Living with DSP

I’m still here! I really don’t know why I haven’t been blogging because I have been on my game the past few days. I’m doing a great job working out, counting calories, getting my water in… just not blogging. But I am here! And I am feeling great. I had such a great work out yesterday. I cut off a huge chunk of time off of my mile and I beat quite a few of my PR’s. It’s time for me to get some heavier dumbbells, too. They’re just so damn expensive, but it’s an investment I am willing to make. I sold two pairs of my lighter dumbbells on Facebook, so I will put that money towards some heavier ones.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the constant pain I am in. I have blogged about it when I was pregnant (I think), but I have archived those blogs, so I want to talk about it again.

When I was between 3-4 months pregnant, I started having excruciating pain in my inner thighs. As the days wore on, it would get worse and worse. I talked to my OBGYN, and after feeling my pelvis and doing some things, she found out that I had Pubic Symphysis Dysfunction (PSD) that got so bad it turned into Diastasis Symphysis Pubis (DSP).

This is a great website explaining what these two things are, but I will summarize from this website and from my personal experience. Basically, what PSD is when your pelvis opens too far/too soon creating your ligaments to become too flexible and cause great pain. DSP is when the pubic joint opens farther than 10mm, creating your pelvis to become unstable, and your ligaments to tear. Basically, this is terrible pain. We found out my pelvis opened two INCHES and tore all of my inner thigh ligaments.

What this meant was I had about 30 minutes each morning of no pain. Then, for the entire day, I would have stabbing pain in my inner thighs… all day long. I could barely walk. I could barely climb stairs. Turning over in bed was the worst pain in the world. Pair this with being uncomfortable from being pregnant and it was just awful.

What does this have to do with today?

Well, as you can read in the article, most women’s pelvis’ will heal itself after pregnancy and the pain will go away. Mine did not. My pelvis is still opened 2 inches farther than it should be. My ligaments are still healing… and this is 19 months after giving birth. Basically, I still have a lot of pain. It’s WAY better than it used to be, but it is still there.

I still walk much slower than most people. My “jogging” on my running workouts is probably moat people’s walking speed. I am building my lower body strength from basically nothing. I just recently am able to walk up the stairs like a normal person. But I still cannot walk down the stairs like a normal person. I have to take one step at a time because it’s almost like my legs can’t turn the right way and can’t figure out how to do it. I’m hell bent on getting it though.

This is why it has been SO important to me to strength train and walk. This is why it’s such a big deal with I can raise my weights and can see myself getting stronger and stronger. I was pretty much blown off by my Doctor to get Physical Therapy. I was blown off when talking about my pain and have been told it will just get better. So I have taken it in my own hands. Epsom salt bathes help. Heating pads help. Ice helps. But my consistent work on my legs has helped the most. This pain has affected my back, so I have begun doing core training to help build my back muscles to then help my legs to then help me walk correctly. And I am really proud of my work.

I don’t want to go on pain killers. I don’t want to suffer from this pain for the rest of my life. I am working hard every single day to make this better.

I am posting about this 1-because I am proud of myself and I am allowed to celebrate that. And 2- to remind everyone that whatever your obstacle is, you can overcome it. If you want this goal, you will find a way. And I really, really believe that. You CAN do it!