Pelvic Pain Series EP 2 - Uterine Pain

Welcome to episode 2 of the Pelvic Pain Series. In this episode we discuss some causes of that lower midline abdominal pain that some women experience. Now, with that being said there are many possible causes of pain in that location but one that I as an OB/GYN deal with is pain that originates from the uterus!
So take a listen as to what some of those causes may be!

Transcript

speaker 0:   0:00
Hey, guys, Welcome to Episode 21 of four Vaginas. Only this episode is gonna be part two of the pelvic pain Siri's In this episode, we're gonna talk about uterine pain. Now, some uterine pain kind of crosses over to the other areas of the pelvis, but we'll try to keep it as focus on pain of the uterus as I can. Um, in this episode, and then we'll move on to the other areas of the pelvis in the other episodes of the pelvic pain Siri's. So before we jump right into it, let's go into one of my favorite parts of every episode. Is the music hello and welcome to four vaginas. Only the podcast about everything. Female. I'm your host, Dr Celestine, bringing you important information about understanding your health and body in the way you wish your doctor would actually explain it. All right. All right. So now that we've all blocked in our seats a little bit to my favorite intro music. Ah, let's talk a little bit about what we're here for. So we're gonna talk about pain of the uterus like I discussed in the beginning of the episode. Um, but before I get into it. I just want to thank all of you guys for embracing the pelvic pain. Siri's about 500 of you have watched or listened to rather the very first episode of the public pain Siri's, and I'm truly grateful for that. I've gotten lots of comments and lots of questions for everybody. Now, just keep in mind I cannot answer particular medical questions online. I really can on Lee talk about your medical care and what I would recommend for you if you were actually my patient. When I do for Donna's, only I'm just talking in general terms, I'm just talking about each diagnosis and trying to give you a little bit of a more understanding of what your diagnosis might be. Please do not take that as your direct medical advice for yourself. I always recommend that if anything is going on with you, gynecologic Lee, that you go see your own will be joy in and get the care one on one that you deserve. Okay, so first things first on this episode, I'm gonna be talking about like I said, the different causes of uterine pain and I'm gonna mainly touch on four areas of a diagnosis that could possibly be going on. One is an dimitrios ISS. The others adenoma aosis. The other is dis menor eah, whether primary or secondary and then the last being having fibroids, what we call lie Oh, my Omagh's or having a fibroid uterus are all possible causes of uterine pain. Now there are others. So that's not everything but the's air. The four main that your doctor is probably thinking about when you come in and you have pain over that area now with that being said so you're in pain is mostly right above the pubic bone in the center of your abdomen. Um, now, don't get it confused. Or don't get it twisted because sometimes you come in there thinking you have uterine pain, right? And your doctor then starts talking about your bladder, and I get a lot of people that come in wondering, you know, why is that happening? This is not what I came to talk about, but the bladder actually sits closer to your skin. If you look at it that way on top of the uterus in the same midline lower area of your abdomen. So sometimes people come in thinking that they have. You're in pain, but it's actually something going on with their bladder. Okay, so that's just a little thing to keep in mind. So first enemy trio, sis, I'm gonna kind of talk about enemy trios and Adam Oh, my oh, says together they're similar. And if you want more details about enemy Trio says, I actually also have an episode of four vaginas only fully on enemy trios is alone, so you can go there for a little bit more of an in depth conversation or discussion about it now, Enemy Trio says, is basically the lining of the uterus, the enemy trail glands and Strom A. The stuff that lines the uterus that you actually bleed out every month when you have a period that comes outside of the uterus and implants in other areas of the body. Adenoma Io sys is when that same area inside the uterus, the lining is actually in the muscle of the uterus. So if you go to my vagina anatomy, I think I talk about how the uterus is a muscular structure, like a muscular round structure, and then inside you have that lining that you shed every month as a period. Now this lining for Adam Iose is actually in the muscular part of the uterus, which can lead to some u turn pain and discomfort. With that being said, I just want to also touch on enemy trios this a little bit more and say that, Yes, I know that there are other theories as to how endometriosis becomes what it is and causes pain and goes to different areas. The main theory that most people are agreeing on is the one that I just talked about, which is just the lining of the uterus coming outside of the uterus and implanting in the abdomen. But there are other theories out there, and medicine is not always 100% right All the time. As time develops, their you know, different theories will develop. But as of right now, that's the main theory, as there are many others. So that's kind of what I'm sticking with with this podcast episode. Okay. All right. So, um, when you have this lining of the uterus outside of the uterus or within the uterus, such a sad no mayo, sis, it can cause pain. Um, just like sometimes when you have your period, you have pain, which we'll get to it more of a severe pain. Because now, if you think of it as like the lining of your uterus, bleeding similar to how you bleed every month, that lining usually comes out vagina. Now that lining is in the uterus muscle, and it's kind of bleeding in there for lack of better word and also on the other organs of the body that it's implanted on inside your abdomen in terms of endometriosis. So that if I explained it properly, causes pain. Okay, now that's not the best explanation ever, but I'm just kind of trying to paint a picture for you guys. You can understand the logic behind the diseases. If you have any questions about that. If you want any more explanation, please feel free to message me. All right, so that's enemy trio assistant ad. No, my oh Cece, as causes of you're in pain. Third, cause of uterine pain is also having fibroids, so fibroids a lot of people are very familiar with. About 80% of African Americans have fibroids, and about 70% of Caucasians have fibroids, so If you don't have them, you know somebody in your family that has them. It's very, very common, and basically what they are are benign tumors that grow from the uterus. Sometimes it grew on the outside of the uterus, sometimes a girl within the uterus. And sometimes they grow, Um, or in the uterus muscle and sometimes inside the uterus as well. So I have another whole episode on four vaginas only called facts about fibroids, and you can get a little bit more information there. But fibroids do cause pelvic pain. Sometimes they can get larger, Uh, and sometimes they can No, crows are kind of start, uh, liquefy on the inside of the tumor, which also can cause some pain. And, you know, if I could be a very big deal for a lot of people, So that's another thing that your doctor, when you're coming in there talking about pelvic pain, that's another thing that we are thinking about. The fourth thing is just dismiss area in general, so this Maria means pain with your periods. That's a simple diagnosis or simple explanation of it. Now, to make it a little bit more complex, there are kind of two types. One is primary aim Honoria, and that's when you have pain with your periods. But the doctor can't find a reason for it. There's no actual abnormality that could be found, and then the other is secondary dis minnery A. Which is when there is another abnormality that seems to be causing your painful periods, such as adenoma, io sys, endometriosis or fibroids. See, it comes full circle, so dis Maria obviously can be vague or can be specific, depending on what's going on. Um, and it's very common, especially, I think I get a lot more dis minnery Ah, people coming to me as younger kids that have first started their period or within the 1st 6 or 12 months of their period, and they start to develop pain with their period, and we have to figure out why that is and what's going on. So that is causes of uterine pain. In a nutshell. Basically depending on the diagnosis, there's many different treatments from medications such as and said's like ibuprofen, Motrin, those are in the same category. Also, different procedures for fiber as we can do myomectomy is we can d'oh um, hysterectomies and other procedures that I've also talked about in the facts about fibroids. Podcast episode for a dispensary? A. A lot of times we also try, ah and said, and we do hormonal medications as well, which can be helpful for enemy trio sis and at no, my oh sis. Hormonal medications include birth control like pills, patch ring, double up Rivera Udi's things like that can be considered depending on the cause of your pain. And I like to talk about hormonal medications, simply calling them that. I hate to call them birth control's because although that is what everybody else calls them, I look at it as a medication just like any other medication, except that they contain hormones. So they alter your hormones in different ways that can lead to aiding you in certain disorders and certain discomforts, such a sum of the ones we've listed today. So, um, it's just like any other medication. Okay, so that's kind of how I think about it, not just for preventing pregnancy. So because of that, your doctor, when you come in with pelvic pain, will do different things, such as a new exam, a pelvic exam on you in order to identify the location of the pain. Sometimes, Like I said, you come in, you think it's uterine, and it could be either, um or upper abdominal. Or it could be on the sides of the abdomen, which convey be different areas or different organs in the body. They can also do an ultrasound, which I like to do a lot of time because you can't see everything on your pelvic exam, although you might have a good hunch. So an ultrasound can sometimes be performed to look at the uterus, the ovaries, the fallopian tubes and see if there's any abnormality that was not detected just based off the exam. Um, and that's kind of the first step in terms of figuring out what is going on now. I just also want to say that if you feel like something is going on, don't let your doctor or anybody else dismiss you. If you really feel like there's a problem, you know, bring it to their attention. Bring it to the attention Multiple times. Sometimes a second opinion is sometimes warranted, always on for Madonna's Only I advocate being an advocate for yourself for your own health, care. You can't really rely on anybody else to do it for you. You have to be the champion of your body and of your health care. And even as a doctor, sometimes I'm also a patient and I have to do the same thing. So just keep that in mind as a little tidbit from me as well. And that's really it for uterine pain. As always, Thank you guys. So much for listening for vaginas on Lee and keeping up with me on my day to day in terms of falling for vaginas only on the instagram page at four vaginas on Lee, also adding me on Facebook for four vaginas on Lee as well. It's truly appreciated. I love interacting with you guys. I love talking about different things on social media, um, as opposed to just medical all the time, just getting a little insight into my daily life as well. And I can't wait to keep sharing with you guys and keep forming these bonds and keep learning and inspiring. And I just hope that everyone out there appreciates it and keeps interacting with me and asking me questions whenever you have one. Hopefully, I'll be able to answer. So thank you so much for listening. Thio, Part two of the palate pain, Siri's uterine pain and I hope you guys learned a little bit and can take some of this knowledge back to your physician's. If you're having symptoms of uterine pain, so have a great day and I'll see you guys in the next episode.