Here at DiscovHER HEALTH, we care about treating woman with CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN.
Chronic pelvic pain is one of the most common health care problems in our society. It is estimated that 25 million women suffer with chronic pelvic pain.
What is Chronic Pelvic Pain?
Chronic Pelvic Pain is any pelvic pain that lasts for more than six months and occurs in the pelvis or lower abdomen. Sometimes the cause of the pain is not obvious. At other times, the problem, which originally caused the pain, has lessened or even gone away completely, but the pain continues.
Approximately 25% of women with CPP may spend 2-3 days in bed each month. More than half of the women with CPP must cut down on their daily activities 1 or more days a month and 90% have pain with intercourse (sex). Although CPP is more prevalent in women, it can also occur in men where it is often known as chronic abacterial prostatitis. In men, the pain can manifest in the perineum, rectum, prostate, penis, testicles and abdomen.
Chronic pelvic pain impacts people across the gender spectrum including transgender, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming. For many transgender and gender non-conforming people, healthcare is not easily accessible. CPP is also poorly studied in this patient population.
Characteristics of Chronic Pelvic Pain
Pathology at the Site of Origin
There is or was an injury (pathology) at the place (site of origin) where the pain first started. This injury might be infection, trauma, a tumor, or adhesions in an specific organ such as the bladder or bowel. Persons with female reproductive organs may have uterine or pelvic conditions such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, whereas those with male reproductive organs may have prostate masses or infections.
Referred Pain
Your body has two types of nerves. Visceral nerves carry impulses from the organs and structures within your abdomen and chest. Somatic nerves bring messages from the skin and muscles. Both types of nerves travel to the same sites on the spinal cord. When your visceral nerves are stimulated for long periods with chronic, ongoing pain, some of this stimulation may spill over into the somatic nerves, which then carry the pain
back to the muscles and skin. In CPP, the somatic nerves may carry the pain back to your pelvic and abdominal muscles and skin. That means that your pain may start in your bladder and spread to your skin and muscles, or the other way around.
Trigger Points
Are specific areas of tenderness occurring in the muscle wall of the abdomen. Trigger points may start out as just one symptom of your pelvic pain or they may be the major source of pain for you. For this reason, treating the trigger points, for some people, may significantly reduce the pain. For others, the original source of injury as well as the trigger points must be treated.
Action of the Brain
Your brain influences your emotions and behavior. It also interacts with your spinal cord and affects how you feel the visceral and referred pain. For instance, if you are depressed, your brain will allow more pain signals to cross the gates of the spinal cord, and you will feel more pain. This influence or modulation by the brain must also be treated. Treatment can include psychological counseling, physical therapy and medications.
Remember that your pelvis is very important, not only for containing your organs, but also because it provides the support for your upper body and connects the upper body to the lower body.