Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Julia wrote:
Have my nerve block tomorrow. Scared, but hoping for some kind of diagnosis! I'll let you know how it goes.

Best of luck Julia! I'm having my consultation with the pain block anaesthetist this week so will be following your progress closely. Let us know how it goes! We're all thinking of you!

Birdlife & Lernica,

Thanks so much for your support. I'll let you know how it goes!

Birdlife, what a cute owl, is he yours?

I do hope the nerve block goes well today, I too will be thinking of you.

I very much agree with your advice about taking the pregabalin down slowly, 25mg or 50mg steps is the rate I increased it when I went on it, and I've been taking it down at the same rate. For me at least, the pain relieving effect kicked in quite suddenly at a specific level - very clear once it happened - and I am now below that level, continuing to take it down slowly though, and no problems so far. The fact that you've been able to lose weight since you stopped taking it has given me renewed hope, I know that it will be easier for my whole body if I weighed less than I do.

Once again, hope all goes well!

Hope the block has the desired effect Julia. Fingers crossed for you.
Glad you are making progress Lernica, might they give you a shot at the consultation if they think it is appropriate for you or will that be another appointment?
Take care all,
Helen

helenlegs 11 wrote: Lernica, might they give you a shot at the consultation if they think it is appropriate for you or will that be another appointment?

Ha! I wish! Unfortunately, it just means that I get to join another queue! Probably another 3 - 6 month wait!

Julia wrote:Birdlife & Lernica,

Thanks so much for your support. I'll let you know how it goes!

Birdlife, what a cute owl, is he yours?

Hi Julia,
Hope all went well for you today with your block! Hope you post how you got on, we are all on tenterhooks.
The owl isn't mine, he was part of a falconry course i booked for my birthday recently. Impressive isn't he!

Birdlife, that owl is just gorgeous!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On to my update post nerve block...

Everything went well. I decided to consent to left side only as this is where I perceive my symptoms to be, and the anesthesiologist agreed that would be the best. When they took me back to the procedure room I was quite overwhelmed by the number of people attending my block. I think there were a number of residents and interns, I would say 10 people total! But they were all very nice and smiled at me, very professional too and I felt I was in good hands. They gave me a little bit of sedation through an IV which I was not expecting but it did help to calm my nerves. Then I laid down flat on my stomach and they froze my left buttocks with a local anesthetic, followed by an injection of aneasthetic and then an injection of steroids. It was all over in about 15 minutes. My whole perineum and buttocks and thigh on the left side was frozen for about 2 hours and i needed my husbands help to walk me to the car and drive me home. The numb feeling was strange, not painful like when your foot falls asleep, just no feeling. I smiled when I realized I had no pain, then I wanted to cry! I think the numb feeling was distressing to me because I had my hopes up that I would feel normal for a few hours, and instead I felt nothing. Not sure if that makes sense, I was very emotional at the time!

I just relaxed on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, trying to just enjoy the non-feeling affect rather than worry about what I might feel next. Unfortunately, as soon a the numbness wore off the discomfort came back and some bladder pressure which is "normal" for me on a good day. So, by the end of the evening I was no better than the day before, but no worse either. I was relieved that my pain did not get worse, but was upset at night that this was not a miracle cure for me.

Dr. Bhatia (the anesthesiologist) said that the steroid takes a couple of days to kick in so I am still hopeful that maybe I will have some improvement later this week. I will post again soon to let you know. Please feel free to ask me any questions about the procedure itself. Do you think that i should consider this a successful block, in the sense that my pain was gone for a few hours? My follow-up with the Dr. will be in a few weeks and then i will get my "official" diagnosis.

Thanks everyone for the support.

Thanks for the update, Julia. I'm glad to hear that it went well and was not a painful experience, as some people have posted. I think that the numbness is a "good" sign in that it tells you that the pudendal nerve, when blocked, no longer causes you pain. So it sounds like it was a positive diagnostic result.

I'm sorry that the pain came back within a few hours but am hopeful that you'll experience more pain relief once the steroid kicks in.

Strange about your emotional reaction. But this condition has so many emotional ups and downs, so I guess that fits the PN profile too.

BTW, thanks for the warning about the "audience"; I'm not sure I would like that too much. I guess the procedure is sufficiently unusual for a number of students to want to watch it being carried out. Was Dr. Peng in attendance? I meet with him tomorrow at the Wasser Pain Clinic.

I'll be thinking about you over the next few days as the steroid kicks in. Please keep us posted!

Hi Lernica,

I hope your appointment goes well tomorrow! I recommend to write down any questions that you have prior to going in. That way if the doctor is rushing you, you can just say that you've got a few concerns you'd like to address before he runs off!

I don't think I have ever met with Dr. Peng. I had my consultation with Dr. Bhatia and he performed the block too. I find this interesting because I thought there was only one person in all of Canada performing pudendal nerve blocks. Maybe Dr. Bhatia works under Dr. Peng? Maybe you could ask tomorrow?!

Do you live far from Mt. Sinai? How do you manage with the travelling and waiting in the waiting room? I bring my special cushion with me everywhere I go, but I find that I always have a lot of pain after a visit to Mt. Sinai because it takes me over an hour on public transit to get there, plus waiting up to 2 hours sometimes for Dr. Gordon, then coming home again. Do you find it tough too?

All the best with your appointment, let me know how it goes!