Is PN always one sided?

[sweetMama]

Hello

My pain of PN is actually on both sides. I am not sure I understand it. If it is nerve damage, I would assume it will be one sided?
When I have sciatica, it is on one leg usually, not both sided.

[April]

Hi SweetMama,

It is unusual to have entrapment on both sides, but one-sided entrapment creates pain on both sides. The side with the entrapment may get sharp or stabbing pain but send burning pain throughout the pelvic floor. But pn pain can very often be caused by things other than entrapment, so in those cases I think the pain can easily be similar on both sides.

April

[sweetMama]

I had hysterectomy 2 months ago and started to feel the pain 1 month into recovery.
It is strange but most of my pain is either with clitoris or honestly both sides almost the same.
I don’t get it

[Violet M]

Often with an entrapment you are more likely to have worse pain on one side, but it is possible to be entrapped on both sides. Like April said, you can have pudendal neuralgia without entrapment, or over time the pain can spread throughout the pelvic, especially if the pelvic floor muscles become tense from the pain. Some other typical signs of entrapment are pain with sitting and a reduction in pain at least temporarily with a nerve block. Each person is different though, and not everyone has "typical" symptoms. Have you been evaluated by a pelvic floor PT yet or had diagnostic pudendal nerve blocks yet?

Violet

[sweetMama]

Often with an entrapment you are more likely to have worse pain on one side, but it is possible to be entrapped on both sides. Like April said, you can have pudendal neuralgia without entrapment, or over time the pain can spread throughout the pelvic, especially if the pelvic floor muscles become tense from the pain. Some other typical signs of entrapment are pain with sitting and a reduction in pain at least temporarily with a nerve block. Each person is different though, and not everyone has "typical" symptoms. Have you been evaluated by a pelvic floor PT yet or had diagnostic pudendal nerve blocks yet?

Violet

My worst pain is with sitting
I have started pelvic floor pt but not sure they will diagnose me?
I have not had yet pudendal nerve blocks. Trying pt and gabapentin for few more weeks I guess.
But it is also very hard to find locally pt that really is skilled in this condition. I had 3 sessions so far and all 3 aggravated my pain I think because she keeps trying to do too much on me at once ( like triggers massage ) and I end up not knowing what triggered it.

[Violet M]

Pelvic floor PT aggravated my pain before PNE surgery too. I decided to stop doing it because I couldn't see the point in aggravating an already irritated nerve.

It depends on the PT as to whether they will give you a diagnosis. Mine diagnosed me when the local doctors had no clue. She pressed on the nerve at the ischial spine and Alcock's canal and figured out right away that the pudendal nerve was irritated. After the PT session I went home and started reading about PN/PNE on the forums and was shocked at how my symptoms fit exactly.

So, basically I think it's good to get an evaluation by a PT but if the treatments cause a flare-up it I think you would want to consider discontinuing it

Violet