Guest guest Posted May 14, 1999 Report Share Posted May 14, 1999 I have a question. One of you gals wrote a couple of days ago about Caltrate. Is that the brand name? Is it Calcium and Citrate? Also did you say two, three times a day? I can't find the post. Thanks, Donna Heidi Walsh wrote: > > > > My understanding of biofeedback is fairly limited, I admit. So I looked > up Dr. Glazer's journal article " Treatment of Vulvar Vestibulitis > Syndrome with Electromyographic Biofeedback of Pelvic Floor Musculature " > and tried to figure some stuff out. > > According to the article, their " rationale for studying pelvic floor > muscles is that patients with focal vestibulitis often show > hyperirritability of pelvic floor muscles, which, when compressed are > locally tender. " Furthermore, they say " In the case of vulvar > vestibulitis syndrome, we believe that cutaneous vulvar disturbances > destabilize pelvic floor muscles. " > > It seems to me, after looking over the article, that Dr. Glazer believes > that vulvar vestibulitis is caused by some type of external insult > (i.e., injury, reaction to creams, etc.) which the pelvic muscles > respond to by tensing up (which is a natural biological response). The > body tries to protect itself from the pain, which ends up causing more > pain, which causes the muscles to tense up, which makes the viscious > cycle go on and on. So what basically happens is that our body tries to > protect us from the pain, and as a result our muscles get messed up and > end up becoming chronically tense and unstable in their activity. This > results in further pain. Glazer believes that if you can retrain the > muscles to act like they're supposed to, the pain will be reduced if not > eliminated. > > brought up the question of " how do we know what's normal " . > Unfortunately, Dr. Glazer's study didn't feature a control group so > there's no answer within this particular article. Maybe someone else > knows of a study that did feature a control group? > > It is common for women with VVS to have elevated resting tension and > contractile weakness of their pelvic muscles. That is what my > evaluation with biofeedback said. I have a hard time keeping my muscles > 'tightened', yet when I release them they are 'spastic'. I didn't > pursue biofeedback because my insurance switched, but I plan on pursuing > it soon. The theory makes sense to me, as I have now developed trigger > points throughout my pubic area which are very painful. I can actually > *feel* the tension in my vulva and I am sure that it's just getting > worse. > > Incidentally, biofeedback is not a new therapy. It is commonly used to > treat urinary and fecal incontinence and has proven to be very > successful. Dr. Glazer is the individual who has been using it to treat > vulvar vestibulitis and has his own protocol which he suggests the > therapists should follow. > > Dr. Glazer is really open to answering questions about biofeedback. I > have emailed him and received replies numerous times. If you are > interested in understanding biofeedback more, I suggest you visit > http://www.vulvodynia.com and send him an email message. > > I really feel that it's important to remember that some amount of > skepticism is healthy. We've all been through a lot of pain in > obtaining our diagnosis and in getting inadequate health care. We're > all frustrated because there are no easy answers and no sure-fire > cures. We've tried various treatments with the big hopes that this > would be " the one " , only to have our hopes squashed. We're all > different and we all have different skepticisms about different > treatments and we need to remember that. I'm a big skeptic of the Dr. > Crook's theories, but I have hope in biofeedback. is skeptical of > biofeedback, but suspects yeast may be involved in her problem. Who's > right? Maybe neither of us. Maybe both of us? Unfortunately there are > no easy answers at this point as to what is the cause and what is the > cure of vulvar vestibulitis. > > Heidi > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Did you know ONElist has over 300 Star Wars lists? > http://www.ONElist.com > Join one today! > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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