Living With Chronic Pelvic Pain

For anyone living with chronic pain, it can often feel like an everyday battle to get through your day-to-day — your quality of life can suffer. Chronic pelvic pain is no different.

What is Chronic Pelvic Pain?

Pain in the pelvic area (below the belly button, between your hips) that lasts for six months or longer is considered chronic. The pain does not have to be constant. For some, it may come and go. For many, the pain can follow certain patterns and occur at specific times of the day or month. Menstruation and before or after eating are some examples.

Pelvic pain can affect you in different ways. Some common symptoms include:

• Dull aching
• Sharp pains or cramping
• Pressure or heaviness feeling, usually deep within your pelvis

What Are The Common Causes?

Several conditions can cause pelvic pain. Though some of the most common causes come from the reproductive organs, issues with bowels and the urinary tract can also be to blame. Often a diagnosis can be hard to pinpoint, and for many women, a combination of things could lead to their chronic pain. Some common causes include:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Endometriosis
• Chronic pelvic inflammatory disease

Diagnosing Chronic Pelvic Pain

After going over your medical history and symptoms, your health care provider will do a physical exam as well as a pelvic exam. Depending on how you are experiencing your pain, further testing and a visit with a specialist might be suggested.

Treatment Options

Ultimately, if a specific cause is pinpointed, your treatment will be based around the cause. If there is no apparent cause, treatment will be to relieve pain and manage symptoms to help improve your quality of life. Therapies, lifestyle changes, medications, and in some cases, surgery can all help relieve chronic pelvic pain.

A common issue, chronic pain can affect the quality of life, making even the usual daily activities hard. At Henry County Pain Management, we can work with you to create a custom pain management plan, so you can stop noticing the pain and begin seeing life.