Friday, April 29, 2011

Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome and Me

Not long ago, I got a phone call from someone who read one of my blog entries.  He's a young man suffering from chronic pelvic pain syndrome, or CPPS.  Listening to his story, his frustration and grief, took me back to the point in my own life five years ago when I started experiencing CPPS symptoms, to when I received my diagnosis and was told there's no effective cure or treatment.  The isolation, the anger and shame and depression and hopelessness--it all came back to me.  I truly did experience helplessness at that time.

I muddled through the pain and the emotions, and somehow, I felt my way into a set of practices that slowly but steadily gave my life back to me.  Feeling very fortunate, I put up a couple of web pages about my experience, in hopes that it might help someone else.  So I'm very grateful to this young man, and to the handful of people who've emailed me about CPPS.  I very much appreciate your feedback.  As a result, I've revised, updated and expanded my CPPS web site--it's here.  Thank you, all of you, for your helpful comments and questions.

CPPS is isolating.  At the worst point, my CPPS kept me from traveling more than a half an hour by car.  I had trouble sitting through movies.  I didn't feel like going out.  The isolation fed into the sadness and hopelessness.  So, when I hear from anyone who has CPPS, I respond as quickly as I can.

If you're suffering from CPPS, please take a look at my CPPS web site.  I hope you find something there that helps.  At any rate, it's free, and it's the best information I have available to me at the moment, based on what works for me.  And if you have a question or just want to communicate with someone who's been there, please write me.  You should be able to find my email address on my blog.

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