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What Causes Pelvic Congestion?

Pelvic congestion syndrome is a relatively common condition that affects women most often following a pregnancy. Although the overall cause of its development is unknown, there are nevertheless a variety of effective treatment options available. It can be treated with drugs, surgery or a combination of the two.

  1. Identification

    • Pelvic congestion syndrome is a condition characterized by localized pain in the lower abdominal region coupled with abnormal bleeding, vaginal discharge and lasting pain following sex. Pelvic congestion syndrome is relatively difficult to pinpoint, as the symptoms mirror several other common conditions such as uterine prolapse and fibroids.

    Pelvic Congestion Syndrome Causes

    • Pelvic congestion syndrome is caused by excess pressure on the pelvic region brought on by the development of varicose veins in the region. The problem, however, is that physicians are still unsure exactly why or how varicose veins develop. Most often the veins begin to develop during pregnancy and do not stop increasing in size, eventually leading to pronounced discomfort and the aforementioned symptoms.

    Varicose Veins

    • Varicose veins develop whereby the blood flow in ordinary veins is temporarily diverted backwards, increasing the pressure on the vein walls and causing expansion. This stretching of the veins increases their overall mass, leading to the overstimulation of nearby nerves which begin to send out pain signals as they are disturbed by the growing veins.

    Varicose Vein Causes

    • When discussing the exact mechanism that triggers blood to flow in reverse, initiating varicose vein development, the doctors at Veindirectory.org posit three hypotheses. First, varicose veins could be caused by increased pressure from weight gain during pregnancy. Second, the veins could be caused by increased levels of estrogen which weaken vein walls and allow for expansion. Finally, the veins could simply change naturally over time, increasing their probability of developing into varicose veins.

    Treatment

    • Prescription medications will only be used to treat the resultant pain from pelvic congestion syndrome. Embolization is the preferred non-invasive treatment method, which consists of "plugging" the blood vessels to reduce enlargement and restore them to normal size. This procedure usually only takes several hours and requires at least one night's stay in a hospital.

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