Arcadia + Encino
Menu
Arcadia + Encino
Pelvic pain may be truly difficult to diagnose since chronic pelvic pain sufferers may have an associated gastrointestinal pathology. The cervix, uterus, ovaries, and lower portions of the ileum, sigmoid colon, and rectum have the same visceral innervations. All female pelvic pain patients should first see a gynecologist and all male pelvic pain patients should first see a urologist. Since the differential diagnosis may be confusing, for example, patient suffering from irritable bowel syndrome could easily have referred pain to the pelvic region. To complicate matters, some health care members such as gynecologists, general practitioners, internists, may not be trained in various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that can be offered by a skilled interventional pain physician such as Dr. Minehart. Patients that come see Dr. Minehart should with them studies that include pelvic ultrasound, abdominal MRI, bone scan, and lab tests like CA-125.
Male pelvic pain
Despite thousands and thousands of hysterectomies being performed for pelvic pain, many times the patient will begin to experience the same pain 4-6 months after the surgical intervention. This makes me believe that the sympathetic nerves are involved with some of the most difficult pelvic pain patients and require a well performed sympathetic block to prove the etiology that patients are suffering from sympathetic mediated pain. Those patients may also benefit from spinal cord stimulator/neuromodulation
Common causes of acute pelvic pain
The most common causes of acute pelvic pain in women who aren’t pregnant are:
an ovarian cyst – a fluid-filled sac that develops on an ovary and causes pelvic pain when it bursts or becomes twisted
acute pelvic inflammatory disease – a bacterial infection of the womb, fallopian tubes or ovaries, which often follows a chlamydia or gonorrhoea infection and needs immediate treatment with antibiotics
appendicitis – a painful swelling of the appendix (a finger-like pouch connected to the large intestine) which usually causes pain on the lower right-hand side of your abdomen (tummy)
peritonitis – inflammation of the peritoneum (the thin layer of tissue that lines the inside of the abdomen); it causes sudden abdominal pain that gradually becomes more severe and requires immediate medical treatment
a urinary tract infection – you’ll probably also have pain or a burning sensation when you urinate, and you may need to urinate more often
constipation or bowel spasm – this may be brought on by changes in diet, medication, irritable bowel syndrome or, in rare cases, a bowel obstruction
