Pelvic pain is also known as symphysiolysis. The term “pelvic pain” often refers to the pain in the region of the inner reproductive organs in women.
With recent researches, it has been estimated that about 12-20 percent of women have pelvic pain, and up to 33 percent women will experience pelvic pain during their lifetime.
Pelvic pain is one of the most hard to diagnose and manage diseases. Most of the time, this pain is just the normal functioning of the reproductive or other organs. Other times this pain can lead to a serious problem.
There is a greater risk of being affected with pelvic pain among those who perform heavy work or who previously have had back or pelvic pain. On the other hand, pelvic pain is also common among pregnant women with one in three affected suffer severe pains.
Diagnosis must be accomplished in very little time because some causes of pelvic pain (eg, ectopic pregnancy, adnexal torsion) need immediate treatment.
If your pelvic pain is severe and disrupting your life for few days a month or for longer periods of time or if you experience a recent increase in pain, then consult your doctor for early diagnosis.
The causes for pelvic pain are several. So be prepared for a long diagnostic process. Often, you may have more than one cause for pelvic pain and diagnosing the exact source is very difficult task.
In order to have medical help for your pelvic pain, you may consult either your internist (primary care physician) or gynecologist. In any case, your health care professional diagnose each possible source of pain.
Moreover, each source may involve different diagnostic tests and separate treatments. If you have more than one diagnosis, each can be diagnosed and treated accordingly.
However, in your first session, your health care professional starts the consultation by raising some specific questions related to your past and present health, family history, your menstrual cycle, sexual history, previous abdominal surgeries and symptoms.
Also, asks you to explain the type and severity of your pain and also the location where the pain is and how it affects your life.
As the information about your pain and other symptoms help your health care professional in his diagnosis, always maintain a pain diary with complete information about the pain and related symptoms.
Next, your health care professional will conduct a physical examination, which includes a pelvic and rectal exam to detect the areas of tenderness and also the presence of potential problems such as fibroids, masses and hernias in your body.
Depending on the results of these tests, he/ she may ask you to perform these simple, standard tests for pelvic pain:
- Blood tests for confirmation of the infection (complete blood count or CBC) and inflammation (sedimentation rate or ESR)
- Urinalysis and urinary tests
- Tests for sexually transmitted diseases
If, in any case, specific conditions of pelvic pain are suspected then you may be recommended for some more tests such as Laparoscopy, Pelvic ultrasound, Pregnancy test, and MRI.
