IMS

With all of my researching, I found a physiotherapist that lived right down the road from me that did IMS. IMS is a treatment where they take thin needles, like acupuncture needles, and poke them around over and over into your muscle. If you have tight muscles, than the muscles will twitch and kind of glob onto the needle and then release and relax. Needles aren't my most favorite thing but I was willing to try this and hope that it would help. I filled out the intake form and me and the physiotherapist went over it all. He did a little examination and found a bunch of the areas that I was telling him about, and so he said that we would start off slow to see how my body responded. The needles hurt and were very uncomfortable. We only did about three different pokes in the middle of my back. He then gave me a few exercises to go along with it. When I got back in the vehicle with Brandon and the girls, this big wave emotion came over me and I just started to cry. I had been warned about this on numerous occasions before, from other practitioners from the past, and was told that muscles hold memories and when you've experienced trauma, sometimes you will be met with an emotional response. I honestly thought right away that it was something kind of hokey but when I experienced it, I finally understood what they were talking about. Brandon looked over at me, "What are you crying about? Was it that bad?" I looked over at him, "I don't know. I can't help it. I just can't stop crying."

I was extremely sore for about a week, up until my next appointment. We kept on slowly picking away at this but not much was changing. A lot of my problem areas are in my pelvis and low back region, and so this one particular day my physiotherapist said that we were going to do a couple in the glutes, but to be prepared because it is a really big muscle and it could potentially glob onto the needle really hard. I was taking deep breathes, breathing in and out. My glute muscle had such a reaction and globbed onto the needle so hard that the needle got stuck! I was hollering on the bed and squirming around from the intense pain and begging him to get it out, but he couldn't. He just kept telling me, "You've got to be able to relax in order for me to get this needle out. Just breathe." He was trying to coach my breathing, like I was in labor, and I had to focus real hard on trying to relax enough for him to get it out. We decided that area was off limits and we wouldn't bother trying it again. I was even more nervous after that episode and had to pump myself up each and every treatment afterwards.

At the same building as this IMS physiotherapist, they also had massage therapists and so I thought I would try one of them out. By now I had learned a lot about my body and what it needed. Before all of this had happened, I just thought any massage therapist would do but now I found out that each of us has different responses to touch. One massage therapist may be amazing for your one friend, but that same therapist may not have the right touch that your body likes and responds to. I felt bad sometimes going in to see a therapist and knowing within minutes of the treatment that they just weren't my person. I made it very clear to this one younger RMT and she was a very kind and gentle spirit and very okay with whatever I needed. Thankfully my body responded well to her treatment and I knew right away that she was the right fit for me. It was great to have two professionals that worked in the same place that were able to work together and share their thoughts and areas that they felt needed extra attention.

Over the course of months of still seeing my pelvic floor physiotherapist, I got the call from the Women's Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Clinic in Vancouver ( the one I got referred to in this post https ://www.petiteflower.net/post/dropped) it was about an eight month wait since I had been referred. They gave me my appointment date and now I was to be ready to start that avenue. I felt really hit out of the blue and struggled with the fact of letting go of my plans that I had made with this pelvic floor physiotherapist in Victoria. Her and I got along really well. Parts of me were really nervous about how it was all going to work. The gynecologist from my hometown had told me that it was a whole program and I'd have a team all around me and it would be a one stop shop. With living on the Island now, I wasn't sure how it was all going to work with commuting and going to regular physio and treatments there. It took a bit but the excited feelings finally came and I was ready to tackle this head on and finally get my life back, just like the gynecologist told me!