May, Pelvic Pain Awareness Month

“The month of May is Chronic Pelvic Pain Awareness month. It affects 1 in 4 women globally, 41% never seek medical attention and 61% do not have a proper diagnosis or are without treatment.

Ana Tulia Gutiérrez is the manager of ‘Algia’, a medical unit specialized in improving women’s health, which provides gynecology services with a special focus on the management of patients with pelvic pain and endometriosis, offers laparoscopic or minimally invasive surgery, and They have diagnostic and therapeutic aids to accompany women in their feminine process. The doctors who work there are internationally recognized for their extensive knowledge, which is why yesterday they held the first ‘Symposium on Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis’ in the Coffee Region, although they have already held other events of this type in other departments of Colombia.

Dr. Juan Diego Villegas is a gynecologist and is part of the advanced gynecological laparoscopy unit for pelvic pain ‘Algia’ in Pereira. In an interview with El Diario, he shared his knowledge related to this topic and commented that “Chronic pelvic pain is a frequent condition, one in four women in her life has chronic pelvic pain and negatively affects the quality of life, patients have cognitive, sexual and emotional difficulties, presenting a detriment to their ability to comply everyday roles.

The serious problem with this condition is that most patients are not diagnosed because not only healthcare providers but also society have decided that having pain is normal. The normalization of symptoms is one of the causes that negatively affects women the most, and for this reason they have been considered as patients who do not want to work, who are lazy, who do not want to have sexual relations, who invent pain and do not need being disabled, that they need to have a child to stop having pain, all these myths that are false have meant that the possibilities of accessing better diagnoses and therapeutics that are better for patients have not arrived.

MAY PELVIC PAIN AWARENESS MONTH

“This month is very important for patients to have a voice in society and for society to be aware that having pain is never normal and that patients must access better diagnostic and treatment options so that they have a better quality of life. life” Dr. Juan Diego Villegas, gynecologist.

THE AMOUNT

30% of external consultations related to gynecology are due to chronic pelvic pain.

2 FACTORS TO REQUEST A GOOD DIAGNOSIS

The first is that patients must be empowered, because the time in which patients have no opinion about their diagnosis must come to an end, women must know what the condition is about and be able to tell their health providers “I know that what I have is not normal and if you do not give me a solution I am going to look for someone else».

The second factor is that doctors must be educated, because it is very important that health providers learn to deal with patients who present this condition with different tools.

THREE POINTS TO FACE THIS CONDITION

1. There are several pain generators.
2. A full diagnosis is required
3. Various treatment options can be accessed, ranging from hormonal medical treatment, specific treatment for conditions that cause pain, conservative surgical treatments, radical surgeries and non-pharmacological treatments with prior evaluation by specialists.

TRANSDISCIPLINARY TREATMENT

Patients with chronic pelvic pain should be evaluated for nutrition, they should attend physiotherapy because the musculoskeletal component is very large and it is generally one of the neglected diagnoses. For this reason it is important that they have physical therapy to recover from their disability, additional psychological therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness with the aim that they have a different way of dealing with their symptoms in order to be functional.

THIS IS RISARALDA

“Risaralda is at the forefront, it is one of the flagship departments in Colombia, with a management, study, assessment and surgery unit for patients with endometriosis and pelvic pain” José Duván López Jaramillo is a gynecologist and obstetrician specializing in laparoscopic surgery gynecological.

THE AMOUNT

Less than 10% of patients have only one pain generator and this is one of the reasons why treatments fail.

POSSIBLE DIAGNOSTICS

The specialist José Duván López, expressed that there is a constellation of both symptoms and diagnoses in the spectrum of chronic pelvic pain, patients can be found with fibroids, which are benign tumors of the uterus, with adenomyosis, which is an exaggerated growth of the uterine muscle, lesions of the endometrial cavity such as pollites and fibroids and endometriosis. But it must be taken into account that in this condition other organs that need to be studied are also compromised, there is pain of bladder, intestinal origin, pain in the pelvic floor muscles, in the abdominal wall, nerves that innervate the abdominal wall.

“The treatment for each patient must be individualized, they will always see medical or surgical treatment options, one does not exclude the other, but it must be understood that chronic pain is a lifelong disease, we must learn from it, comply with the controls , exercising and being judicious with food can probably be improved in this condition» Jorge Darío López Isanoa, is a laparoscopic gynecologist at ‘Algia’

The cure is not a goal, the goal is to have a normal social, sexual, work and physical life, so that they can face their daily roles.