3 Reasons to Take Unusual Pelvic Pain Seriously

Women are no strangers to pelvic pain, and most encounter the issue on a regular basis. Think about periods, pregnancy, and childbirth, all of which can lead to pelvic pain.

While pelvic pain might come with the female territory, ongoing and unusual pelvic pain certainly doesn’t. Unfortunately, about 1 in 7 American women of childbearing age reports pelvic pain that lasts for 6 months or more.

Here at Women’s Clinic of the Rio Grande Valley, one of the women’s health issues that Dr. Fernando Otero and the team tackle is pelvic pain. And here’s a look at why we don’t want you to ignore this common problem.

1. Your pelvic pain is likely signaling a larger problem

As we mentioned, women routinely encounter pelvic pain, such as monthly menstrual cramps. The pain we’re referring to here in this blog post is what we would consider unusual, which means there’s no obvious reason for it.

So, if you’ve been dealing with ongoing and unexplained pain, it’s a good idea to have us investigate, as it might be related to any number of reproductive issues, such as:

• Endometriosis, which affects more than 11% of women between the ages of 15 and 44
• Uterine fibroids, which affect up to 80% of women by the age of 50
• Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Ovarian cysts
• Reproductive cancer

Please note that we’re confining our list to reproductive issues only. Your pelvis also contains your urinary tract and your lower gastrointestinal tract, so pelvic pain can stem from these areas, too.

In coming to see us for pelvic pain, we concentrate our search on reproductive issues. So, even if we don’t find the culprit behind your pelvic pain, at least you’ve ruled out some common issues, and you can continue your search elsewhere

2. Early intervention is important

If we do find that there’s a gynecologic issue behind your pelvic pain, the good news is that we can treat it right away. As with any health issue, letting a reproductive condition go unchecked and untreated is never a good idea as it can progress and cause more complications.

A great example of this is an STI. If you have one and don’t treat the infection, it can turn the corner into pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Playing this out even further, some studies show that PID is associated with a five-fold increase in infertility.

Walking it back now, if we can treat your STI with antibiotics right away, you can avoid these potentially serious complications. 

And this same advantage of early intervention applies to many of the other culprits behind ongoing pelvic pain.

3. Get relief from your pelvic pain

This last benefit of getting help for pelvic pain is a good one — you can finally get on the road to much-needed relief. If we find that a reproductive issue is behind your unusual pelvic pain, our top priority is to target and relieve this pain to make you more comfortable.

As you can see, you have everything to gain from seeking our help for your unusual pelvic pain. To get to the bottom of your discomfort, we invite you to contact one of our offices in McAllen or Edinburg, Texas, to schedule a consultation.