Women: Pain Does Not Have To Be Your Normal

It’s often believed that period and pelvic pain is a normal part of many women’s lives, but it doesn’t have to be.

This Women’s Health Week (2 – 6 September), Eastern Health Head of Gynaecology, Virochana Kaul explains how feeling pain has been normalised among women.

“We’ve had centuries of being told that heavy periods and pain is normal and you’re supposed to just grin and bear it. A normal period is anything that can last from one to maximum five days. It has to be bleeding which is controlled. There should be no flooding, no clotting, there should be no pain. The maximum pain on the first day should be mild.

“I think it’s just an attitude. Pelvic pain has always been around, but the focus is shifting because we are aware of how common it is and women deciding that it’s time to stop ignoring it,” she said.

Pain in the pelvic region can be caused by myriad of reasons from endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, heavy periods, fibroids, polycystic ovaries and recurrent ovarian torsion.

Dr Kaul is concerned that many women who are ‘just getting on with pain’ are having their quality of life impacted.

“Everyone will experience a little bit of pain which is related to just the onset of the periods, but it should be half-a-day pain. And it should be able to be managed with paracetamol or ibuprofen.

“Pain is a negative emotion more than anything else. Any pain is not going to let you live in the moment. It may become chronic over a period of time, which is what we are seeing. And it’s hard to get over chronic pain, because there are neural circuits associated with it, and that means that you will get psychological components.

“Not only does pain impact your life but it can limit your options and affect your life to the point that people actually work around their periods.”

Dr Kaul also notes how pelvic related pain and heavy periods can also lead to greater complications if not attended to sooner.

“Sometimes there’s no concrete reason other than you’re just bleeding heavy. It may be endometriosis and now that we’re actually looking at young girls and capturing it very early, we’re reducing the chance for endometriosis to develop. Pain might be related to fibroids or adenomyosis.

“These conditions may also have an impact on your future fertility. I’m an IVF specialist, and if you ignore pelvic pain or period pain there might be an impact on your egg quality. Endometriosis can decrease the quantity of eggs, so fertility can be impacted. It’s important to know what is happening.”

Eastern Health is home to a general gynaecology service, along with specialised clinics including gynae-oncology which caters to cancer services in obstetrics and gynaecology, and urogynaecology which specifically targets urological issues.

After being able to find the cause of pelvic and period pain, Eastern Health specialists are able to offer an array of treatments and methods to reduce or even eliminate the pain.

“There are a range of ways we can help our consumers.

“The greatest step is to get evaluated. It may be important to have an ultrasound. We can start with that and work towards improving your quality of life,” Dr Kaul said.