As parents, we all want the best for our children. Having a child with pain means change for all the family and you may feel ill-equipped to handle these changes.
As parents, we all want the best for our children. Having a child with pain means change for all the family and you may feel ill-equipped to handle these changes.
These ideas have come from years of experience working with children and families and seeing what works best in most situations.
Our brain receives messages from all over our body all the time. Much of the information sent to the brain is unimportant, and we are never aware that the information has been collected. The brain filters this information and decides if it wants us to take action.
For example, parts of our brain are constantly collecting information on how much urine is in our bladder. The brain usually allows us to continue our normal activities and be unaware of our bladder until it is full. As the bladder fills, more and more messages are sent to the brain. When full, the brain makes us aware of the need to go to the toilet. If we don’t go the toilet and the bladder continues to fill, we will start feeling pain. Once the bladder is empty again, we are again allowed to continue our normal activities without noticing our bladder – until it becomes full again.
Different situations can affect how this system works.
If there is a painful bladder condition or bladder infection, then more pain messages than usual are sent to the brain and we feel the need to empty our bladder more often.
If we are anxious about our bladder function, then the brain focuses more on pain messages from the bladder and we also feel the need to empty our bladder more often.
Muscles change when they are injured or when we are in pain – they tense up. Ever had a spasm in the back? – it sure stops you moving and bending! This is a normal protective reaction to prevent more damage to the inured part. Pelvic floor muscles behave like this too when there is something painful in the pelvis. They tighten up.
Muscles aren’t meant to be tight all the time and after a while, they start hurting and adding to the pain. Humans are designed to move, so sitting or lying down a lot due to pain can make the pain even worse. Muscles that become even tighter can spasm, causing sudden, stabbing or crampy pains.
When something painful happens to us, the nerves in that area send pain signals to the spinal cord and then up to our brain. It is when the brain notices the pain that we feel it.
With long term pain, the pain pathways from the pelvis to the brain change. This is called Central Sensitisation and once this happens, pain becomes more complex.
Things that were mildly painful become more painful. For example, intercourse may have been uncomfortable but is now painful.
Things that weren’t painful before become painful. For example, wearing tight jeans or your partners hand on your abdomen may feel unpleasant.
Pain can spread to a wider area. For example, the pain used to be in the lower abdomen but is now felt all over the abdomen, in the back and in the thighs. This does not mean that the back or thighs are abnormal. The pain impulses have spread in our spinal cord and brain and we feel pain in a larger area.
Pain can spread to other pelvic organs. For example, you may have had bad period pain or prostate pain before, but now also have an irritable bowel or overactive painful bladder.
Central sensitisation is also common after sporting injuries, shingles, or really any condition with long term pain. The pain that is felt long after a badly injured leg is amputated (Phantom Limb Pain) is another type of Central Sensitisation.
Thoughts and emotions can also affect pain. Feeling tense and anxious about family, work or relationships can make pain worse. Feeling under ‘stress’ from too many responsibilities and life events leads to tight tense muscles. For women with painful sex, just thinking about intercourse can be enough to make their pelvic floor muscles tighten without them realising. Guilt, worrying about the pain or relationship issues complicates things further. For men with an overactive bladder, just worrying about where a toilet will be when leaving the house can cause the pelvic floor muscles to tense and pain to worsen.
When pain becomes chronic our immune, endocrine and sympathetic nervous systems all get switched on to help us cope. The whole body gets involved. This may help in the short term, but when pain continues, these systems just don’t function well. And neither do we. Our energy levels, sleep, bowels, concentration, resistance to infection – and lots more – are affected and life becomes even more challenging.
It is common for anyone with chronic pain to have problems with poor sleep, fatigue, anxiety, low mood, nausea, sweating, dizziness or faint feelings.
Once pain has become chronic, it is unlikely that any one treatment will make it go away completely. However, you can feel positive about the future. There are many ways to manage this pain and make it a much smaller part of your life.
We all want a cure for pain, preferably one that is quick and easy. It’s understandable. One day there may well be such a treatment.
For now, the best treatment for chronic pain involves:
The pages on this site will help you with many of these things. Our Facebook site will help you keep up with new treatments and ideas. Our events calendar includes activities you may be able to attend.
The Pelvic Pain Foundation of Australia is a not-for-profit organisation formed to build a healthier and more productive community by improving the quality of life of people with pelvic pain.