Female Founders_Soleil Magazine_Iss5

The Women’s Pelvic Health Podcast
Hannah Matluck is a Holistic Health & Wellness
Coach, and is the founder, producer and host of
The Women’s Pelvic Health Podcast. This podcast
has become the #1 source for uncensored
information on women’s pelvic health, with interviews
from top doctors, healers and experts in
the field. The podcast is available to listen on all
major streaming platforms.
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Lead Brand Manager
Although the sixth months that it took me, from
onset to diagnosis, felt like an eternity, believe
it or not, six months is actually a relatively short
time to go undiagnosed with pelvic pain. Many
people with pelvic pain go years, if not decades
before they are properly diagnosed.
This new, insightful doctor told me that the
chronic infections I experienced had put my
pelvic floor into a spasm. My pelvic floor was so
used to being in this hypertonic state of stress
that it actually was unable to relax its muscles,
mimicking the symptoms of an infection;
burning, itching, and bladder frequency.
more about this disorder. Nothing turned up.
I immediately had the idea that I was going to
create a podcast of my own.
I have always been incredibly open, honest, and
inquisitive, and I wanted to use these skills to talk
about this controversial, often ignored and
undiagnosed problem that affects one in three
women, globally. I wanted this podcast to be a
platform where women could share their
personal stories about pelvic pain, and I where
medical professionals and experts could discuss
their experiences and successes in treating
patients.
My symptoms all started a few years ago, at age
20, when I had several of these quite bothersome
infections simultaneously and was prescribed a
series of different medications by my OB/GYN to
treat them. The prescriptions included an
antibiotic for the UTI, difluchan (an anti-fungal)
to rid the yeast and prevent any additional yeast
from developing as a result of the antibiotic, and
seven nights of vaginal metrogel for the bacterial
vaginosis. After finishing the prescribed doses, my
symptoms persisted; vaginal burning, itching, and
bladder frequency, every second of every day. In
fact, the symptoms were getting worse.
I researched everything I could think of that could
be related to my symptoms, unable to find
anything related to the topic of pelvic pain or
pelvic floor dysfunction. As I returned to my
gynecologist in complete agony, she re-cultured
and re-tested me, finding no result of further infection.
The medications did their job, she said,
ridding my body of the infections, however, the
symptoms remained. This is when my mission to
find out what was really going on began.
I spent the next 6 months jumping from gynecologist
to gynecologist, trying to find a proper
diagnosis. After not even the best, top doctors
in New York City were able to help me, I finally
found one who could. Funny enough, this was
the doctor my grandmother had wanted me to
see all along –a gynecologist she had gone to
for the past 20 years, who had helped her
navigate interstitial cystitis (IC), rectal prolapse,
endometriosis, vulvodynia, persistent genital
arousal disorder, and more. This experienced
doctor, a pioneer on the conditions of IC and
vulvodynia, immediately diagnosed mewith
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and Vulvodynia.
To be honest, before I developed chronic pelvic pain, I hardly knew what
my pelvic floor was. However, after months of weekly sessions with my PT
team talking endlessly about pelvic pain with them (my nature is to ask a
lot of questions), in addition to doing a tremendous amount of my own
research, I became intrigued and fascinated by the topic and was
determined to spread awareness and education on the condition.
I wanted people with this chronic disorder to feel that they were not
alone, to understand that they can and will get better, and to be able to
have a safe space to talk about this topic.
The doctor advised me to start pelvic floor
physical therapy(PT) twice a week for the next
few months. She also prescribed diazepam (Valium)
suppositories to help relax the pelvic floor
and a low-level tricyclic SSRI (selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitor) to help with the nerve pain
(burning and itching) that was a result of the
muscle spasm.
While experiencing some of the worst of my
pelvic pain, I searched the iTunes app for a
podcast on pelvic pain, eager to understand
I feel privileged to have been able to turn
darkness into light, making a career out of my
toughest moments. By creating a platform
where patients, healers, and physicians can share
valuable information with women on the various
ways to assess and treat pelvic floor dysfunction,
I feel that I am helping women just like me to
make simple, affordable, and sustainable lifestyle
changes to help resolve their chronic pain.