Management of chronic pelvic pain.

Anyone who has managed chronic pain patients well understands the need for patience and unconditional positive support for the patient. It is most imperative that the physician and the entire health care team continue to be optimistic in spite of repeated failures of different treatment regimens. It is important to keep the patient informed continually of the problems encountered and the different treatment regimens used (Fig. 8). To keep the patient motivated to seek eventual solutions to the problems is one of the key elements in chronic pelvic pain therapy for the pain specialist. Do not underestimate the power of patient involvement in her own disease process. Some of the most common errors made by physicians are the underestimation of the patient's interest and intelligence in understanding the medical aspects of the pain disorder, lack of communication with the patient in regard to new findings and the effect they have on the course of the patient's treatment, and the lack of outward expressions of sincerity and concern about an individual patient's condition.