Can Anxiety and Stress Cause Pelvic Pain? (Alternative Conclusion based on Science)

Many women smile through the unbearable agony of pelvic pain, believing it’s just another side effect of being a woman. They’re perhaps so used to suffering from this invisible pain in silence and have mistakenly been led to believe that it’s all in their head.

However, PCS (pelvic congestion syndrome) is real and often exasperated by the emotional layers of anxiety and stress, which catapults them into depression. It’s a typical chicken and egg dilemma.

Health care professionals diagnosing PCS are often at a loss to put their finger on a patient's symptoms because the issue is complex and challenging to diagnose, although very real to their patients.

Classical Symptoms of PCS

Patients who suffer from chronic PCS arrive at the doctor’s office with a multitude of symptoms, and each is as unique as the patient's physiology, the emotional network of personal circumstances, and even trauma.

Diagnosis of PCS occurs after other causes like infections, cancer, cystitis, fibroids and endometriosis are eliminated.

Typical classification of symptoms includes:

• Prolonged pelvic pain for more than 6 months
• Later pregnancy
• Begins with pregnancy
• A weighted pressure or ache, sharp pain
• Typically on one side (left)
• More pronounced at the end of the day during long periods of standing or sitting

Other common symptoms and experiences:

• Pain worsens with a shift in posture
• Pain during and/or after intercourse
• Prolonged standing and walking
• Pain before and during menstruation
• Urge to urinate
• Pronounced veins on thigh, buttock, external genitals, hemorrhoids
• Swollen vulva, discharge
• Fatigue, nausea, and headaches

Doctors and researchers are discovering links between the emotional currents of a patient’s less than ideal home, economic, work and social influences that contribute to the causes and experiences of an individual.

A recent study at Stanford University found that test subjects who suffered from PCS often also suffered from anxiety, stress and depression. Increased salivary cortisol levels (mornings) compound this issue which non-PCS patients don’t experience.

Trying to Find Relief Takes a Toll on Mental Health

PCS patients ride an endless merry-go-round of enduring physical pain and coping with the exhausting tribulations of the mental health aspect.

Science has proven that emotional and psychological aspects of our lives manifest in the physical symptoms associated with pain.

The human brain is a memory bank that keeps track of our pleasure and pain responses and develops new neural pathways to cope with injuries. The affected area clings to that pattern until we retrain it to release that experience.

For patients debilitated from the physical and psychological symptoms, health care therapists and doctors need to help them break the cycle.

While finding relief through prescription medication is a common and often a self-prescribed treatment, patients need to find a balance of trust in their healthcare practitioners and rely on their bodies' reprogramming ability to overcome the physical and mental challenges associated with PCS.

Connection of Vascular Health and Pelvic pain

PCS is a vascular health-related medical condition and occurs when blood pools in the pelvic veins and swells. This swelling of the ovarian or peri uterine veins (similar to varicose veins on the legs) can be associated with family history and multiple pregnacies. 

In conjunction with a complete patient medical history, a pelvic ultrasound and, if necessary, a venogram may be used to evaluate a patient. 

Patients with PCS and their physicians may struggle to understand and interpret the symptoms, often mistaken with other gynecological illnesses, and cause further discomfort to the patient.

This lack of awareness will further impact the patients' well-being and quality of life. Once a patient’s physical examinations concur with a PCS diagnosis, a new method of including a host of other symptoms reported by the patient like lethargy, depression and general feelings of discomfort associated with chronic pain also require treatment.

Understanding How Chronic Pain Affects Depression and Anxiety

Patients who suffer from the debilitating consequences of PCS alongside depression and anxiety face a tough struggle. Although science and medical research have done much to unravel the mysteries behind these illnesses, patients need more help to alleviate their unique symptoms.

Chronic pain is an ideal host for culminating depression. Once a patient boards this merry-go-round, the physical and mental pain aggravates the persistent symptoms.

Expert studies discovered neuroplasticity and neurobiological mechanism changes invited the development and existence of depression and pain. Finding a balance between analgesic drugs and antidepressants is beneficial to patients.

Doctors diagnose chronic pain as persistent or intermittent pain that occurs in patients for prolonged periods exceeding three months and is a major health problem affecting one-fifth of the population and is responsible for causing widespread depression. Up to 85% of chronic pain patients are afflicted with severe depression.

Teaching Patients Coping Methods 

In unison with the advice and treatment strategy prescribed by a clinician, patients may find relief and a resolution to navigating their symptoms and pain recovery through calming meditation practices.

According to Harvard Medical, meditation is an essential tool in combating stress, anxiety and depression.

Chronic pain sufferers experience stress levels akin to stress levels in those suffering from heart disease and can lead to death.

Chronic inflammation and pain become weapons of mass destruction in families and individuals and contribute to cancer, heart disease, type II diabetes, other health issues and the population's overall health.

Learning how to navigate feelings of anxiety and stress through meditation is becoming a popular tool prescribed by doctors. This research suggests that patients who enroll in yoga, tai chi and qigong experience greater control over their wayward thoughts and learn how to combat detrimental feelings of anxiety.

PCS patients are ideal candidates to benefit from a meditative practice routine as it validates their experience and includes the beneficial feelings of belonging and physicality.

Key Lessons

One of the essential lessons in understanding and managing the effects of PCS is that doctors need to listen, and patients need to express their concerns freely and without shame.

Resolutions to managing the pain from both sides of the spectrum are attainable.