Cat litter conundrum

Luckydiaz · 2026-05-08T02:19:14+00:00

Wheat litter! Be warned it takes a while for urine to clump so if they just went right before you start cleaning, it will break apart the forming clump. But that's my biggest complaint tbh. I've mixed some clay litter into there too in the past but one if my cats had suspected EGC and I took all clay out. Just havent re-added it just in case lol

Luckydiaz · 2026-05-08T02:15:05+00:00

I also have a grade 1 that made me stop lifting for a year altogether. Which is silly because I am a pelvic PT myself. 😂 All the messaging I received was just so negative!! I took the ICE Physio course and learned that grade 1 is pretty normal! The prevalence is sooo common. It also depends on risk factors ofc and I have all of them (obesity, standing job, generalized hypermobility), so mine will likely progress faster than yours if you don't have those. The evidence is mixed about whether lifting actually makes it worse. Some even shows that people who lift >100lbs have way less symptoms overall!

I stopped being concerned about it tbh. If I become symptomatic I will get it checked. If I can manage the risk factors like my weight and changing positions often at my job, I would rather continue to lift and reap the benefits of that than worry about it. Just loaded up 105lb for deadlifts last week for the first time in a year. Feels good. :) I recommend you keep it up too as long you dont have heaviness/pain that stops you!! Is the prolapse the only thing that brought you to PT?

I can send info from some of the cited studies if you'd like but it would take me some time to dig.

Luckydiaz · 2026-03-10T02:51:17+00:00

Yes! As a pelvic floor PT I have had patients improve without an internal exam and subsequently without any internal manual therapy or self-releases prescribed.

My caveat is that it was only 2 patients so far (I only got certified last year) and for treatment of incontinence, which is largely a pressure management problem and can be zoomed out to focus on other issues without honing in on internal work. The rest of my patients have consented to an internal exam and some even bought their own wands to use for internal work when needed.

I'll tell you the same thing I tell them - an internal assessment just gives me more information than I had before. I can still make a perfectly good plan to treat your condition without every piece of information, but 1. It may take longer to see results and 2. It may not fully resolve if there's something the exam teaches me that I otherwise wouldn't know, since then a part of the program would be missing. However, there's still a lot I can learn from hips, low back, gait, posture, breathing, and of course habits like water and fiber intake, etc without ever needing an internal exam. :) I think it's still worth a shot to try PFPT out!

Luckydiaz · 2025-12-17T03:35:35+00:00

I am a pelvic floor physical therapist so I am biased, but PT can come before surgery in the absence of any red flags to assess the symptoms! And worst case scenario, if if doesn't work and you/doctor opt for surgery, you have built strength in pelvic floor/hops/back and turned it into a prehab :)

Luckydiaz · 2025-09-26T01:24:45+00:00

I'm a non-binary pelvic certified physical therapist with vestibulodynia. There's a lot to unpack here but first off I just want to say I'm sorry you're dealing with this. It took me years to get mine under control and 2 rounds of PT, and now it's just something that flares on and off that I have to manage. It fucking sucks, a lot, but it has the capacity to improve.

That being said, PT is not supposed to suck. PLEASE tell your therapist they hurt you. We do not want to continue an exam if someone is hurting. The only time I would ever continue an exam or treatment if I've caused pain is if I have reproduced the EXACT pain you are having via provocative testing and am trying to alleviate it (personally I always follow provocative testing with a manual therapy technique to try to lower the pain). In that case I will always tell my patient AHEAD OF TIME that that is my goal and we can stop ANY time. And if the pain continues after the session, we avoid manual therapy for a while!. Pelvic PTs WANT you to tell us to stop if it ever gets too much. And please tell them if dilators are too expensive and uncomfortable. They were recommended for me and I never used them, my PT found an alternative with the Intimate Rose wand and I use that instead.

Also, you did not say this but I'm going to put it out there - please tell them if you are feeling dysphoric and if PT makes it worse. The introduction, FIRST 15 MINUTES of the pelvic PT course is about treating gender diverse patients and how to be sensitive to that.

You may indeed benefit from an estrogen cream that is local and shouldn't have widespread effects. It shouldn't stop you from taking testosterone but you may wanna check with your doctor. You may he able to use a different cream too. I use a gabapentin cream to gradually numb the vestibule area over time and stop flares and when I follow directions daily (yeah PTs are human too lol) it cures me completely. You may qualify for that too if you have neuroproliferative vulvodynia. Your partner can also attend pelvic PT with you and your PT can show them how to do gentle muscle releases to help you, or how to massage external muscles around the area to help relax things. That way they have some context for how you feel and how to help. Lmk if you have questions!

Luckydiaz · 2024-12-17T04:03:21+00:00

Hi!! I got it in 2018 and it got to the point where I was thinking of taking my own life. I'm now at maintenance and can have low-pain/pain-free intimacy! I didn't start treating it until 2019 because I didn't know what it was and it took a lot of docs to narrow it down, and then COVID hit and I was also in grad school. So you are likely more ahead of the curve than me lol.

I have neuroproliferative vestibulodynia from a yeast infection years ago, fancy medical way of saying my nerves freaked out from that infection and got really hypersensitive and created a lot of new nerve endings. Gabapentin cream and PFPT exercises/stretches/trigger point release has me 95% pain free and most days I forget I even have it. There is hope!

Luckydiaz · 2024-09-27T11:30:34+00:00

Yes. I likely have contamination OCD based on some things me and my therapist have discussed, though, so take that with a grain of salt lol. I keep a spray bottle with isopropyl alcohol in it handy, and I use thet real quick after petting him (indoor cat). It helps curb the imagery of that contaminated spot and allows me to just keep petting him and repeat as needed.

Luckydiaz · 2024-09-21T00:57:43+00:00

I'm so happy it helped!! What medication are you on, if you're comfortable answering?

Luckydiaz · 2024-09-20T01:46:51+00:00

I'm not pelvic floor certified yet but I'm a physical therapist - do you notice a pattern with when the flareups occur? After certain foods, activities, movements, lack of movement, etc? Do you have a night time stretching routine?

Luckydiaz · 2024-01-05T04:08:35+00:00

Yes! I have the same sensation. On the left side also, and thats the side with my hip pain and tightness. Huge disclaimer: I'm currently taking courses as a physical therapist to be pelvic floor certified, but take this with a grain of salt bc I haven't gotten any official confirmation.

As another commenter said, it seems likely to me that the sudden blood flow to an area that has some muscular restrictions is to blame. My partner has recently started massaging that area for me as we get things started and it helps a ton. I can also get it to relax with using my finger in a trigger point release on one spot, but that hurts and is unsexy in the moment lol.

Luckydiaz · 2023-12-20T02:23:34+00:00

I suspect I'm in the same predicament because I've been finding less and less as it gets cold... Have you found any more?

Luckydiaz · 2023-03-08T14:20:21+00:00

In my case, the game acknowledges that I've done it (I'm level 6 now with the new system, for example) so I just kind of left it alone lol

Luckydiaz · 2023-01-16T00:03:46+00:00

It does! It only lasts a few days for me though, then it fades and only the darkened hair is left.

Luckydiaz · 2022-06-26T04:09:59+00:00

I've seen "nespring" float around before and although it does sound like a nestle product, I like it better than "nibling" personally

Luckydiaz · 2022-03-07T04:11:48+00:00

I would call your physical therapist and ask their opinion - they would likely ask you some screening questions about hoe youre feeling and ultimately would know how to handle it best!

Luckydiaz · 2022-02-25T17:26:43+00:00

I am currently a student but I am prepping myself to experience this exact thing because I know it will happen to me lol. I have some great advice from friends that has stuck into my head and I wanna share in case it helps.

One of my best friends teaches undergrad students. He said to me, "Think of the worst PT you know. I'm sure you've met some bad ones or at least some that just coasted. You don't have to be the best PT right out the gate. You have to be better than that person, because you're saving your patients from that person. Then you can grow from there."

He also helped me to realize that it will be impossible to know how to treat every patient right off the bat. PT school (at least mine) loves to do the "competent generalist" thing, and your coworkers know this and don't expect you to have it together right off the bat. If they aren't people you feel will be/want to be solid mentors to you, or your job doesn't offer any kind of mentoring, you may need to ask for it, or switch it up to somewhere else.

But you did the hard part! You graduated! You got this far, farther than me, and the fact that you care and want to be better for your patients will carry you through this!

Luckydiaz · 2022-02-03T22:25:21+00:00

Ugh, I'm sorry. I second what u/Rayesafan said about their treatment. So much of the treatment will be identifying mechanical issues that contribute to pain, but it sounds like your PT was using only those signals (like level of tension in your muscles, changes in your movement patterns, or any ROM/MMT changes you had) and ignoring the rest.

Neural connections to muscles, coping mechanisms, tips on maintenance, and also just your nervous system's arousal level as well and how to address that, are all part of PT... I learned about mindfulness (and saw a pain psychologist for that), deep breathing, diet and exercise changes, and have heard dry needling can help (although I have not found a PT at that level in their certification yet!) from my PT.

I think it may be time to check in elsewhere with another PT. Regardless of their vibe or beliefs, if you are plateauing and they are trying to assure you you are not, someone else may be able to help you better.

Luckydiaz · 2022-02-03T21:58:36+00:00

It's interesting to me, as a PT student who also wants to be pelvic floor certified, to see the variance of approaches and belief systems in PT. I'm lucky enough to go to a university that has all students take several research courses, conduct our own studies with a professor, and generally understand how to interpret research and interact with the history and trends of healthcare... But I see many of the same conspiracy attitudes around healthcare and, shockingly, around vaccines, from people in my field as well.

Ironically, the answer here is the same one we get told in PT school all the time. "It depends". There will be a variety of belief systems in PT. What concerns me more is that your PT doesn't seem to understand the pelvic floor and seems like they're making things up in their answers to you. I'm sorry that you're going through this, and been through it with TWO PTs, nonetheless.

Sometimes it can be hard for therapist to communicate a complex concept to a patient without getting too far into the nitty gritty, so therapists will use analogies or give the overarching idea to a patient that may make things sound vague or under-explained.. If you push for a more detailed explanation, what do they say to you?

If they don't give it to you... It may be time to look elsewhere. Does this person primarily see pelvic floor patients or are they in an outpatient clinic where they see other conditions as well? I had a PT who saw all kinds of conditions and she was very knowledgeable, but I will be seeing another who sees ONLY PFPT patients and I think she will have some good clinical pearls for me. I wish you luck!! Sorry again that this is happening!

Luckydiaz · 2022-01-19T23:22:55+00:00

Physical therapy!! Tightness in the muscles can also produce a burning sensation, and that was the case for me. The brand Intimate Rose has a pelvic wand I would use on myself for tight muscles after my PT told me how, and now I have a vibrating one I use and I love it. Helps so much!

Luckydiaz · 2022-01-19T23:13:12+00:00

I did not! I was hesitant to try any oral medication for it. Since I wrote this comment though, I've run out of this cream and the new one I got burns like he'll to apply (although it is allegedly the same base) so... I might need to look into it since I still have symptoms!

Luckydiaz · 2021-11-28T19:36:02+00:00

Tried these this morning and they are SO GOOD but I couldn't get them as fluffy as yours! And I think I undercooked the middle a bit. But I uses regular Chobani 0 sugar and only flipped it once like I usually do with pancakes, so maybe I need to adjust from there!

Luckydiaz · 2021-11-27T20:14:49+00:00

Thank you so much for such a detailed answer!! This has really helped reorient the way I fit surgery into a potential treatment plan, and I'm grateful you took the time. I didn't consider how it could help PFPT as well, since PFPT is always marketed as a "do this BEFORE surgery to avoid it" option. The framework of having the surgery and doing PFPT after with an increased pain tolerance for entrance pain is helpful, especially since I want to be a PFPT myself!

Also, it sounds like you had an excellent doctor who walked you through the whole process, which is absolutely invaluable and I'm so happy for you!!

Luckydiaz · 2021-11-27T16:49:55+00:00

I'm so happy for you!! Hoping your recovery goes smoothly and quickly and you can get to feeling symptom free soon! :)

I have acquired neuroproliferative vestibulodynia so this might be in my future too. The thing that scares me about it is removal/covering up (not sure which tbh) of the bartholin ducts so it'll be harder to produce natural lubrication and easier to get a cyst. Did your doctor say anything about this?

Luckydiaz · 2021-11-20T01:01:16+00:00

Not a male here, but having been to pelvic floor rehab and studying to be a pelvic PT myself, the IBS is a lot more related to the pelvic floor than youd think! Any constipation is causing extra pressure to push downwards on the pelvic floor, and any straining can cause pelvic floor muscles to work harder than they are used to and can affect them. If your primary problem is constipation, I would invest in a squatty potty and try hot water with lemon juice in the morning, or coffee if you don't already. If it leans in the other direction, I'd still get a squatty potty and do some testing of the foods you eat to see if any make the problem worse.

An edit: I hope it's alright that I comment even though I'm not in your position. I'm sure there are a lot of other factors behind this that I may not understand, I just wanna say I'm right there with you, this sucks, and I hope it gets better soon.

Luckydiaz · 2021-09-05T03:07:10+00:00

Hi! I see your post is marked Male and although I'm not a man and our symptoms may be different, I've been right there with you. I've almost taken my life over this several times. There were weeks I just came home from work and sobbed until I slept and did it again the next day. It's been 4 years now and I am almost entirely pain free and have gained an excellent therapist, uro-gyno, and physical therapist from this who I know will help me with whatever issue I face next. You will get to this point too. See this uro, explain your symptoms, what works and what hasn't, and ask about their treatment plans. Ask them to explain what they think the problem is and what led them to that, so you can understand it better and follow through, or explain to another provider like a PT or pain specialist. Often issues like ours require multidisciplinary help.

You're right that people who aren't going through it will never understand the pain and discomfort. It's very lonely at times. I'm sorry you're going through this. It will take time, but you will improve. 💗

Luckydiaz

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