Pelvic Pain - Feeling Stuck

I've read a lot of success stories of people treating pelvic pain using mind body approaches. I try to feel optimistic that these practices will help me but at this moment I'm struggling to accept that the pain I'm dealing with is not structural. I've been in pain since 2017 and the pain has always been localized around my anus and tailbone area. The pain gets worse after bowel movements. My other symptoms are urinary frequency and urgency.

I had recurrent anal fissures before I had chronic pelvic pain which most likely played a role in me developing this condition. In 2019 I had a minor surgery (LIS) to treat the fissures where they cut the sphincter muscle to improve blood flow to the area. This surgery helped in treating the fissures but the pain in my rectal area never went away.

I still occasionally see small amounts of blood on the toilet paper after bowel movements. It seems to always comes from the right side which I believe is where they made the incision during the surgery. I've spoken to the colorectal surgeon about this and he always assures me that nothing is wrong even after examining the area. He told me the pain I'm experiencing is Levator Ani Syndrome. I never get any concrete answers as to why I still have occasional bleeding but I have a feeling something is wrong. I worry the doctor missed something or that I just have some strange edge case that cannot be treated. I've made so many appointments and it never leads to any progress.

When I look back on my journey with chronic pelvic pain I've noticed some signs consistent to mind body syndrome. I've experienced my symptoms getting better while on vacation. There was one day years ago when I almost canceled an outing with a friend because my symptoms had been so bad the days leading up to our plans. I went out with that friend anyway and for that one day my symptoms seemed to completely vanish. I've had similar experiences at parties, concerts, and other social events over the years.

I'm in the middle of a bad flare up now and I'm seeing blood on the toilet paper after bowel movements again. It's only a small amount of blood and nothing compared to what I was dealing with when I had the fissures. However any amount of bleeding makes me think the cause of my pain is actually structural. This makes my mind go down the rabbit hole of more medical intervention and trying to get more second opinions from doctors.

I feel stuck. I could use some guidance on how to approach these feelings. I'm also in the process of tapering off medication that I used to cope with my symptoms and it's been a very difficult. Things are going downhill for me and I'm having trouble making any progress with my health and life overall. Thank you for reading all of this and any words of encouragement or guidance would be appreciated.

 

Hello:
First thing I would recommend is to just get yourself checked out again by a medical Dr. always good to rule out something serious if you can’t settle your mind.
Dr. David Schecter is a medical Dr. who is also a TMS Dr. here he talks about pelvic pain.



Question: why will you not believe a well trained medical Dr. who makes his living by giving people surgery, when he says there is nothing wrong? Perhaps because your fearful
Mind is protecting you from the truth?

 

I am having similar symptoms, for me its started or maybe i had it before after hemorrhoids surgery. i get this kind of pressue and sometimes pain in the anal area, i also been to many doctors and basically they say nothing is wrong, just tight anal muscle or something like that...i also use to have (lately not) some blood with bowel movments that i never had before the surgery but the doctors still think its nothing...like you i also have some days that i don't think about the problem and i feel fine but then the second day i feel it again...don't know why...
its also hard for me to accept its TMS because i really feel the pressue and slight pain when i touch a certain spot.
i also don't know why my pain is diferent than the one i had before the surgery, so i keep thinking the surgery did something, but all the doctors i go to says there is no problem...

 

Thank you for posting this video, Cactusflower. Although it's nearly all information that I've acquired here and elsewhere over the years, there is something very empowering about hearing a renowned physician in this particular area say with such authority that pelvic pain and tightness that doesn't respond to physical treatments is almost always caused by anxiety, nervous stress, fear etc.