Patient of Powers Health’s Chronic Pelvic Pain Program shares ‘miraculous’ story
The sharp, gut-wrenching pain radiates in their abdomen, lower back and down their legs. Internal organs feel like they are being stretched, twisted and squeezed. Their stomachs bloat and blood loss is copious.
Even with these alarming and debilitating symptoms, sufferers are dismissed, going without a diagnosis and treatment for up to a decade.
“On average, it takes seven to 10 years for a woman to be diagnosed with endometriosis,” said Osama Zaghmout, MD, an OB/GYN with Powers Health. “That is unacceptable.”
His goal is to whittle that timespan down to mere weeks, not years.
Dr. Zaghmout is leading the new Chronic Pelvic Pain Program at Powers Health, aimed at expediting the care women receive for causes of chronic pelvic pain, including endometriosis, adenomyosis and fibroids.
Path for a Chronic Pelvic Pain Program patient
Dr. Zaghmout will examine patients, and when appropriate, refer them to Powers Health Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy for an evaluation. Based on those findings, the patient may be scheduled for an MRI to look for signs of endometriosis. If there is bowel involvement, those patients will be directed to see a gastroenterologist and a colorectal surgeon.
“Our goal is to get our Chronic Pelvic Pain patients through Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy and lined up for an MRI quicker, if necessary. If there is bowel involvement, then we do collaborative surgery with colorectal and gynecological surgeons,” Dr. Zaghmout said.
The main objective of this program is early diagnosis and treatment, which means improving the quality of life for patients whose chronic pelvic pain and, in many cases infertility, have been dismissed for years.
One woman’s story
One of these patients is Jill Brotan. The Dyer woman suffered from extreme pain, especially in her lower back and abdomen, and inflammation for years during every menstrual cycle.
“I would bleed through tampons and pads within minutes for weeks,” she said. “I was 125 pounds. There was no reason for my periods to be that excessive. I didn’t have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). That was not the issue. Doctors could not find anything on imaging or an ultrasound.”
When she and her husband decided to start a family, she was 22 years old and living in Virginia. Despite being young, she could not get pregnant. Coupled with the severe menstrual pain she experienced near constantly, she knew something was wrong, but doctor after doctor dismissed her pain, infertility and concerns.
The responses from physicians to her plight often were, “You’re just having normal periods. You’re still young. You’ll get pregnant eventually,” she recalled.
After two years of proverbial pats on the head while she struggled with debilitating pain and infertility, she visited a fertility clinic.
There, she consulted with a doctor who finally listened to her. After the initial visit, she was scheduled for a laparoscopy to clean out any possible tissue that was preventing her from getting pregnant, she said.
“The doctor said, ‘We are just going to go in and see what is going on. No more questions, no more tests, no more blood work.’ After that first laparoscopy, I was told I had endometriosis. The doctor cleaned out the tissue as best he could.”
Endometriosis is an often-painful condition in which tissue that is similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, most often on the pelvic organs. Adenomyosis happens when endometrial tissue grows into the muscle layer of the uterus. Adenomyosis is different from but can exist with endometriosis, which is the growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterus, Dr. Zaghmout said.
Two months after the surgery Jill became pregnant with her first child.
Brotan was going to have the surgery again but was able to get pregnant with her second child. Brotan and her family moved back to Northwest Indiana. Unfortunately, the excruciating menstrual pain, bloating and fatigue also returned.
“It was like I could feel every organ tightening and being squeezed,” she said. “I had constant pain everywhere below my waist. The inflammation and bloating were so bad that I looked four months pregnant.”
At 32 years old, she had had enough. She made an appointment with Dr. Zaghmout. After talking with him, she decided to have a partial hysterectomy on April 6 – right after her 12th wedding anniversary.
“My family was complete, and I was tired of being in pain,” she said. “After the surgery, the pain was gone instantly. I was in more pain going into surgery because of my period than I was after surgery. It was a miracle.”
In addition to removing Brotan’s uterus, Dr. Zaghmout removed endometrial tissue that was wrapped around her bladder, up her pelvic wall and on her upper abdomen. Her fallopian tube was stuck to her bowel with endometrial tissue, and her uterus was triple the size of a normal uterus.
“Jill is the perfect example of how a woman can benefit from the Chronic Pelvic Pain Program,” Dr. Zaghmout said. “There is no reason for women to suffer. My and Powers Health’s goal is to listen to these women, to get them diagnosed and treated as soon as possible so that they can enjoy their lives pain free.”