What exactly is pelvic pain anyway?

You may be wondering what exactly pelvic pain is, or whether you have found the right website to serve your needs.

The pelvis is the basin shaped bony structure at the bottom end of our spines. It houses our reproductive organs, bladder, and parts of our digestive tract. Pelvic pain is pain anywhere in this region. Women may have pain here due to any number of reasons: cyclical pain (cramps), fibroids, endometriosis, vulvodynia, bladder pain or bowel pain. The cause can be dermatological, musculo-skeletal, hormonal, or due to the central or peripheral nervous system.

The reason this blog covers pelvic pain in general, as opposed to only vulvodynia (my specific diagnosis), is because many women don't know the specifics of their anatomy or the appropriate diagnostic names and therefore may not know to what to attribute their pain. In addition, many women have more than one pelvic pain problem, such as both genital and bladder pain. To make things more confusing, female pelvic pain is not well understood, so many doctors are not very helpful at guiding women to a correct diagnosis and effective treatment plan. Due to all of these reasons, I will be writing and providing resources about all kinds of pelvic pain.

Whether you have a diagnosis or not, whether your pain is new or decades old, you are welcome here. We are all learning and teaching together.

Have a question? Ask in the comments!

#imEnough

On Saturday at the BlogHer conference (again, I know) I saw the new band The Mrs introduce their first single, "Enough." The song brought tears to my eyes and I was not the only one. Here's the song, and the inspiration behind it. And if you are as pumped as I am about this development on the pop scene, here's where you can buy swag.

If you are anything like me, your pelvic pain has done a number on your self-esteem. Think of this single as good medicine. Yes, you may have pain, but you are not broken - you are enough, just the way you are.

Can't wait for The Mrs to come out with a full length album and go on tour. I'll be in the front row, screaming like a teenager!

Pelvic Pain Runway

I was talking with a fabulous woman at the BlogHer conference about how hard it is to find cute clothes to wear that don't exacerbate our pelvic pain. Jeans! Who knew those things could be torture devices? And so here is a little summer fashion inspiration for y'all, soft, lightweight pants from Mossimo. Saw 'em on the rack at Target and knew I had to have 'em:

Click on the photo to shop the link! Nope, neither Target nor Mossimo paid me for this post.

Why is this post about a blogging conference?

It is 6:45 on a Sunday morning and I have sat down to tell you about my amazing experience at BlogHer 2014. What does this have to do with pelvic pain? Everything.

Over the past three days my cause - our cause - has been so beautifully embraced by the BlogHer community. When I said that I was starting a blog about pelvic pain, women opened up and shared their stories, gave me resources and recommendations, even offered to mentor me! Every break-out I went to I made sure to ask a question, introducing it by letting people know about the blog. They laughed at the tagline...and then came up to me after to give me their cards.

I am telling you all of this to let you know that you are not alone. Women everywhere have experiences with pelvic pain - uterine pain, vulvar pain, vaginal pain, bladder and bowel pain (and I'm sure there's more that I missed) - and they are hungry for a voice, for recognition, for gynecologists and urologists and gastroentereologists who are respectful and knowledgeable.

Not a single woman who shared her story of pelvic pain with me said that she got good care, that the problem was solved easily, quickly, and respectfully. Even though there was so much diversity in what type of pelvic pain they experienced, there was a sad unity in that their doctors weren't equipped to provide them with adequate care, never mind excellent care.

Attending BlogHer 2014 fired me up even more to start a Pelvic Revolution. We need attention, awareness, funding, research, and improved training so that doctors can be sensitive to their patients' experience.

So I encourage you to SPEAK UP. If you are too shy to do so in real life, then start poking around online. Share your experiences here in the comments, or start your own blog.

Alone we suffer, together we heal!

Here's me outside the San Jose Convention Center, holding up my conference badge. Note the pelvic pain friendly cotton leggings and dress ;) Click on the photo to go to BlogHer.com and learn more about this great community of women bloggers.

Welcome to YatraYoni

Welcome to the YatraYoni blog! I'm so glad you're here.

On this blog you'll find hope and resources for what can be a very difficult and scary time. When I was first diagnosed with vulvodynia, one of many varieties of chronic pelvic pain, the only information I could find on the internet was from some abandoned blogs written by women venting about how miserable and small their lives had become. 

That was super depressing.

It was also ten years ago. Though we still have a long way to go in research and education, there are more resources now, and perhaps just as important, there are more ways for patients to connect. We have fun tools like Twitter, Facebook, and yes, blogs, where we can tell our stories and make our voices heard, to other patients, healthcare providers, and the general public. Where there used to be darkness, there are sparks, hints that things can get better. Together, we can take those sparks and turn them into a raging fire.

Yes, pelvic pain sucks. It hurts, and its scary, and its frustrating. But you CAN get better, and we are here to show you the way!