If you’re like most of the women I’ve worked with, you may be missing one very important ingredient from your pelvic pain treatment plan….

YOU.

Your thoughts, opinions, and most importantly gut feelings about what treatments and providers are right for you.

And which ones aren’t.

I see so many women who end up at a pain level of 7-10 because they didn’t trust their instincts when they were at level 1-3, or anywhere along the way. Instead, they understandably did what their doctors and other providers told them to do, whether it felt right to them or not – and without realizing it, they gave their power away.

This is not surprising considering the almost “godlike” status our culture can give to doctors versus the usual bottom dweller standing afforded to our own inner experience. Most women, in some way, at some time, have been shamed – or medicated – out of paying attention to their feelings and intuition – and often by well meaning medical professionals.

If you have a sense that you’ve given your power away at any point in your pain relief journey, it’s ok! We’ve all done it! Until we’ve experienced a chronic illness or pain syndrome that our doctors don’t have the answers for, we don’t have any reason or motivation to break from our dominant paradigm and find the wisdom we have in ourselves.

You can start doing that now. Right from where you are.

The truth is that no expert, no matter how well meaning, brilliant, or experienced, can make good decisions for you about what is right for your body without your input.

• Not your doctor
• Not a therapist or psychiatrist
• Not a PT
• Not a nutritionist
• Not an acupuncturist
• Not a mind body coach!

And if they are telling you they can that is a HUGE RED FLAG.

An expert can give you important information and guidance about options. They can offer the treatments that they are expert in – whether that’s medications, surgery, a mind body approach, counseling, diet changes, PT, herbs, or energy work. They can make their best recommendations, based on lots of experience, about what treatments will help you the most, but the bottom line is that they are only an expert on their piece of the puzzle, and they are not an expert on YOU.

The most important information about what is right for you, and how to integrate the different pieces of the puzzle successfully, will come from YOU – and more specifically from your body (in the form of emotions, or what you likely experience as intuition or a gut feeling).

If you don’t think something is right for you, no matter what an expert recommends, it very likely isn’t!

YOU are the expert on YOU.

I have worked with several women that have been injured by or gotten worse from treatments that they tell me they KNEW all along were not right for them! But they did them anyway, and sometimes continued doing them for long periods of time, because they were afraid to speak up or question their doctor or PT, or because they “trusted” their provider over themselves, or because they just plain didn’t know what else to do

Which makes sense because as women, we’ve been trained out of honoring the wisdom inside ourselves – our instincts and gut feelings – in 1000 different ways from day 1. And, when it comes to health, we’ve all been taught that our doctors (or therapist, or PT, or nutritionist, or acupuncturist, etc etc) have the answers.

But the truth is, no matter how much experience or knowledge an expert has, and no matter how good their recommendations seem to be…

It’s important to check their guidance against your gut.

You have to factor in the information your body is giving you if you want to know if something is right for you. And first you may have to take some time to learn how to recognize and understand that guidance yourself.

Which is why it is so valuable to apply a mind body approach FIRST – before making any other decisions.

No matter what other treatments you may or may not incorporate, learning HOW to reconnect to your body and emotions and understand their guidance, will allow you to navigate your treatment with clarity and confidence – and make the decisions that will actually lead to relief!

A mind body approach will reconnect you to your body and it’s wisdom about what it needs.

It did for me.

Working with your thoughts and emotions, understanding your body’s language and the mind body connection is an important foundation for optimal healing and relief – whether your symptoms are 100% mind body or not.

 It reconnects you with YOU.

In my experience most women actually have a sense of what’s right for them when they start to pay attention to the guidance coming from their body. They may not trust it right away, but the more they ask, the clearer the answers get.

Right now, if you’re overwhelmed or struggling with any treatment decisions, start by tuning into your body to get a sense of what it’s telling you.

You don’t have to know right away. Just get curious.

Start to notice how your body feels when you go for different appointments or consider different treatment options. What does your gut say? Does your body feel open and relaxed? Do you get a slight feeling of excitement or peace about it? Or, does your body tense up or feel heavy?

Your gut feelings matter.

They not only matter, they are critically important! (Whether your doctor or anyone else agrees).

There are so many options – so many practitioners, modalities, and treatments to choose from that if you’re not tuned into your body, if you’re not checking in to see what feels like a YES to you and what is a NO, it can all get really overwhelming really fast.

The bottom line is that if it doesn’t “feel” right to you it probably ISN’T right for you – or at the very least it’s an indication to honor your feelings, voice your concerns, and get your questions answered.

On the other hand, if it DOES feel right to you, it probably IS!

Relieving your pain begins with making the choice to TRUST YOURSELF and trust YOUR BODY.

No one else can effectively lead your treatment without your input.

Remember, you are the expert on you.

YOU are the missing ingredient from a successful treatment plan for pelvic pain – or any other health issue!

It’s time to add yourself back in.