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That Time I Wrote a Book…

book cover

Dear Readers,

I have extremely exciting news to share with you that will explain my blog’s silence these past few months. Blood, sweat, toil, and tears have been expended. (Nope, that’s overly dramatic Truthfully, I have only been expending toil, effort, energy, and love) into a different literary project that has been beckoning my attention. The project I am referring to is the book that I have been working on for several years, entitled “The Inside Story: The Jewish Woman’s Guide to Lifelong Pelvic Health.” 

That’s right, I have written a book which will be available for purchase within the next few months, with God’s help. My goal in this book is to help ease life cycle transitions for Jewish women. I want to share information about pelvic floor dysfunction and women’s health so that those suffering in silence can seek out appropriate treatment.

I feel so passionately about these topics and have the privilege and pleasure of helping individual women in my professional life. This book will enable me to bring help to an even larger audience. My hope and prayer is that God will help me educate as many women as possible, so that every single woman can have a satisfying and gratifying physical relationship with her spouse and with her own body.

As the title implies, the target audience of this (first) edition of the book is geared towards Jewish women, although the majority of the content is relevant and applicable to all women.

Please don’t get me wrong! I love and respect all women, and I embrace and look forward to the opportunity to share valuable information with EVERYONE in the next edition. That being said, I recognize that there are certain sensitivities that, as a proud, self-identifying Orthodox Jewish woman, I am capable of addressing. I also acknowledge that certain topics that I discuss in the book are considered taboo/uncomfortable, perhaps even more within my community than others. I hope that my affiliation with the Jewish community will help potential readers feel comfortable to read and benefit from my experience. And now that I have expressed in writing that this is only a first edition, you can all hold me accountable to ensure that a follow up version ensues.

So, please stay tuned for further details. I look forward to sharing more information about the book release and how to purchase it in the coming months, and I appreciate your patience with me while I diverted my attention elsewhere.

Yours in educating, enlighting, and helping many women in the coming months and beyond, 

Riva

 

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A Patient’s Perspective

Dean Marie Dolla and Dr. Riva Preil at Plaza College, Educating Women about Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

I’m happy to introduce today’s guest blogger, Dean Marie Dolla of Plaza College. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with Marie and help her along her healing journey. Marie is a brave and outspoken champion on behalf of women’s health. Previously, she has openly shared her pelvic floor struggles with friends, colleagues, and students in order to educate others about this condition. As someone who was misdiagnosed and needlessly suffered for years before receiving an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan, Marie is committed to helping others receive care in a more timely and dignified manner.

Marie arrived to our session one week and said, “Riva, I am reading an amazing book, “Living Beyond Your Pain,” and it has helped me so much. You should tell other patients about it,” I responded, “Thank you, this sounds like an incredible resource. How would you like to share the wealth and be my guest blogger?” Marie, in her typical fashion, jumped on the opportunity to help others and agreed to do so. In this blog, Marie shares her story and discusses why she found the book so beneficial:

“I am sure you know the difference between acute and chronic pain, but if you have forgotten let me review this by example. Acute pain is short term as in when one breaks their wrist or ankle. Ouch, but it heals and generally it ends there. Chronic pain is constant or intermittent caused by car accidents and falls resulting in musculoskeletal misalignments, sexual abuse or difficult births which can affect the pelvic floor muscles. In my case, my pelvic pain was related to caring for an aging mother, handling a stressful job, going through menopause, and not self-caring.

So for me, super tight muscles in my pelvic floor is my pain that requires a multidisciplinary approach. It took four years before I received a correct diagnosis, I wanted to get rid of the pain. What I have learned to do is manage it—and without medications that have been touted by mainstream doctors.

During my journey, I got better…then a little worse…and then better again. If you try to avoid the pain, you will only suffer more pain. So accept it? Yes. By not doing that, my world became very narrow. I denied myself experiences I once cherished. So I was introduced to ACT—Accept, Choose and take action. Is this easy? No way. I’m still learning, but my life is opening up again. Thanks to my terrific medical team-my pelvic floor physician, Dr. Andrew Goldstein, my physical therapist, Dr. Riva Preil, and my CBT (cognitive behavioral therapist), Dr. Jana Scrivani.

In this self-help book, there are so many great hands on exercises. One of the hardest concepts for me to grasp has been to separate my thoughts from how I view my total self. On my first draft of this exercise, I completed statements about myself from the viewpoint of my pain. This is so wrong.  I moved from “I am a person who experiences chronic pain from time to time” to “I am a person who enjoys teaching others new things. “ This technique is called cognitive diffusion. I need to practice this and to separate my thinking from my viewpoints about who I am—this whole person who has pain but who also has an amazing pair of red shoes. I am not my pain.

I am learning to take notice of my thoughts and let them come and go. This will help me separate my thoughts about pain and move me away from viewing myself through the pain lense.”

Marie, thank you so much for sharing your experience and for recommending “Living Beyond Your Pain.” We both hope that many readers will benefit from it!