clinic’s physical therapist practiced trigger point release internally through the vagina and the rectum as well as all the external muscles that could refer pain into the pelvic area.

I learned how to massage my own trigger points and a relaxation meditation.

It helped.

Yoga practice

At the encouragement of Dr. Wise, I started taking yoga classes again and began a daily yoga practice.

This has increased my strength, flexibility, and sense of well-being. I’m now almost nine years in with my daily yoga practice, which includes two classes a week.

Yoga has been a major part of my healing practice, helping me to trust my body again and move more comfortably.

Unconscious stored emotions

After a year of practicing self-massage and daily relaxation meditation, my pain levels decreased but would still flare up during stressful times.

I found a life coach who cured herself from interstitial cystitis and irritable bowel syndrome through the mind-body approach. She wrote a lot about emotions and I took her course.

It helped.

It completely opened up my awareness that suppressed emotions were an underlying cause of the tight muscles that caused chronic pelvic pain.

I began to feel a sense of hopefulness.

For the next year I was coached in pelvic pain relief twice a month. This opened my awareness to my mental, emotional, physical, and nervous system’s unconscious habits that were feeding into my pain syndrome.

I was introduced to tension myositis syndrome (TMS, or “mind-body syndrome”) through Dr. John Sarno’s work. I was also introduced to Dr. Peter Levine’s nervous system healing work.

It helped.

I felt significantly better after a year of coaching and was hooked on the mind-body healing approach.

Sharing my success

I have much compassion for other women who are stuck in pelvic pain and I wanted to share my success with them. I thought, if I could feel better and get my life back after over 28 years of being stuck in pain, other women could too!

Now I’m a mind-body coach helping other women to heal their pelvic pain.

I found that the secret to healing pelvic pain is a multifaceted approach which includes the right kind of physical therapy.

Then the inner work is to learn to calm the mind, effectively feel emotions, take really good care of the body, and connect with inner wisdom to guide you in living the life you most desire.

This helps to prevent and release old unconscious tension patterns in the muscles and heal pelvic pain.

Gail Kenny, life coachAbout the author

Gail Kenny is a mind-body coach who helps women heal pelvic pain from the inside out. She is a Certified Martha Beck Life Coach and an Endorsed Abigail Steidley Mind-Body Coach. Visit her website at www.gailkennylifecoach.com.