Similar crampy, tight, shortened and painful pelvic muscles are very common in women who have:
* Pain with sex, tampons or cervical smear tests
* A painful ache in the pelvis for a day or so after intercourse
* A pain on the side which can come on suddenly at any time, just like a cramp
* Being unable to pass urine sometimes, even though you really want to
* A sharp pain up the bowel, or,
* Difficulty sitting for a long time, or pain on moving
* Feeling much better after a hot bath or wheatbag
If this is you, then you can check yourself by putting a finger inside the vagina and pushing on the muscles around the opening of the vagina and at the sides of the pelvis about half way up the vagina. If you feel your pain when you push on the muscles, then spasm in these muscles are probably the cause of that pain.
The best treatment is physio with a special pelvic physiotherapist who knows how to treat women with tight painful pelvic muscles. Treatment usually starts with learning relaxation techniques and then training the muscles to work normally. If your problem is severe and you need some extra help, then BOTOX might help. This relaxes the muscles for 3-4 months, which allows you to feel better quicker and work on the physiotherapy needed to stop the muscles becoming tight again. It does need to be injected under an anaesthetic and the pain doesn't improve for around 2 weeks after injection.
Pain from pelvic muscles is a commonly missed diagnosis. It doesn't show on scans or a laparoscopy, but is very very painful.
