Pelvic pain is common in women, particularly during pregnancy and periods. It is generally defined as the discomfort of the pelvis and the abdomen. While this discomfort comes and goes, chronic pelvic pain is when the pain will not go away on its own and persists for about six months and more or causes significant debility affecting the quality of your life. It is then that you need to seek expert care from providers such as Dr. Uas Bozdogan, a Midtown West pelvic pain specialist skilled to diagnose and manage the condition. Your doctor will present several treatment alternatives to handle your situation based on your symptoms and unique needs. Here are several options that can offer you relief.
Use of Medications
Your provider will initially diagnose your symptoms and cause to understand the most appropriate treatment to combat and directly resolve the cause. Some over-the-counter medications can offer some degree of pain relief to help you keep on with your daily life as you plan to seek advanced treatment. Your doctor can also prescribe some more potent medicines if the OTC medications fail to provide relief. The dosage may vary from one person to another depending on the severity and additional symptoms experienced.
Ask Your Doctor About Birth Control Pills
Birth controls have been found to have a significant effect on relieving chronic pelvic pain. However, your provider must ensure that you are not trying to conceive at the moment or you do not have other health conditions that can interfere with birth control. Birth control pills are more effective if your pelvic pain is associated with your menstrual cycle and is cyclic. That is why it is vital to track down your pain and understand when it worsens. Many women complain of worse pain during ovulation and periods, and if this happens to you, you might benefit from birth control pills or other hormonal treatment options.
Consider Counselling
Psychological factors are well known to cause chronic pain. Therefore, if you are enduring stress, depression, or personality disorder, it might be contributing to the worsening of your pain, and you might benefit from counseling. Talk to your doctor about it, and they can help you find expert counselors to help you ease the stress to relieve the pain sensations. You can also ask your doctor about biofeedback and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which have proven effective in managing chronic pain.
Trigger Point Injections
Your doctor can locate some trigger point on the painful areas of your pelvic muscle that can be felt beneath the skin and often cause pain upon being pressed or palpated. Once the knots of muscles are located, they can be treated through trigger point injections which involve your injection of a numbing medicine at the specific point you are feeling pain. The medications block the pain sensations to provide relief.
Surgery
Surgery is mainly the last resort in managing chronic pelvic pain and is only considered if other pain relief measures are unsuccessful. Your provider can call for surgical interventions to correct underlying complications responsible for your pain. You might benefit from laparoscopic surgery mainly if the cause of your chronic pelvic pain is endometriosis to have the endometrial tissues removed. You can also benefit from bilateral oophorectomy and hysterectomy, mainly over childbearing age. Your provider will help you understand the procedures and learn what to expect.
Reach out to the advanced Endometriosis Center to learn the most suitable option to relieve your chronic pelvic pain. Dr. Bozdogan will evaluate your symptoms and investigate the cause of your pain to understand the best measures to take.
