If you missed the first post on PFT, click here to catch up.

Yesterday, I had my second pelvic floor therapy appointment. I should’ve had it last week, but wound up feeling really crummy while tending to a very nervous guinea pig.

(Jaq’s doing a lot better by the way.)

I’d been doing exercises my therapist asked me to do. I didn’t think they were helping. In fact, in conjunction with these exercises, I have weaned off my muscle relaxers… which is great, but also not.

Since last week, I’ve actually had several instances of waking up in the middle of the night with these spasms we were concerned about in the first place. At my appointment, we discovered that the reason my pelvic floor muscles were so good that first appointment was because of that med.

We hoped I would at least keep some of that strength and less of the tension. Alas, that’s not what’s happened.

When MJ got in there for a pelvic exam, it was instantly uncomfortable. As she moved to working on the left side, it felt like she was scraping my vagina with the jagged ends of paper clips. A dull ache started and persisted through the rest of the exam – and even into exercises.

The muscle on the left that’s struggling seems to be one that’s also involved in my hip. This could be a part of why my hip and back both hurt.

Since that contract and release exercise was no longer helping, we decided to move to two other stretches – something similar to the wall hip stretch, but with the leg being leaned on fully on the floor, and squats.

These combined with the exercises I have from my spine/neck PT – it’s a lot. After back-to-back PT appointments today, I was really tired. My muscles are exhausted. Even more, my left hip is so tight it’s not even funny. I have to lean on things cooking or doing other tasks.

Still, I hope that this leads to solutions – even if it’s different than we thought before.

In other news, it’s World Mental Health Day. Learn five ways you can help end mental health stigma {gifs in link}.