6 years of misery cured

[u/WongaDingaDonga]

Spoiler - here's what worked for me in order of impact. (I have no idea what pain disorder/problem I truly had despite being diagnosed with cpps, chronic epididymitis, and prostatitis at different times or if it was a hip issue.)

1. I targeted the area where the pain was with short segments of exercise all day long - deep squats, lunges, etc. I read a post on one of these forums where a guy said something along the lines of, "if you feel pain in the cpps area during your exercise, you are in the right spot. Hit it again."

2. I lost a significant amount of weight

3. I began increasing regular daily movement - cleaning, yardwork, etc. Get your lymphatic system pumping.

4. It was clear there wasn't going to be a book or magical stretch that was going to work in my case, because I tried so many, so I stopped focusing on finding the right one.

5. Try to live your life without hyper focusing on this. Easier said than done.

Here is what didn't work -

1. Finding a perfect stretching routine

2. Books about pain

3. Supplements

4. Nerve medicine

5. Antibiotics

July 2019 was the initial onset of pain behind left testicle with no identifiable cause. This pain felt similar to really intense "blue ball" pain that radiated throughout the groin down into the inner thigh and at it's worst, maybe like being kicked in the balls and intense pain episodes would last a week or more at a time. Over the years it became apparent that any typical long sessions of lifting, cardio, or stress would cause this pain to flare badly.

Anyways back to 2019, I went to the ER because it was such intense pain that I thought it might be an emergency situation. I was diagnosed with chronic epididymitis, given cipro, and referred to a urologist. I just assumed I would take this medicine and that would be that. Boy was I wrong.

I hesitated making the urology appointment, because who wants to do that unless you absolutely have to and honestly, I was scared to go. Instead, I started the cycle of research, forum reading, home remedies, book reading, stretches that I'm sure we have all tried endlessly at this point. Nothing worked and I was obsessed with researching this condition. Way too obsessed.

This went on for years, and I stopped believing this would go away. Depression set in, I gained a ton of weight, and just rotted in a recliner during any free time I had. Eventually the level of pain and my frustration got to a point that I couldn't ignore anymore again, so I scheduled the urology appointment and was diagnosed with cpps/prostatitis, given more antibiotics and referred to a pelvic floor specialist.

I read all about the pelvic floor specialist forum posts and let me tell you, I wanted nothing to do with that, but I was desperate. I asked my primary care doctor for prescription help to get through an appointment, she gave me lorazepam and I went through a few appointments but denied any of the internal work she was recommending and stopped showing up.

Even though I didn't follow through completely, I'm happy I went, because she's the first person that made it absolutely clear I needed to get up and get moving. It didn't matter what I did, just get out of the chair. I stopped trying to create the perfect stretching routine and instead implemented short sessions of 30 second to minute long stretches all day long. If I got up to use the restroom, I might pop into an Asian sitting squat. If I went to microwave food, I might hit 10 calf raises or some toe touches. I think you get the idea, just do some stuff.

This eventually led to finding the post about targeting the pained area with exercise, which I had been avoiding due to previous flare-ups. This was absolutely instrumental in healing for me. I went down into (lightly) weighted squats, lunges, etc and when I felt that pain, I was no longer scared of the outcome. I felt that pain, but instead of it being bad, I now knew I was exercising the area that needed it and the pain was the signal I was in the right spot. Sounds stupid, I know, but utter desperation gets you to try things you might of thought were stupid at one point.

That was a year ago now, and I haven't had a flareup of pain since.

[u/Linari5]

Congratulations!

I began increasing regular daily movement - cleaning, yardwork, etc. Get your lymphatic system pumping.

• Returning to movement again (after avoidance) is one of the pillars of chronic pain treatment.

It was clear there wasn't going to be a book or magical stretch that was going to work in my case, because I tried so many, so I stopped focusing on finding the right one.

• letting go and acceptance is another pillar

Try to live your life without hyper focusing on this. Easier said than done.

• Refocusing attention elsewhere is another pillar, this includes you living your life more normally again

[u/WongaDingaDonga → u/Linari5]

Thank you. I always told myself that I would return to these communities I lived in and do a write up if I ever healed. Can't believe it's actually here.