The pelvic floor dysfunction which I described some weeks ago has not abated—I skipped the pap smear at my annual exam so as not to exacerbate the situation. And I cancelled a scheduled cystoscopy, which the urologist wanted to perform due to the fact that when I have a urinary tract infection, I present with blood. However, this is not a new symptom, and I don’t really believe it is indicative of anything serious.
Fortunately, there is physical therapy available for issues arising in the pelvic floor. It would seem there is a great demand for it, given the amount of time I had to wait for my initial appointment.
Anyway, I had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, we were given a private room as my first appointment included an internal exam. As she talked me through the examination, the physical therapist was somehow able to make this potentially awkward situation less so. More importantly, she confirmed that my pelvic floor is indeed hypertonic: I am experiencing uncomfortable spasticity as a result of chronically tight muscles. She then guided me through repetitions of alternately tightening and then relaxing my pelvic floor. For those of us who had long been implored to practice our kegels, (which I remember to do three or four times a year at most), the notion of relaxing that particular muscle group was rather novel.
However, given my level of discomfort and my reticence about adding muscle relaxants into the mix, I am motivated. Off to practice!
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 
Hope those exercises work for you. Who would have thought we would EVER have to relax those muscles. I thought that came with age!!!
Roni, me too. Particularly as I usually played hooky when it came to kegels…
Linnea
Dearest Linnea,
I feel your pain. Several years ago I was diagnosed with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and saw a pelvic floor physical therapist. The treatments and exercises were very effective, along with warm baths, Valium and a heating pad.
Be well…
Tracy
Tracy, it’s a real drag dear, isn’t it. And it can happen to guys too (cyclists are at risk from sitting on those hard little saddles for extended time). Thank goodness there is therapy to address it…(in addition to warm baths, valium and heating pads).
Linnea
Ahh! Learnt something new! I wonder if we have them in South Africa!
Thandilocks–I hope so!
Linnea
I believe that three yoga postures help Linnea – plank, table and cobra. This might be TMI for some people but squatting when you eliminate also helps. As most of us do not have the hole in the floor toilets, standing rather than sitting on the toilet seat does help with these issues.
I have just re-read this – I don’t mean you should stand on the toilet seat!!! That could cause other problems.
Beryl, I just saw your second comment. And the funny thing is, I took your first comment quite literally. No, I didn’t try it, but what a visual. The truth is, many modern problems could be rectified by more squatting (we’d be more flexible, childbirth would be easier, etc, etc, etc….). And because you have shared so generously, I shall tell you a funny story about over sharing. When my daughter was all of three, she turned one day to a woman in the line at the grocery store and said “My mom stands to pee.”. It was a true if out of context statement and I don’t think the poor woman knew what to think. Once again, the visual could be misleading 🙂
xoLinnea