Rough time with chronic pelvic pain

Hello!

I'm just having a rough time with my chronic pelvic pain. It's mainly on my right side generally near my upper right hip. It's been constant for a while, tends to fade into the background during more balanced hormonal periods and can be more problematic during ovulation or early into my period. It hasn't woken me up at night and does tend to feel better when I lie down or use a hot water bottle. Exercise like bike riding definitely aggravates it.

I've been consulting with Drs for the past year and so far an abdominal u/s, manual pelvic exam, and pap smear have all come back as clear. To provide some background, when I had my son in 2009, I threw out that side of my back about 10 weeks after he was born. I had problems walking for two weeks while that injury healed. I was also a long-term runner (almost made it to 30 years!) when I had to give that up in my early 40's due to pelvic and bladder pain.

It's been kicking up again this month and I'm trying not to fall down any HA holes. I started working with a bodyworker recently who does myofacial release. We've been slowly working on old injuries and this area has been super problematic for me. I had a medical trauma to my urethra as a very young child, (a procedure which was common back in the 60's and 70's but no longer in regular use), and I have a lot of fear tied up in that space.

Just curious to see if anyone else struggles with this? Perimenopause has been really unkind to me. I recently came across some research that showed that women who experienced trauma or had ptsd struggled with more intense perimenopause symptoms. I only found the one study so I don't know how true that might be but it does seem to be in my case.

I'm going to set up an appt with my doctor to ask for a gastro referral so that I can rule out my IBS or anything worse. It's just so weird that I have really deep emotional responses to this pain and discomfort. Just curious to see if anyone else is going through something similar. Thanks for any replies!

So, I'm going to reply to my own post to keep the conversation going. I went to my GP today and he wrote a script for an MRI to see if my right sided pain was spine or back related (I have a post-delivery injury on that side of my back). I also got a referral to see a gastro to see if it is IBS related. I'm trying to be proactive rather than HA driven. I think that there's a trap with chronic pain in that it's really, really hard to get to the source and too often those in chronic pain accept the pain as their "normal". I don't want daily discomfort to be my normal and I don't want my best days to be ones where my pain levels are less than normal.

Also, since I deal with emotional somatic pain, (and struggle with HA), I'd love to rule out any specific condition so that I can do the deep level work that emotional/somatic pain asks of us. I actually have to credit my mom who has MS with taking a proactive stance. While she never went the extra mile to keep her health in a good place and she is definitely at the mercy of her own somatic emotional pain, she's always been proactive with getting things ruled out.

I haven't scheduled the MRI yet and I still have to see if my insurance will approve it but I feel like I am headed in a good direction with all of this. If anyone is out there who deals with right sided pelvic pain, I'd love to hear your stories. Thanks for any replies!

I realize that this thread is pretty much a one-sided conversation but I wanted to update my post in the event that anyone else is dealing with chronic pelvic pain. Mine is right-side dominant especially around ovulation or my period but I also get rectal pain and bladder pain (that one is a long-term problem I deal with). I went in for a lumbar MRI today (no dye) and my doctor just called back with results. Outside of some degeneration of the spine (I'm 48) there was nothing of concern. I asked him point blank if there was anything outside of the spinal stuff and he said no. So with the MRI, the pelvic US, and the manual pelvic exam all seems to be ok. Nothing crazy to worry about.

I told myself that if all came back clear I would focus my efforts to get to the root of my chronic pain. I started seeing a myofascial massage therapist a few months ago and it's helped a lot! She does the bulk of her work on my right hip, lower back, and feet (it all begins with the feet!). I also started using this app called Curable which was designed to help people move past chronic pain issues, especially ones that are either caused by or greatly exacerbated by anxiety. I've been only doing the bare minimum with that but now I need to commit.

I just wanted to share that you can have crazy, ongoing, and strange pains in your pelvic area and it can be due to things like stress, old injuries, aging, and (in my case) a really harsh perimenopause. Hope this is helpful!

Hey thanks for updating this and I’m sorry you haven’t had replies to your previous post. I’ve been worried about my pelvic/ bladder pain. Had a transvaginal ultrasound a few months ago that didn’t show anything so have been worrying about bladder since then.

I do have Lyme disease which can cause inflammation so i wonder if it’s that but of course my health anxiety goes straight to the big bad C!

thank you again and I’m glad you’re getting to the bottom of your issues :)

Also sorry that you haven’t had any replies. I’m glad that you’ve been gradually ruling out issues though and hope that you’re on the way to feeling better.

Thank you for your responses! The pelvic area can be a huge source of pain and discomfort especially if you use it as a repository for trauma, anxiety, etc... I wanted to share that you can have ongoing issues and it doesn't have to be a worse case scenario. I personally think that it's a good thing (within reason) to rule things out but if you keep getting an all clear then it might be time to look to non-physical reasons.


Lady123- I have heard that Lyme's can create bladder issues. Do you work with a Lyme's dr? Or a urologist who is familiar with Lyme's secondary symptoms?

Thanks again for your replies. It's always good to be heard!

Just wanted to add that I am on day 2 of my cycle. It came three days early this month but I'm pretty sure that I ovulated on day 9 this past cycle. Anyway, I just stood up and there was that same pulling pain on my right side. It clearly is an area that fluctuates. Some of it I know is related to an old injury, some of it is chronic inflammation, and some of it is hormonal. I've definitely had good results with the myofascial work I've been doing and I am now planning to commit wholeheartedly to the somatic anxiety work. I'm happy to share updates of what works and what doesn't if that would be of interest to pelvic pain ladies.

Hi there
Just seen your post now. I went through months and months, maybe a year, of right sided pelvic or ovary pain. As you mention somewhere it felt like a pulling feeling, it was sort of inside my right hip and would sometimes refer to my back. My boss, an osteopath, has always believed it was tension in the ileum.
Anyway I changed my diet, cut out junk food for a few months. Went for a complete ginecological check-up and had a colonoscopy and when they game the all clear the pain just seemed to get better.
I was fine for quite some time and I have other gastro symptoms but I've not had that pain again. Now I have something different, but that is another story...;)
Oh and have had a VERY difficult perimenopause. I have now been without a period for 4-5 months aprox.
Take care.x

Thanks for your reply! I've been wondering if it might be digestive. I've had bowel issues since childhood which just got worse with age. I'm actually in need of a colonoscopy (the changed the age from 50 to 45 in the US) but I have so little desire to go through the procedure. I'm inconsistent with diet and might just try to stick to an anti-inflammatory one for 3 months just to see.

I have to say that since I got the all clear from the MRI my pain has miraculously disappeared. My perimenopause has not been fun at all either. I'm hoping to be able to get into the next phase of life without so many issues!