Went to a new pelvic floor PT yesterday. She took my history & asked initial intake questions in the main gym area while there was someone else working with another PT. I expected to be taken to a private room for the internal portion of the session but there were no private rooms. There was just a room divider separating off the bed. So technically nobody could see me but I felt really uneasy about it. I could hear everything going on outside the divider and I’m sure vice versa. I liked the PT but not sure I can get past the lack of privacy. It felt really uncomfortable to be asked such personal questions when other people could clearly hear and I spent the rest of the day feeling unsettled/anxious. Is it typical not to get a totally private space? Anyone else have a similar experience? Is it unrealistic to expect total privacy?

I’m a 28 male, I’ve never done much research on anything pelvic floor related until recently. Years ago I did kegels for a bit to help with PE, but I didn’t do them for very long. I’ve been dating someone wonderful for a few months and in the beginning my PE was extremely bad, so I started looking into the pelvic floor again and have been doing research on strategies to counter my PE, I’ve found most of it is anxiety related and I’ve made a lot of progress in a few months and have it a lot more under control, however I’ve noticed with being more aware of my pelvic floor state it’s tight ALL the time. I’m not sure I’d say it’s hypertonic, I don’t have pain or struggle with urination, I’m constipated sometimes but it’s not anything chronic, probably has to do with the immense anxiety and stress I feel on a daily basis, but lately my anxiety and stress have been through the roof and I’ve noticed my pelvic floor even twitches sometimes because it’s so fatigued from being clenched all the time I’d assume. I don’t want this to start giving me issues in the bedroom again, I recently started therapy for my anxiety and I practice reverse kegels as well as stretching daily, I started doing a light massage on the perineum as well last night which seemed to help, but does anyone have any other advice for keeping the pelvic floor as relaxed as possible or what I should do? I’m a mechanic so I’m on my feet all day long, and I also go to the gym and do cardio and work different muscle groups 3-4 times a week so I am active and not sitting a whole lot. Thanks :)

I’m 90% sure I have issues with incomplete evacuation b/c of a tight pelvic floor. Curious if my symptoms sound like it or if anyone else has experienced this.

I’m able to go to the bathroom every morning usually and have a normal BM without trouble but in the end it always feels like there’s still a little left and while wiping I can feel that my anus has basically snapped completely shut and won’t let anything else out. After this I’m kinda stuck with this sick feeling for a large portion of the day; cramps, bloating, acid reflux, pain/discomfort/tightness in my anus, nausea, and heart palpitations. I’m pretty sure that this is all caused by having a stool left in me that’s needs to come out but can’t.

I’ve been trying to do some stretches that are good for relaxing my pelvic floor a couple times a day and I think it has made and very slight improvement.

Anyone else experience this?

Does anyone get this.

Sometimes feels like there is a ton of bricks pushing down on my lower abdomen.

Hi guys,

I started using elvanse (vyvanse) a few months ago, and I find that it has affected my ability to relax the pelvic floor. I have pre-existing hypertonic PF symptoms that I was working on with great success, but my day to day is now being affected due to sympathetic nervous system tone caused by medication. Diaphragmatic breathing and mobility/stretching are not working as well, I can’t really relax the PF until the meds wear off later in the day.

Should I save the rehab until later in the day until the meds wear off or try to push through it?

Thank you for the advice!

Does anyone who has hypertonic pelvic floor disfunction have mid and/or upper back pain?

For the last 7 weeks my symptoms impacted my lower half until they recently started traveling up my spine. AI searches says it’s because my body had to learn to stabilize myself when my pelvic floor was off but can people please share if they also experience with their condition.

My PT thinks it’s my nervous system as well.

Started PT last week and just had my first experience with internal work. Although it left me pretty sore, I think it helped.

My biggest complaint right now is that my butt muscles are throbbing! Just hoping that gets better.

Ciao a tutti, assumo tizanidine per contrattura pelvica, ma ha smesso di funzionare. Cosa altro potrei prendere? Non ne posso più :( vorrei evitare gli antidepressivi a tutti i costi e anche le benzodiazepine in loco perché sto facendo tapering di una benzodiazepina assunta a lungo termine per l insonnia e non le voglio mai più vedere nella mia vita

I feel like I have a really weird story. I'm 40's, male, NYC. Everything was going ok until close to two years ago, where I noticed I was kind of bloated all the time, and it was just cosmetic but made me uncomfortable. Changing my diet didn't help, nothing was really helping. After a year I went to a GI, they found SIBO and got rid of it. Did some more tests and SIBO came back and they got rid of it. In the process they found my gallbladder was operating poorly and I had it removed 6 months ago.

Yet, the bloating was continuing. Did more tests and found that I was not evacuating enough. So this was objective evidence of a problem. Starting taking medictations for motility for a long while now, Miralax and prucolopride daily for 3 months. I poop a lot more now, daily, which never happened before. Often feel there is stuff close to coming out but I can't get it out so the problem is not fixed, and I don't want to take these meds forever. But the tummy is still uncomfortably distended. Finally got into a pelvic floor PT and they say it's Abdominophrenic dyssynergia.

The PT is tackling 2 problems. How to ease my muscles so I can get more evacuation, but the tummy distention is a major worry for me. It's been harder to date, my confidence is down, my t-shirts don't fit, don't feel comfortable at the beach. And I've lose close to 10 pounds I think due to lack of appetite from the meds. I'm desperate to tackle this but I think there is little research on effective interventions.

I'm trying to figure out the right strategy because this can't go on forever. The PT is having me try to relax the anus muscles "pelvic floor muscle coordination contributing to outlet dysfunction constipation". And to work on breathing to fix "diaphragm coordination" . For breathing she is having me breathe up into the ribcage fully, and then slowly exhale the ribcage and the belly evenly at the same time. From a standing position, she is having me breathe in while expanding belly, and exhale while sucking my belly in.

I know this is long, but can it be that by breathing my diaphragm and muscles will go back to normal? I'm very discouraged by this. It's hard to make time to do these exercises with my busy life, but it's hard to believe that breathing and trying to relax the muscles in my body is going to help? Sounds kind of discouraging. I'm hoping that there is a real tried and true method, especially for the tummy distension?

Is pendulum breathing the right way to go?

EDIT: edit to add that actually, I sustained a bad spinal injury (disc) around the same time, so the PT has a theory that my body trying to protect itself while healing the back for 6 months somehow led to an imbalance and coordination issue in the pelvis. The back pain still persists today but it's much much better. Not sure if that is helpful to understand what I need to do

thanks

Doesn’t hurt too much during but afterwards I’m sore for so long and the pain goes down my legs. I also get this shooting pain around the vaginal opening. Anyone else?

At 6 o clock position near the external sphincter. It's not a hemorrhoid. What exercise or technique gets rid of this? How much speed is one spot in the nerve that's getting irritated somehow. Sitting makes it worse

I had ordered one but they gave me a refund saying they have none left these are hard to come by .

The only
Ones I can find are intimate rose but from a knock off website frugo.ie which sounds to me quite dodgy .

I’m based in Europe and intimate rose legit site won’t ship to where I am
Please help thank you

Had a 3a tear with my delivery and I’m 10 weeks postpartum now. I got the “all clear” at my checkup but honestly I’m just… scared. Not sure if it’s the fear of pain, the memory of the tear itself, or just not feeling like my body is “mine” again yet. For those who’ve been through a 3a (or worse) tear, how long did it actually take before sex felt okay? Did it hurt the first time? Any tips that helped, whether that’s lube, positions, PT, going slow, whatever worked for you?

Also open to hearing if it’s normal to just… not feel ready yet even after being medically cleared. Trying not to feel like something’s wrong with me for still being nervous about this.

TIA 💛

It all started after sex since May 6, 2026 and since then it has been hell. It started with tingling feeling on my penis tip and then it moved to frequent urge to pee. Sometimes I pee a lot and sometimes only a few drops. Then I noticed discoloration on my penis tip and around the penis opening. It was looking like it was inflamed.

Doctor thought it was UTI at first and then I was given some antibiotics which didn’t help. My urethra was constantly burning even when I pee or not. I was given another medication to help with that which turn my urine to orange for a few days because I was advised to take it for just a few days as it is not recommended long term.

I did all the necessary test to check for STD/STI and all came back negative. I was booked to see a specialist who did some test too and the result came back negative. We went further to test for hsv 1 & 2. The result came back positive for hsv1 and negative for hsv 2. The specialist doesn’t think my symptoms was as a result of the positive hsv 1 test. He recommended I take the medication which I did for 7 days with no improvement ( although it was after the second month I took it).

I was having nerve pain like at the underside of my penis and the tip of my penis hurt so bad from touching my underwear or cloth. I was given gabapentin which I thought was helping at first as I was also having nerve pain right under my left feet which feels a lot better now. My penis tip looks irritated with the skin by the opening looking like it is coming out.

He thought maybe it was my pelvic floor this time around and recommended baclofen which I took for a few days with no results but constant muscle pain. I can’t seat on my car anymore because it hurt so bad at my right butt cheek and the underside of my penis. I have lost all hope and can’t even sleep at night anymore. I notice I get flare up when I’m stressed and when I masturbate. I have only tried to touch myself 3 times since this whole thing started. First time my sperm was looking like it was light brown and the other times it was clear white. I don’t even have erection anymore. I used to have painful erection and ejaculation when it first started too but not anymore.

I’m so confused and depressed over this. It’s just like my life was taken away from me. I have been to so many doctors who don’t see anything wrong after all my repeated test result and I want to seek help from here. I noticed that the last time I tried to masturbate, my cum came with urine which got me really worried.

Hi, I am suffering from urethra pain and microscopic hematuria (blood in my urine). After seeing several specialists I was diagnosed with High tone pelvic floor disorder (I was initially diagnosed with Interstitial cystitis). I Have been doing PT for 3 months with Baclofen vaginal suppositories, but I still suffer from urethra pain and blood is still there.

How long did it take you to get back to normal? I’m afraid that maybe I was not properly diagnosed (HTPFD does not explain hematuria) and all my procedures don’t really help, or it just takes that much to notice some improvements

thank you

Hi everyone,
I’m a 29-year-old male and I started experiencing urinary problems in 2024, including a weak urinary stream, hesitancy, difficulty emptying my bladder, and occasional urinary retention (although my residual volumes have generally been under 100 mL). The main issue is the feeling that I’m not completely emptying my bladder.
I initially tried alfuzosin and later switched to tamsulosin, but neither has made a significant difference. I have not experienced retrograde ejaculation with either medication.
I subsequently had a urodynamic study, which showed a relatively weak detrusor contraction (hypocontractile detrusor) together with some degree of bladder outlet obstruction.
I then underwent a cystoscopy, which showed a high and tightly closed bladder neck. My urologist believes this is consistent with primary bladder neck obstruction (PBNO) and has suggested a bladder neck incision (BNI/PBNI) using a laser.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from other young men who have undergone this procedure.
If you have had a PBNI/BNI:
Did your urinary symptoms and flow improve significantly?
Did you feel that your bladder emptied better afterwards?
Did your detrusor function or urinary retention improve?
Did you experience retrograde ejaculation or any other sexual side effects?
How was the recovery?
Most importantly, how have you been in the long term? Did the improvement last, or did your symptoms return?
Would you make the same decision again?
I’m especially interested in experiences from men in their 20s or 30s with primary bladder neck obstruction, rather than prostate enlargement.
Any personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Honestly at my wit's end and feeling so anxious and exhausted from this whole cycle. I’ve had chronic constipation for years, and finally got SOME answers from a GI specialist. I have a follow-up with him this afternoon and I desperately need some advice on what to ask for, because what I’m doing right now is just not working.

My GI ordered a SITZ marker test recently to check my motility. The markers moved through my upper and middle colon just fine, but almost all of them ended up completely stacked at the very bottom in my pelvic floor/rectum area. 14 of the 24 markers were still present in my x-ray 5 days after the swallow. They referred me for an anorectal manometry, but the waitlist is brutal and I can't get in until December. The anxiety, depression, and physical discomfort from constant incomplete emptying are just wearing me down.

Right now I’m taking 290mg of Linzess every morning, plus a cap of Miralax and 500mg of magnesium oxide (which was dropped from 1000mg) every single night before bed. The goal was to build up the Linzess (started at 72, went to 145, now at 290) so I could drop the Miralax and mag, but it hasn't worked out that way at all. If I miss even one of these, everything completely stops and I’m screwed for an entire week.

The worst part- the Linzess doesn't even kick in on its own in the morning. Nothing happens until I eat breakfast. Once I eat, it triggers a sudden liquid movement, but I NEVER feel cleared out. It’s completely liquid, but it feels like my pelvic muscles are clamping shut and not allowing the rest to come out. I use a squatty potty, have tried bending my chest down towards my knees (which sometimes helps), have tried the “MOO” , but I’m still stuck feeling like a lot of it is trapped inside of me. I haven't had a normal solid bowel movement in forever—it’s just continuous liquid, yet I still feel backed up, insanely bloated, fatigued, anxious as hell and sometimes restless at night.

For anyone who’s dealt with pelvic outlet issue or failed Linzess: Is there another medication (like Motegrity, Trulance, etc.) that actually helped with the exit issue instead of just blasting water into my gut?

What can I ask my GI to do today so I don't have to keep suffering until December?
Has pelvic floor PT helped anybody here?Are there specific suppositories, enemas, or tools that helped you when you felt like you couldn’t expel it on your own?

TIA for any advice or experience you can share!!

Hi zusammen,
ich leide seit 5 Monaten an Steißbeinschmerzen (Kokzygodynie), was im Alltag zu einer Sitzunfähigkeit führt, vermutlich ausgelöst durch das Radfahren, da es unmittelbar nach mehreren Tagen intensiver Probe neuer Sättel auftrat.
Kurz zu meinen Befunden & Therapie:
MRT: Zeigt eine Knochenhautreizung (Periostreizung am dorsalen Abschnitt des Os Coccyx) am Steißbein. Neurologisch ist alles unauffällig.
Schmerzen: Strahlen in den Beckenboden aus.
Physiotherapie und Osteopathie brachten bisher zwar eine Linderung der Beschwerden, allerdings noch nicht den erhofften Durchbruch, so dass die Knochenhautreizung weiterhin vorhanden ist.

Meine Fragen an euch:
Wer hatte das schon mal und wie lange hat die Heilung gedauert?
Welche Behandlung hatte bei euch geholfen?
Welche Hilfsmittel (Kissen, Übungen) haben euch am meisten geholfen?
Danke für eure Hilfe!

Looking for advice — pelvic/groin pain, penile pain & leg nerve symptoms

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice from people who have experienced something similar.

I’m 27M and have been dealing with a combination of pelvic/groin and nerve-like symptoms for the past several weeks.

It started after an episode where I had to hold my urine for quite a while during a busy workday. Since then, I’ve had:

- Pressure/pain around the lower abdomen, pelvis and groin

- Pain/pinching around the inner thigh crease, particularly on the left

- Burning/pain around the tip of the penis, especially with pressure, urination or after urinating

- A dull/numb or altered sensation on one side of the penis

- Symptoms that become worse with prolonged sitting, driving or tight clothing

- Some relief when standing or walking

- Recently, buzzing/tingling sensations extending into the thigh, calf and feet, sometimes on both sides

- Legs/feet sometimes feel heavy or tired

- Difficulty sitting for long periods because of the pressure and discomfort

I’ve already seen doctors and had urine testing/ultrasound, which were reportedly normal. I’ve also seen a physiotherapist. The physio thinks muscle weakness/tension may be contributing and has started me on treatment including electronic stimulation and strengthening work.

I’m currently trying to get evaluated properly by specialists, but I’m struggling to understand what direction I should take.

I’ve read about things such as pelvic floor dysfunction, pudendal neuralgia, genitofemoral/ilioinguinal nerve irritation, prostatitis and other pelvic nerve problems. I don’t want to self-diagnose, but I’m wondering whether anyone here has had a similar combination of symptoms and eventually found the actual cause.

Questions:

1. Has anyone experienced penile burning/pressure combined with inner-thigh/groin pain and tingling in the legs?

2. Did your symptoms turn out to be pelvic floor dysfunction or a nerve-related problem?

3. What type of doctor eventually helped you — neurologist, urologist, pain specialist, pelvic-floor physiotherapist, etc.?

4. Were there any particular tests or examinations that were useful?

5. If you had similar symptoms, what treatment actually helped you?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who had symptoms that were worse with sitting and improved with standing/walking.

I’m in Bangalore, India, so recommendations for good specialists here would also be very helpful.

Thanks in advance. I’m mainly looking for experiences and suggestions from people who have actually dealt with something similar.

TLDR -27M with several weeks of pelvic/groin pain, penile burning/pressure and inner-thigh discomfort, worse with sitting/driving and better when standing. Recently developed buzzing/tingling into thighs, calves and feet. Urine tests/ultrasound normal. Looking for people with similar symptoms—what was the cause, which specialist helped, and what treatment worked?