Pelvic Pain & Mental Health: Why It’s Not Just ‘In Your Head’

“Have you ever been told your pain is ‘all in your head?’ Unfortunately, this is often the experience of many people experiencing persistent pelvic pain. Interestingly enough, the brain itself is actually very involved in producing pain, particularly when a person has experienced pain for a long period of time” [1]. At the London Pain Clinic, our eminent Pain Specialists fully understand this, and as soon as we have given you an accurate diagnosis, your Pain Consultant will devise a Holistic Personalised Treatment Plan that you can get started on right away. This could include both conventional treatment & the latest proven state-of-the-art therapies & injectables

The Secret Life of the Brain

As your Pain Doctor may explain to you, the brain is a very complex organ, and medical scientists have still much to learn. Having said that, studies do show us that: with time,our brain experiences various transformations linked to  chronic pain. For example, if we regularly have to focus on part of our body which is giving us pain, let’s say, our left shoulder, then we could undergo a transformation in our brain as it starts to maps that occurrence on a daily basis. Like may other things, this phenomena is different from one individual to another.

What the Research Tell Us

In one particular study which was published in the medical journal, Pain, the subjects who where: “experiencing long-standing pelvic pain, were found to have more connections in their brains than in those of a pain-free control group, among other findings. The greater the area of pain, the more brain changes were found” [1].

So What’s Behind it All?

Well the first point to understand, is that the procedure that generates pain is extremely intricate. It commonly begins with something that brings about stress, or likewise, as a result of having some type of surgery or sustaining an injury. In the first instance, our cells react by signalling the nerves in our tissues. After this, the signal continues on to the CNS (central nervous system). which comprises the spinal cord and brain. At this point:

Our brain ascertains the threat of the stressor & “neurons communicate with each other throughout the brain in order to compare the stressor to prior experiences, environments, & emotions. The brain, the commander-in-chief, decides if it is dangerous, & responds with a protective signal in the form of pain” [1]

Indeed, it can be said that such pain signals send out an important warning that urgently prompts us to alter what are doing and move away from perceived danger. But here’s the rub: as time goes on,our brain can over-interpret the stress signals coming from our tissues, and as such, interpret them as dangerous. A good analogy that is often used by one of our Pain Specialists, is a loud speaker that increases its volume with each danger signal, even though the actual threat remains the same. – And this is exactly why accumulated stress within our tissue can eventually lead to excessively sensitive pain. Moreover, this can be the case even after the tissues themselves have returned to normal. So as our pain Doctors will tell you, when it comes to Pelvic Pain & Mental Health: It’s Not Just ‘In Your Head!’

Furthermore, in addition to the aforementioned, our brain tries to protect the region in question by smearing the drawing of its motor and sensory mapping, by using a procedure known as ‘cortical remapping’.This means that nerve cells within the brain have fired so many times in a particular region, that they have to rewire – and as a result, the connections radiate out. This scenario can be recognised if your pain spreads and radiates out, thus making it more of a challenge to describe or  pinpoint. For instance, your pain may have started out in your tailbone, but as time moved on, you have experienced it in a extended region, including your hips or pelvis [1].

But where ever your pain may be, our renowned Pain Doctors are here to ameliorate it, and get your back to optimum living as soon as possible. So if you are suffering from pelvic or any other form of pain, book an online or in-person consultation to see how we can transform your life.

Reference

[1]. Bastein, A. (2024). “Guest Post: There’s a pelvis… in your brain?”