Is the juice worth the squeeze?

This episode is based on patient wisdom — the real-life insights my patients share in clinic that can genuinely shift recovery.

If you’re living with male pelvic pain, it’s incredibly common to start avoiding activities: sitting, cycling, exercise, socialising, intimacy… and slowly, life shrinks. In this podcast, we explore how to run a simple cost–benefit analysis (in a way that actually makes sense), and how to rebuild evidence of safety through small, realistic steps.

I’m Karl Monahan from Pelvic Pain Matters. These are short, practical 15-minute episodes built from clinical experience, patient stories, and what works in real recovery.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

✅ Why avoidance makes life smaller (and often keeps symptoms louder)

✅ The question that reframes fear: “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

✅ How to build evidence of safety (instead of evidence of danger)

✅ Real examples from “Jake”: sitting pain, gym bench, chair triggers, lap pressure, sauna/steam

✅ How to use graded exposure (small, paced, achievable steps) to reclaim meaningful activities

✅ Why “dosage” matters: doing the right thing in the right amount

Chapters / Timestamps

00:10 – Intro: patient wisdom & why it matters

01:15 – Avoidance: how small has your life become?

02:25 – “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” (Jake’s phrase)

02:57 – Sitting pain + building evidence of safety

03:58 – Cost–benefit analysis (without the boring language)

04:39 – How avoidance steals exercise, social life & identity

05:18 – Jake’s breakthrough: choosing “yes” despite discomfort

06:14 – Predictive processing: expectation can amplify pain

07:17 – Example 1: the gym bench (benefit outweighs threat)

08:55 – Example 2: “the chair” at mum’s house (and the dog factor)

09:34 – Girlfriend vs dog: meaning changes the body’s response

10:27 – Example 3: sauna/steam + rebuilding tolerance

12:35 – What are you avoiding — and is it worth it?

12:57 – Graded exposure: small steps, pacing, realistic goals

13:28 – Your turn: what “juice” is worth your squeeze?

14:15 – Outro + how to reach us

14:38 – Circle community (optional extra support)

Comment below: What have you been avoiding?

And what’s one meaningful thing you want back in your life — even if you start small?

If you found this useful, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs it.

✨ JOIN THE PELVIC PAIN MATTERS CIRCLE — OUR PRIVATE ONLINE COMMUNITY

If you’re ready for support, structure, guidance, and community — this is where your next step begins. Click here for more information - https://pelvic-pain-matters-community.circle.so/checkout/ppm-entry-fee?utm_campaign=button_list_ThePelvicPainMattersCommunityCircle&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio

If you’re tired of going through pelvic pain alone, endlessly researching, or trying to piece everything together yourself, the Circle is where your recovery gets supported properly.

This is a private, off-social-media community for men who want:

✔ Real guidance (not random forum advice)

✔ A place to ask questions without embarrassment

✔ Consistent support during flare-ups and setbacks

✔ A structured way to learn, grow, and actually move forward

✔ Connection with men who get it — because they’re living it too

Inside the Circle, you’ll get:

🔹 Monthly success stories

🔹 Movement + mobility videos

🔹 Breathwork sessions

🔹 Pain understanding & recovery education

🔹 Tools to help you regulate your system, reduce uncertainty, and find steadier recovery

It’s the space I wish I had when I was in the darkest parts of pelvic pain.

If you’re ready for support, structure, guidance, and community — this is where your next step begins. Click here for more information - https://pelvic-pain-matters-community...

#PelvicPainMatters #MalePelvicPain #CPPS #PelvicPainRecovery #ChronicPain #PainScience #MensHealth #GradedExposure #SittingPain #PatientWisdom

In this episode of my Friday Takeaway series, we look beyond the pelvic floor again… this time diving even deeper into dopamine and its role in this complex condition.

I’m Karl Monahan, founder of Pelvic Pain Matters, clinical director of The Pelvic Pain Clinic… and someone who has lived through chronic pelvic pain myself. I get how consuming and frightening these patterns can become. In male pelvic pain, it’s not just what’s happening in the pelvic floor — it’s what your whole system predicts is about to happen.

In this Friday Takeaway, I continue our dopamine series by exploring prediction, anticipation, and “scanning” behaviours — the loops that can quietly fuel symptoms, flare-ups, urgency, and fear.

I’m Karl Monahan, founder of Pelvic Pain Matters, clinical director of The Pelvic Pain Clinic, and a former pelvic pain sufferer myself. These episodes are short, practical snippets to help: patients navigate pelvic pain more successfully clinicians broaden assessment beyond the pelvic floor partners/loved ones better understand what someone is going through In this episode you’ll learn:

✅ Why the brain is less a “receiver” and more a predictor

✅ How pelvic pain can become a self-fulfilling prophecy (without being “in your head”)

✅ Why morning symptom-checking and body scanning ramps up threat

✅ How dopamine fuels urgency, catastrophising, and anticipation loops

✅ A simple 90-second breathing “firebreak” to interrupt the cycle

✅ How to re-train prediction using mismatch journaling (“what I feared” vs “what happened”)

✅ How to shift your system from threat → trust, one small degree at a time Recovery isn’t about flipping an off-switch. It’s about changing your relationship with sensations, thoughts, and uncertainty — and teaching your system that not every signal equals danger.

Do you notice yourself scanning for symptoms in the morning, before sitting, travel, or sex? Drop a comment — what pattern traps you most, and what helps you shift it?

OIN THE PELVIC PAIN MATTERS CIRCLE — OUR PRIVATE ONLINE COMMUNITY

If you’re ready for support, structure, guidance, and community — this is where your next step begins. Click here for more information -

https://pelvic-pain-matters-community...

If you’re tired of going through pelvic pain alone, endlessly researching, or trying to piece everything together yourself, the Circle is where your recovery gets supported properly. This is a private, off-social-media community for men who want:

✔ Real guidance (not random forum advice)

✔ A place to ask questions without embarrassment

✔ Consistent support during flare-ups and setbacks

✔ A structured way to learn, grow, and actually move forward

✔ Connection with men who get it — because they’re living it too Inside the Circle, you’ll get: 🔹 Monthly success stories

🔹 Movement + mobility videos

🔹 Breathwork sessions

🔹 Pain understanding & recovery education

🔹 Tools to help you regulate your system, reduce uncertainty, and find steadier recovery

It’s the space I wish I had when I was in the darkest parts of pelvic pain. If you’re ready for support, structure, guidance, and community — this is where your next step begins.

Click here for more information - https://pelvic-pain-matters-community...

#PelvicPainMatters #MalePelvicPain #CPPS #PelvicPainRecovery #DopamineDetox #PainScience #MindBodyConnection #ChronicPainSupport #PelvicHealthForMen #PelvicFloorDysfunction #MenWithPelvicPain #PelvicPainHelp

We often think dopamine is the “feel-good” chemical — but there’s a darker side that plays a powerful role in male pelvic pain.

In this episode of my Friday Takeaway series, we look beyond the pelvic floor again… this time diving into how anticipation, fear, scanning, and craving for relief can reinforce pain cycles and keep your system stuck in protection mode.

I’m Karl Monahan, founder of Pelvic Pain Matters, clinical director of The Pelvic Pain Clinic… and someone who has lived through chronic pelvic pain myself. I get how consuming and frightening these patterns can become.

🔍 In this episode, we explore:

✔ Why dopamine drives anticipation and pain prediction

✔ “Scanning” behaviours: checking symptoms on waking

✔ Fear before sitting, sex, or activity — and how that fuels pain

✔ Why hope can become stressful when it hangs on outcomes

✔ Understanding pain as a processing problem, not “in your head”

✔ Practical strategies to dial down urgency and create space to recover

✔ How to replace fear-driven habits with safety-driven curiosity When we begin to understand the brain–body cycle, everything starts to make more sense — and recovery becomes more possible.

💬 Chat to Me Do you recognise these patterns?

How does anticipation or scanning show up in your day?

Share in the comments — your insight might help someone else.

✨ JOIN THE PELVIC PAIN MATTERS CIRCLE — OUR PRIVATE ONLINE COMMUNITY If you’re ready for support, structure, guidance, and community — this is where your next step begins.

Click here for more information - https://pelvic-pain-matters-community...

If you’re tired of going through pelvic pain alone, endlessly researching, or trying to piece everything together yourself, the Circle is where your recovery gets supported properly.

This is a private, off-social-media community for men who want:

✔ Real guidance (not random forum advice)

✔ A place to ask questions without embarrassment

✔ Consistent support during flare-ups and setbacks

✔ A structured way to learn, grow, and actually move forward

✔ Connection with men who get it — because they’re living it too

Inside the Circle, you’ll get: 🔹 Monthly success stories 🔹 Movement + mobility videos 🔹 Breathwork sessions 🔹 Pain understanding & recovery education 🔹 Tools to help you regulate your system, reduce uncertainty, and find steadier recovery

It’s the space I wish I had when I was in the darkest parts of pelvic pain. If you’re ready for support, structure, guidance, and community — this is where your next step begins.

Click here for more information - https://pelvic-pain-matters-community...

#PelvicPainMatters #MalePelvicPain #CPPS #PelvicPainRecovery #DopamineDetox #PainScience #MindBodyConnection #ChronicPainSupport #PelvicHealthForMen #PelvicFloorDysfunction #MenWithPelvicPain #PelvicPainHelp