Different types of pain..
 

Good morning
It has been a strange weekend. I typically have burning nerve pain, but the last 2 days I have had this kind of heightened pain. I explained it as " when you are biking and accidentally hit your crotch on the bike seat " kind of pain.Except all day. Less burning, or no burning but rather this.
Anyone have several different types of neuro pain? why would this happen?
Just thinking out loud.

thanks jess;)

so it's more like zaps or zingers of pain there?

I'm sorry i haven't read all of your posts - so I'm not sure if you have a cause of PN or if you've had full testing to be sure there isn't something else causing your symptoms.

No it is like a hypesensitive pain.
I have been to a neurologist who says nerve pain in the vaginal area, we are pin pointing it as it is looking like pudendal neuralgia. Or pudendal nerve pain.
I was just wondering if people experience different kinds of pains, this kind of pain particularily.

Nerve pain is different when...
 

nerves are dying, vs. healing....
When they die, there seems to be some consistent 'progression' of that pain/pains up and down a particular area.
When they heal tho, it's a lot more random.....Singular random nerve 'zings' running in this area for 5-seconds to a minute to others twitching here and there again, randomly. When damaged nerves heal or new ones grow - they send out 'signals' to ask the rest of the body [and ideally the nerve system WHAT DO I DO NOW?]
I get these random things and can't help but go OOOOOH! when they get active. They hurt or are very disturbing or irksome! I just keep telling myself that THIS IS GOOD! and try [not easy] to ignore it. Any 'reconnecting' is a good thing! Power of positive thinking? Maybe, sure hope so!
Keeping active to enable these nerves to reconnect to where they are supposed to is soo important! Otherwise they will have no programming to do what they want and should do.
If you want, I can dig out some dated papers on PN nerve regrowth...tho it is dated and not much more has been done in this quarter, unfortunately. We deal with it as best we can and SMILE?????:eek: - Hugs - j

^^ Thank you for the response. I hope they are healing. I have always been an active person even before this happened, I was training for a tri, doing the ms bike ride, biking, running .. etc.. on the days where the pain is lower, i try and get out an walk. It also puts me in a better state of mind.
Appreciate the input. :)

Biking?
 

Did you say BIKING?

This is a major neuropathy inducing/ nerve damager!

Yes, biking, but it was not hard-core biking, at all.
I did more running this year as opposed to biking, so I don't believe that to be the cause.

Jess PLEASE!
 

Pay attention to your body!?!?!?!?!!!
You have a lot of unique and peculiar chemical processes going on inside you...some of it genetic possibly, others simply chemcial changes brought on by responses to past illness or other insults [be they trauma, toxic or who knows what?] to your body. OVERDOING in any way that USED to be normal is NOT any more!
It is a two edged sword we all deal with in that we want very much to be as normal as possible as from 'before', your body screams STOP and your mind says GO! Your body is sending out protests in the only ways it knows how. Put off plans for anything major and start SLOWLY as if a newbie into that activity. You MUST go slow! Rushing things can produce additional damages.
When I was Way younger there was an old axium about athletics...for every day out of training --take three days for each day off to 'get back' to the 'before'. With the nerves, I'd give it a cautious five, and I am dreadfully serious about this. That is why with those who were as equally hurt as I was at first, I caution about the over-eager physical therapists...they've no knowledge of how fragile nerves are with many/most neuropathies-we have to educate them and it is hard to do. Every training step has to be slow, pre-meditated, cautious and super-duper careful. I can't stress this enough. Low impact, pilates-type and water exercises seem to cause the least damages at first. Building up from there? Well don't try to be a super-athelete for at least another year, once you are SURE nothing is progressing worse. The exercises you are doing now might just be a contributor to aggravating issues somehow.
Right now, you must treat your body as the precious miracle that it is! And, to allow it to heal, you've got to give it the rest and right exercises that can help it get better. This is a bitter concept to embrace, but a necessary one. Many [most] of the exercises done to build strength and flexibility are frankly BORING? But they are extraordinarily useful in maintaining basic functions from which to regain prior abilities once the time comes. Tired and pain do come with the territory, but caution helps manage it all. So, don't give up, just be super careful! Hope - don't lose it! :hug:'s - j

Thank you Shelly.
Believe me, ever since I got this pain, I am not doing that kind of exercising. I take walks to get some movement. That has been it for the past 3 months. It is possible that some of the pushing it could have been a contributor to my neuropathy. More than likely though the chronic constipation and the muscle spasms irritating the pudendal nerve.
I know what you are talking about though and thank you for the wise words. I have been athletic all of my life, so I love to do all sorts of sports and was preparing to compete in a tri. When I started having this burning pain, I have ended up on the couch most of the time, so that wasn't going to happen. WHen/if the pain is lower for the the day, like I said, I will walk, that is about it. So it is a change for me, I suppose while I heal. It is tough, as I am used to doing more, but realize i need to help myself heal, so that is what I am doing now.

:hug:to you too! Jess

I'm curious, isn't there a kind of nerve block that can be done to alleviate pain in that area? I recall something about that from childbirth information I used to have. I seem to recall it was called a pudendal block...? I googled it and here's a bit of what I found:
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/lab...endalblock.htm

This is a type of local and it may have changed as far as what drugs they use and how they do it. But I figured it was worth mentioning. When one is looking for pain relief any bit of info can be *the* bit of info, ya know?

Not a good pain to have. It would be like other kinds of pain that take you by surprise...such as sudden and severe thumb pain. Sounds silly I know but you don't realise just how much you use and depend on your thumb until you can't use it.

^^ Yes, tell me about it. Not sitting is difficult. Especially when you are a guitar and piano teacher.. I haven't worked now for 4 months because I am sick and because I can't sit.
Yes, I can get a nerve block, they use it as a diagnostic tool and also for temporary relief. i know women who have felt worse after a nerve block, so the relief if any, is short lived. It may be lidocaine that is used.
I don't need short fixes, but need to control the pain on a daily basis. Thank you for responding, believe me, I have done alot of research on this subject, i could tell you a lot about it.
;)

Jess,

Have you checked into pelvic floor PT? I had or have the same thing you are speaking of due to lumbar/sacral spinal issues and a broken tailbone. And, oh, yeah, chronic constipation makes this 100 times worse. I thought originally it was a pudendal nerve deal but it wasn't. My problem was the Levator Ani but PT (two different times) helped considerably. I understand what you mean by controlling it on a daily basis. The specialized PT's teach you how to control it.

And I am going to agree with Mrs. D. about the biking. I bought a Recumbent Bike to help with my knee pain. The darn thing is the more I used it the more I couldn't even sit on the thing. I found out later from the Urogyn that that and even Kegel exercises were the very worst things I could do at that point in time. Anyway, the darn thing sits there now and I need to sell it. :rolleyes: One last thing though...my Urogyn told me to get the nerves calmed down first before going into PT and I did that...had injections in the spine and in the tailbone blocking the ganglion impar. That helped and THEN I was able to proceed with PT. I haven't had any sit pain since then EXCEPT I will feel a twinge in the tailbone every now and then but that's about it.

So, to make a long story short...yep, the nerve damage causes spasms and you can get those spasms just as you would in your shoulders, etc.

Thank you so much Kathi
I actually have a Physical therapy appointment set for Monday. I made sure she was knowledgeable about pudendal neuropathy, and she has worked with people before. I just had an EMG( PNMLT) test done yesterday which showed pudendal neuralgia, "primarily affecting the branches that supply the pelvic floor." The Dr said that my pelvic floor muscles were tighter and that PT could help. I am going to have her work on loosing the pf muscles and myofascial release. As far as the chronic constipation goes, I have a GI disorder as well, and take meds for that, but I am sure that could have contributed, as well as the pelvic floor muscles being tight, it could have impinged on the nerve.
Thank you for the suggestion. Yes, it is lousy that i have this pain and can't sit. I am taking it easy as far as the exercise goes, and just walking basically. I may try swimming. I am not happy with the diagnosis, but I need to try and be positve.

:hug:

to Mrsd
 

what do you mean by this?

people who sit on
 

bicycle seats alot, can damage by compression the sacral nerve roots.

http://www.hobsonseats.com/medical.html

Constant pressure on the perineum may compress nerves there.
With biking it is more common with males, but it can happen
with women too.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cm...articleid=1348

Good luck with it Jess. :) And post back.

Oh, and don't be surprised if there is slight discomfort afterwards....that's normal. There may or may not be though; sometimes had that happen and at other times not. Just stay with it and I think you will find it to be very beneficial. The PT will explain it all to you. ;) I had or have GI problems too; actually GERD and Gastritis but they are both gone now according to the Gastro. But I still take a probiotic and Lactulose if and when I need it for constipation. And I did aqua therapy last winter. :) It helped so much that hubby put in a pool this past summer. :)

This thread caught my eye. It started in Nov. O7. Ended up being diagnosed as a muscle disorder in my pelvis that caused HORRIBLE vaginal pain such as what you are describing. Apparently, the muscles in my pelvis are too short and too tight. I went to a pelvic rehab center and had physical therapy and three months later I was SO much better! I was starting to enjoy life again after months of being in agony, and actually being bedridden on the weekends. Sadly, in Nov. of 08 I was stricken with the neurpathy, (body wide) that I have now. So much for enjoying life without so much pain. :(