Glazer Protocol

I can't find the thread where I said I was starting the Glazer Protocol so I'm starting a new one! After about 2 and a half weeks of doing the two 20 minute sessions a day I'm having to take a break, I'm just getting tighter and more painful muscles now and I think I'm struggling to release them at all in between contractions so I'm having to have a bit of time off to see if I can relax the muscles a bit again. I'm pissed to be honest, I had high hopes. How are you getting on Sebby?

Sorry Sarah, for some reason I didnt see this post! Im thinking the forum has gremlins at the moment!

It certainly isnt an easy protocol! I had an allergic reaction to the abdominal electrode so had to get hydrocortizone cream off my dr!

I emailed Dr Glazer and he said to stop using the electrode and keep doing it just with the vagina sensor and let him know how I get on with that.

Just after my 3rd week, I found I had no strength! for a couple of days I was just unable to contract hardly at all! This then coinsided with a flare up of pain. Then my strength came back and the pain eased. odd!?

He did say the first few weeks would be the most difficult. You are exercising a muscle and it will get tired and achy. Just like when you hit the wall in the marathon. But if you keep on going gently strength and ability returns

I would say do much more gentle contractions until your muscles feel more able. less contraction and hence less to release

It might even be an idea to email him for advice! I did before I even purchased any equipment and he did reply! Although aol emails dont seem to get through to him. dunno why lol

Go on www.vulvodynia.com and you can contact him via the website

Thanks Sebby, I have dropped the number of contractions I do and the strength of them and the muscles seem to be gradually letting go a bit with a bit of forcing them with massage. The muscles just inside the vagina got so tight doing the Glazer protocol and the pain drastically increased which was exactly what I found the first time I tried it. I think I'm going to have to go at this much more slowly and gradually because of my very high resting tone and inability to relax the muscles. I really can't let them go in between contractions as demonstrated by my sessions with the physio!

I did email him when I was thinking about buying his home equipment but he didn't believe my resting tone could be so high despite it being that high every time I was tested (he said it had to be a machine fault which it wasn't because other patients weren't getting odd results) and had no understanding about Hypermobility Syndrome and how much that tightens and spasms muscles up so I didn't really get any help from him so I don't think I'll bother emailing again!

I'll just continue to do less contractions at a lower strength for a while to see if I can avoid the extra tightening. I obviously have the added problem of a lack of ligament support so my muscles are prone to going loopy at the drop of a hat.

Yes if you have another condition which effects the muscles it must make any exercise harder!

Do what you feel you can at the moment and take your time, any pelvic exercise will help to increase the blood flow.

How is it going with the Pregabalin? I am still on 300mg and I feel its taken the edge off

Thank you ladies for posting your progress with all this.

Much appreciated. Noni

I think you're right about gremlins Sebby, I replied to this thread yesterday but my reply has vanished!

It does complicate things having the lax ligaments, it makes it all a catch 22 situation because I need to relax my pelvic floor but every time I try I lose all stability in my dodgy SI joints which in turn makes the pelvic floor spasm up again. That's why I thought the Glazer method would be good but I really struggle with releasing the pelvic floor. During physio I only go my muscles down to about 6 for a handful of times and only for a second at a time, it really was a blink and you'll miss it kind of thing! Most of the time I'm at a 12ish level which is very high still and that's as far as I tend to relax the muscles so nowhere near enough. Maybe women are only suitable for his method if they can release fully?

I'm now doing only a few contractions and most of the time they're when I contract the rest of the local system to try and get more stability. I'm going to have to go see my GP about upping the dose of Lyrica, it's not working at the dose I'm at so hopefully it will work at a higher dose. Isn't it amazing how resistant this is to pain meds?

Yes just keep going at your pace and as much as you can do. Has your releasing improved at all whilst you have been having physio?

I find 300mg of lyrica ok and hope it stays that way as I dont want to have to add more just yet! The feeling of being drunk has just worn off in the last few weeks!

I am on my period at the moment and the cramps really interfere with doing the contractions. I only do small ones until I feel better.

Yes if you recall I was the person at a whopping 20 - 29 resting tone?! So the fact I've got my resting tone down to 12-14 is a huge amount of progress but still way, way too high and it's been a massive struggle to get it there with all the SI flare ups as well as the V flare ups. I haven't been to physio for months because she had some personal problems and had to take time off then I got some and haven't rescheduled so once I work my way through some of my current stuff I'm going to try and get back into it.

On the plus side I've just had 2 days of low pain and the one thing I noticed that was constant throughout those 2 days was my superficial pelvic floor hadn't clamped up, naturally as soon as I noticed this it started to get tight and my pain returned to normal levels but it just shows how relevant it is. If I could just get a ligament transplant....

You've done really well getting up to 300mg a day that fast, I really must pull my finger out and go and talk to my pusher about getting some more!

How are you getting on with the Glazer protocol Sebby? Have you noticed any decrease in spasm of the pelvic floor yet?

Well the vaginal sensor went mental! The lights were going up and down randomly and I got more pain. I stopped using it and emailed Dr Glazer who sent another to my work address...its not turned up grrrrrrrrr so I asked him to send it to mums address.

I have noticed that after not using it for a couple of weeks my pain levels have increased dramatically! I have been back to the dr and they have put my Pregabalin up to 400mg just to cope..its working either that or im just off me face again!

I'm gonna chase up Dr Glazer tomorrow at work, fed up of waiting....maybe the postman has stolen it for his own weirdo purposes? lol

How you getting on?

How weird, hope he sorts it out for you soon. Do you have to start from scratch if he takes a long time to send it or does the former work still count in your time frame of 6-9 months?

I've slipped back into clenching the pelvic floor so I'm doing badly at the moment, 300mg of Pregabalin isn't making barely any difference either. I haven't been to physio since November so I'm trying to get organised to go back. I bet my resting tone is up again at the moment.

Im really not sure if I have to start from scratch. I hope not I guess I will have to ask him. Completely forgot to chase it up today as I was so busy at work. Am so pissed off with this!

I feel like I have buggered up everything, including the low sugar/yeast diet, not even started the pilates yet! I cant get going with anything..think Im a bit stressed! All I did was inflate the gym ball yesterday then bounced it round the flat for a laugh..I dont think that is gonna help my pelvic floor lol

I am not to bad on the 400mg of Pregabalin. Am not drowsy or dizzy and feel less pain even though its only been a few days...prob to early to tell lol

Maybe try going up on the Pregabalin to see if it helps? If the side effects are too much then come back down again

How are you getting on looking for a new place to live?

Yes I think I am going to need to go higher on the Pregabalin, I've only just got to 300mg, it took me a long time to get past the dizziness for some reason, maybe because I'm on Ami as well? I'm getting fat too, put on 10 pounds since summer last year which I hate with a passion but I have to be honest and admit I am eating more on both the Ami and Pregab so I need to rein that in and get a grip on myself!!

You can use a swiss ball as a seat while you use the computer etc to get a bit of core work, it requires very little effort done that way. I'd be really, really careful with Pilates though that's what got me into this mess and you don't want to undo your work. The WH physio is supposed to be completely retraining my deep stabilisers because they've lost all automatic function which I'm actually looking forwards to! Believe it or not I've had to learn how to walk properly again at 37 years old, what a muppet I've turned out to be!!

Thanks for remembering about the imminent move, I'm staying in the house until it sells and my ex has decided he'd rather move elsewhere so isn't buying it anymore (unless he changes his mind again that is) so I'm keeping an eye on the rented properties in the area and hoping it's all tied up soon so I can get on with my life. There's one house I like the look of so I'm hoping nobody rents it before I'm ready to go. I think I'm clenching my PF because of all the decorating etc I've been doing to get the house in the best shape I can to sell it. I've really concentrated today and checked every couple of minutes what I'm doing and I'm always holding my breath and clenching the PF so I really need to get myself back into the habit of not doing those things before I start physio again so I don't have to re-cover old ground if you see what I mean. I was doing quite well last November (before my life starting falling to pieces around me) with relaxing the pelvic floor and actually felt like my pain was heading into the provoked arena rather than constant so I'm hopeful I can repeat that progress again. I long to post in the celebrating section!!

I've been to Dr. Glazer and tried his protocol at home for a few months. I feel like it helped a little with the muscle tension.. I felt my muscles a lot more relaxed.. But since i didnt have much muscle pain to start with i dont know if it was worth it. He said i should keep doing it as it takes longer to have an effect on the skin (vestibulitis), but i really didnt feel like doing this for many more months without even know if it would work.. So i gave up and tried other things that didnt work either then got surgery two weeks ago. If the surgery works for the vestibulitis (which i hope it will) then i might start doing the excercises again to get my muscles ready to get back to having sex..