PELVIC PAIN

 By Joseph Hazan, M.D., FACOG

In this series we will look into

some of the useful information

regarding major entities that

cause pelvic pain.

The type of pain we will address

will be chronic pain.

Most acute causes

for pain such as ectopic pregnancy,

ruptured or torsioned ovarian cyst,

appendicitis or kidney stones result

in acute ( sudden onset and very severe)

pain which have to be treated as emergencies.

The Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes we will

be  addressing here are prolonged, at times

for weeks and months. They are characterized

by noncyclicity.

For instance painful menses are cyclic and

recur at regular intervals.

Painful intercourse

is recurring in character and causes significant

discomfort.

It is estimated that about one in

five women aged 18-50 years are suffering

from chronic pelvic pain for over one year.

The most important gynecologic causes

of chronic pain are

Endometriosis

Pelvic inflammatory disease

Fibroids

Ovarian cysts

Pelvic congestion

Adhesions

Adenomyosis

Ovulation pain

Cervical stenosis

Cancer

Pelvic prolapse

There are urologic causes of

chronic pelvic pain also:

Interstitial cystitis

Urethral syndrome

Detrussor dyssynergia

Urethral diverticulum

Chronic UTI

(Urinary tract infection)

Urolithiasis ( stone)

Urethral caruncle

Tommorrow we will address other

pelvic systems

also: