Post herpetic neuralgia

Hi, I am suffering from chronic pelvic pain for almost 4 years. It all started after a herpes simplex type 1 (HSV1) infection. Symptoms are burning, tingling, prickles, and lately also sometimes itchy. I have been told that this is nerve pain, and that my nerve endings have become overly sensitive, irritated, maybe damaged by this infection. The medical diagnosis is post herpetic neuralgia (which actually is not quite usual after an infection with this specific virus. It’s way more common with herpes zoster). Due to my medical diagnosis I find it very difficult to access if there is structural damage in my body or not. My problem is: post herpetic neuralgia is not a diagnose that results from a test, mri or any ‘hard’ evidence, but it’s a diagnose based on symptoms. This makes it very hard for me to tell if PRT is something that might work for me. Also, besides pain, my symptoms are sometimes ‘itching’.
For example when clothing touches my skin. As far as I know pain and itch are processed in different parts of the brain. Could itch, despite of this, also be seen as “a sensation” that, in my case, is observed through a lens of danger? And if that could be the case, would it also be possible to make this itch reaction subside via PRT training?

 

Hi Karolien!

I was wondering how you're doing. I have many of the same symptoms, but then in my chest and arms. Have you found any relief? I'm also based in the Netherlands by the way.