In this post, 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