Interdisciplinary Chronic Pelvic Pain Program
I live in B.C, Canada and was accepted into the Interdisciplinary Chronic Pelvic Pain Program through the Centre for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis clinic at B.C Women's Hospital last year. (Quite the mouthful)
The program includes a combination of pain education workshops, pelvic floor physiotherapy, clinical counseling, medical management, and surgery (including advanced excisional laparoscopic surgery). I didn't need surgery but took part in everything else in the program.
Feeling familiar
Covid made it so some stuff was done virtually but there were two trips I made down to Vancouver to the hospital. Traveling down to Vancouver for doctor's appointments is something I first had to do cause of my younger sister being diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome at 5yrs old. It's like a home away from home for me, especially staying at Easter Seals House. It was extremely comforting staying in an extremely clean place due to the fact many immunocompromised children stay there.
The words we long to hear
Throughout everything, you are told repeatedly that it's not all in your head. I didn't care how many times they said that, it was refreshing every single time. I even made sure to tell them how much I appreciated that it was repeatedly stated.
He had to go
*The first GP I had to fire, he thought my case was too complex and decided that it was all in my head. When he referred me to an E.N.T because I had a stone in my salivary gland, he told the E.N.T that he believed it was all in my head. Thankfully the E.N.T told me what my GP said because the E.N.T didn't believe him. The next time I saw that GP he gave me a C.D with meditation tracks on it. If he truly believed it was all in my head and things were starting to physically manifest, it was completely irresponsible not to send me to a psychologist. Needless to say, I fired him.
Validation is everything
So for me, being repeatedly told that it's not all in my head and that the pain is absolutely real during the program was extremely monumental. On top of things, they even explain to you the pain cycle that we endure so you understand even more that it's not all in your head.
There's lots more to say about this program but I feel very faint so I am going to leave it as this. I'll post more at a later date. 
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