# Hypothyroidism and Pelvic pain?



## Prudence

So quick question:

For nearly two months, I've had chronic pelvic discomfort, and almost a feeling of soreness on my cervix. This isn't just around certain times of the month, which I could understand, but all the time. Some days it's barely noticable ad some days it's pretty crampy feeling in there. It almost feels like a period cramp when really bad. I also will have lower back aches occasionally with it, and sometimes the pressure will make me feel like I have to urinate more often.

I had an ultrasound this week of my uterus because my OB/GYN suspected fibroids, but the techinician saw nothing amiss. (she saw no cysts or fibroids or endometriosis) They'll look the ultrasound over to be sure, and I'll get the final answer next week along with my annual pap smear results, and I will begin a low dose of birth control soon. I remember having the cervical soreness when hyper, but not really the pelvic cramping. I've also had ultrasounds of my bladder with no signs of anything in there either, but it was recommended to me to get a bladder scope just to be sure, however my regular urologist refused to, so I'm seeking out a second opinion.

I'm kind of at a loss here. There's nothing showing up on any ultrasounds, but the pain is there, so I get looked at like I'm crazy and making it up. I'm just curious if hormones being crazy from still being hypothyroid can do anything with all this? It happens kind of randomly, and I don't really fit any signs of overactive bladder or interstitial cystitis, and my periods (not being on any birth control urrently) are every 26-28 days, though heavier than they were when hyper, but lasting 3-4 days. I'm not sure what my next step should be.


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## CA-Lynn

Wish I could remember the name of it, but it has to do with basically spraining a muscle in the groin. Wrestlers suffer from it a lot. Have you been doing new exercises lately, or perhaps intensified them?


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## Prudence

No, nothing like that! I got my full results and nothing amiss anywhere. I think my next step will to make sure it isn't my bladder causing irritation. It's weird, it comes and goes . I'm thinking hormonal.


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## Airmid

Well, I'm sitting here on strict bed rest today after just having a filling to save a tooth and a surgical tooth extraction eating pumpkin ice cream and looking at older posts when I happened to see yours and thought maybe I could help a little.

1. Endometrosis can't be seen on an ultrasound. Even if you have a chocolate cyst (a very specific cyst due to Endometriosis) I've learned from past experiences that it still cannot be determined for sure through an ultrasound. A few years ago I learned I has a suspicious (God I hate that word, it's worse then just knowing) multi-celled mass on my left ovary. It was suspicious due to similarities between it and ovarian cancer but it could also be a chocolate cyst. There was no way of knowing until they got in there and then made sure with a biopsy. Fortunately for me it wasn't cancerous.

If you have a GYN that is telling you that they can find Endometriosis via ultra sound alone I'd immediately get a new one. Endometrosis is when the tissue that normally grows on the inside of womb and is responsible for your periods is instead in the wrong place. It has several different presentations, and even comes in different colors believe it or not. It often grows on the outside of the female reproductive organs but can grow anywhere in the area including on the bladder and bowls. This can cause problems in more ways then one, including inflammation and adhesions. Usually adhesions occur because of surgery, but in women with Endometriosis they can occur and be found during the first surgery as was my case.. Endometriosis can also spread to anywhere in the body and women have been found with it in their brain, lungs and even on their skin though thankfully these complications are rare.

2. Your thyroid has a huge impact on the menstrual cycle. It's one of the reasons why women with classic hypothyroidism usually have long heavy periods and women with hyperthyroidism have very short ones and start skipping ones. I've had both issues with my Hashi's, and was recently put on Depo Provera to stop the three week periods that were suddenly occurring along with migraines. It did not go well for me, but your mileage may vary as we all react differently to medications.

Estrogen and thyroid hormones have a unique relationship and bind to each other. It's been an area of research once it was realized that women with Endometriosis are more likely to develop Hashi's then women without. Endometriosis thrives on estrogen, meaning the body is encouraged to make more then what she really needs due to these errant cells and you can imagine what this might due to the level of available thyroid hormones. If your interested in this I encourage you to research it since it is a very interesting connection. It's also theorized as to why my thyroid behaves itself better when I'm on major amounts of progesterone compared to no hormone or mixed therapy. It's an area I dearly hope they keep investigating as it will help hundreds of thousands of women with both autoimmune thyroid disorders and Endometriosis.

3. Women who suffer from chronic pelvic pain no matter the reason can end up with very rigid muscles in that area including in the vagina. This can lead to feeling overly sensitive or even having pain on examinations etc. There is a form of physical therapy for this condition, and if you are comfortable with a more intimate type of physical therapy and the physical therapist, it might be something worth pursuing. It's still a relatively new field so it might be hard to find someone who does this form of therapy but it's well worth it. I went over a couple of years of being a bit tender occasionally to routine pelvic examines being really painful. All from muscle spasms due to inflammation from Endometriosis and burst ovarian cysts.

I don't want to prattle on forever so I hope this has helped some. I hope you are feeling well. hugs3


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## Lovlkn

I had horrible pelvic pain - I went to an orthopedic surgeon for help and he told me to stretch. I thought that was a dumb thing to suggest and I continued on in my life, did physical therapy for awhile and chairopractic for uneven hips which was a result of and not the cause of the pain and just learned to live with the pain because it just would not go away.

Then after a few years I could not handle it any longer and went to a pain medicine doctor who tried I think lidocaine shots into my groin which gave me relief 1 out of 3 shots. He had 12 things that could be causing the pain listed on a board. After a number of visits we felt the most likely cause was nerve entrapment due to c-section scar tissue. Surgery to cut the nerve was an option. I started researching and read about yoga for abdominal pain.

5 years later - doing yoga at minimum 1 time a week I am pain free. When I started doing yoga I was going 4 days or more per week - I got addicted and it was such an awesome experience and immediately helped the pain -

If they cannot DX your cause - give yoga a try, maybe it is some muscle tightening - my Psoas was in a constant state of being tightened and the yoga has gotten it to release.I'm so grateful that I found Yoga - it has given me the ability to sleep and function during

the day pain free. If I had listened to the 1st doctor I went to I could have saved myself alot of suffering - stretching is a wonderful option and won't cause any harm to you.


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## Airmid

Ah Lovlkn, you've really been through it. hugs2

And I have to say, if there's one thing I learned from physical therapy it's that stretching can definitely be a real life saver pain wise.

I'm so glad to hear you're pain free from that. Were they absolutely sure about the nerve entrapment, as it sounds terrible.

I do Pilates personally, but I think that's because my physical therapy over the years has mostly been centered around that system. I'm always meaning to go to a beginners yoga class to try it but it always get shuffled. I'll have to put that back to the top of my list. Interestingly enough though, the VA hospital I'm assigned to offers Tai Chi - just wish they weren't like 75 miles away...


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## Lovlkn

The doctpr was not sure - it was a guessing game which is why I did not opt for surgery to cut the nerve nor did I want to be numb in my groin. I am fairly sure it is a nerve though as when I lie down to sleep and my body is calm I can feel a twitch of sorts in the area that had the pain - almost like a nerve firing.


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## Prudence

I noticed since starting the T3 med and a low dose birth control, my pelvic area has been practically pain free. I did get an ultrasound just to make sure nothing was up.(OB/GYN suspected a fibroid, but everything looks good and they were also good enough to tell me they'd even do a more thorough look for endometriosis-runs in my family and they know that)


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## Airmid

Prudence said:


> I noticed since starting the T3 med and a low dose birth control, my pelvic area has been practically pain free. I did get an ultrasound just to make sure nothing was up.(OB/GYN suspected a fibroid, but everything looks good and they were also good enough to tell me they'd even do a more thorough look for endometriosis-runs in my family and they know that)


I'm really unsure what exactly they expect to find ultrasound wise for Endometriosis unless they're looking for Endrometromas or some sign of a chocolate cyst on the ovaries. Otherwise the gold standard and pretty much only diagnostic technique is laparoscopy. It's highly frustrating to not have a non-invasive technique to diagnosis it. They have been trying to find blood markers with little success although there is a new one on the horizon that may work.

The treatment for Endometriosis is birth control or some other form of hormone therapy. I don't know your age, but I'm assuming you've talked to your doctor about the risks of birth control, especially mixed.

I would be very wary of these people promising to diagnose Endometriosis via ultrasound. Outside of a very large growth it's not visible. Many of us wish it was but at this point in time it cannot be seen on imagining, again outside of large growths and even these need to be biopsied as they often mimic other problems.

Uterine Fibroids run on one side of my family while Endometriosis runs on my mother's side. Honestly speaking as one woman who has this to another who potentially could, get a second opinion. You can even call around to see if it shows up on an ultrasound. The amount of Endometriosis a woman has does not correlate to the pain felt, it depends on where it's growing primarily as to what causes the pain. There are also several foundations you can look into including Endofund.org and Endometriosis.org


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