@undiagnosed_pain I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time getting a diagnosis. I know how frustrating that is. I'm not familiar with the L.A. area, so I can't help you with groups down there. I took a health and wellness class at Kaiser that provided an overview of ways to promote mind-body wellness. There was some Chi-gong and some other movement time methods discussed as well. From that class I was able to decide which avenues I wanted to explore in greater depth. I have no experience with chronic pelvic pain, though Fibromyalgia comes to mind. Apparently it's difficult to diagnose and not many primary docs think about it.

My experience with HMO doctors is that you have to push hard for results. It took my docs 4 years at least to land on New Daily Persistent Headache as my diagnosis, and so for a long time I was taking a bunch of meds for migraines. I had to specifically ask for a botox treatment, and when they said NO, I fought that decision all the way up to the State level to get my treatment. It was frustrating because the in-house appeals process seemed more like a rubber stamp than an actual re-consideration of the facts. And still after having the NDPH diagnosis, there is still some uncertainty whether my headache is caused in whole or in part by my fibromyalgia (headaches are common for those afflicted with FMS).

Anyway, one of the areas that I think western medicine fails to place enough weight on is physical movement. Yes, Kaiser has a whole Move and Thrive message going on, but so often the docs don't prescribe it as being as necessary as whatever prescription drugs they're pushing. They ask the question and give the party line of recommending 30 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week, but there's no follow up on whether the patient is actually doing it, as they would with the prescription meds. I'm learning that the physical movemet of my body has much more to do with my overall health than i originally thought. My biofeedback therapist has "prescribed" swimming 5 days a week for 15 minutes because of the benefits of the movement. While my head doesn't respond to my efforts, my body feels better, and I feel better mentally that I'm doing something healthy, even though i don't feel like 15 minutes is a workout. I've known other people to find relief from yoga when they were unable to find relief anywhere else. I don't know if that may help you, but if you haven't already considered it, that might be a good thing to look into.

I tried Cymbalta for a few months in connection with Clonazepam. It was awful. Being on the drug combo was terrible and getting off the drugs was even worse. Apparently Clonazepam is a seriously difficult drug to wean off of. I didn't know that Cymbalta had any pain relieving qualities though - anti-anxiety, yes. Perhaps they are attempting to calm your mind in hopes that will calm your body? Another non-traditional treatment of sorts that i'm working on implementing daily is Meditation. Scientific studies have shown that it a few minutes a day actually does have a profound effect on your body. I just found the mayo clinic link about meditation, and funny enough, it includes yoga and chi gong as well. Though for some reason I can't actually include the link in my post. The site isn't allowing it. 🙁

The biggest struggle I think most people have, myself included, is that we are trained from birth to believe that if there is something wrong with us, if we are sick or in pain, that there is a quick fix, that there's a drug that will take it away. As I'm sure you know, eastern medicine definitely does not operate that way. achieving balance in our bodies is a lengthy process. one of my alt docs asked me if my life was in complete balance when i got sick. the answer is no. i was working TONS of hours, not working out, not eating well, drinking a boatload of diet coke, and not spending quality time with my friends or having any fun. And this imbalance didn't happen overnight. So my alt doc suggested that the "fix" wouldn't happen overnight either. I know you've been in pain for a LONG time, so you're probably not liking the whole "not overnight" part of my story here. I don't either. I still struggle with frustration that this issue hasn't been worked out yet. I hope you are able to find some relief soon, even if it is in some small way.