Welcome from Dr. E
Sandy, my nurse, calls the comfortably cushioned high-back chair next to my desk the “Memory and Crying Chair.” In our practice, we usually meet with patients for about two hours on their first visit. We have learned that we have to do this in order to truly begin to help them figure out what is wrong and begin to “connect the dots.” By the time women find us, they have usually been through the wringer with doctor after doctor, endless procedures and tests, told that it’s all in their head, feeling worse than ever, completely demoralized and hopeless. They fear that we’ll just put them through the cookie cutter of testing and procedures, resulting in more of the same frustrations and disappointments they’ve already experienced.
We don’t.
Somewhere around 30 minutes into that first visit, our patient actually experiences the fact that we are listening to and understanding what she is trying to convey, and many new memories start to come to the surface … and what is happening to her mind and body begins to make a great deal of sense.
Experiencing physical and emotional pain over a lifetime can actually cumulatively imprint on the central nervous system in a permanent neurochemical fashion, and help to make some individuals predisposed to chronic regional pain syndromes.
In my practice, we believe strongly in integrative medicine. Along with the neurophysiology and myofascial pain issues, we provide an individualized treatment plan that may incorporate other crucial modalities such as specialized pelvic floor physical therapy, yoga, acupuncture, therapeutic myofascial massage, diatetics, emotional counseling, trigger point therapies and other relaxation techniques, all of which are vital in dealing with chronic pain symptoms. Our program has become associated with a network of well-trained specialists in each of these fields.
As a gynecologist, I also recognized that I needed to become much more familiar with urinary bladder and lower bowel dysfunctions, because at least 80% of chronic pelvic pain is triggered by non-gynecologic functional disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Painful Bladder Syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis (PBS/IC). Consequently, we developed very specific treatment regimens for these conditions including specialized medications, dietary changes and bladder instillation treatments.
Finally, we discovered that approximately 85 – 90 % of patients with chronic pelvic pain – no matter what the cause – experience sexual pain or discomfort as the main contributor to their diminished quality of life. The impact of this sexual pain on their relationships and intimacy is therefore enormous. So we also deal with many of the conditions of the lower genital tract that diminish sexual pleasure and increase sexual pain such as vulvodynia, vulvar vestibulodynia, vaginismus, pelvic floor hypertonic dysfunction, and even clitoral pain and sensitivity.
When these patients start to make their own connections, you can almost see the “light bulb” going on above their head, and it is often a very emotional experience. Tears often appear, even in the most toughened and cynical women we’ve seen.
Hence the “Memory and Crying Chair…”
We invite you to explore this website and to picture yourself sitting in that chair, telling us your story in our “Healing Room.” Every story is different, but it can be quite therapeutic to relay it to others. Plus, someone else reading your story may find comfort in knowing she is not alone.
Though each woman’s story is unique, there are common themes and common symptoms. Many women and their partners often believe they are the only ones who have these problems and they often have no one they feel safe to confide in. Even your best friends may not be comfortable hearing about pain generated from bladder, bowel or intimate sexual activities. Your suffering remains “secret” because there is literally no one to share it with.
We will provide you with a forum to share your frustrations, your experiences, your symptoms, your questions and, always, your suggestions. In exchange, we will give you the most up-to-date information on the conditions that cause sexual/pelvice pain and invite nationally recognized authorities, who are dedicated to helping women like you, to share their knowledge.
Welcome…
Robert J. Echenberg, MD
www.cpp.medem.com