Some reading recommendations for any fellow info junkies 🤓
I had my consult with my specialist at Mayo Clinic last week and sure enough, I now have another surgery on the horizon plus an actually specialized pelvic MRI.
In the interim while I wait, my doctor recommended 2 pieces of reading material to me that I wanted to pass along! If you are like me, knowledge and understanding helps lessen my anxieties and fears slightly (both things that of course contribute to even further pain and inflammation).
- Why Pelvic Pain Hurts by Adriaan Louw, Sandra Hilton, and Carolyn Vandyken
- The Pain Reprocessing Therapy Workbook by Vanessa Blackstone and Olivia Sinaiko
I haven't started the workbook yet but I already feel that I am learning so much from the Pelvic Pain book and it is shedding light on other things that I've been dealing with since my chronic pain has worsened these last few years.
As an aside, this book has taught me more about nerve sensitization and I had no idea that over time the sensitization of your nervous system can lead to things like increased cold sensitivity. I found this one particularly interesting because the last few years I have noticed that my body (particularly my back all around my ribcage) aches very deeply/painfully when exposed to cold and I don't even live somewhere that gets particularly cold! I was an avid snowboarder when I was younger and spent plenty of time in the snow and never had this kind of bodily reaction but now if I walk outside in ~60 degree weather with only a light jacket on, I am wracked with pain to the point that I told my partner I was worried that something was wrong the first couple of times it happened. Curious if anyone else has experienced increased sensitivity to cold or other things after dealing with chronic pain?
Sending love to all of you, regardless of where we all are in our individual journies, this ish is hard!!!! 🫶