Your regular doctor is usually a ‘general practitioner’ (GP). In most cases, your GP is the best place to start the pain management process. They know your health history and understand all the different body systems, so they are well placed to help you explore different pain solutions.

A GP can help to:

• Give you support for your pain
• Make sure care and treatment continues
• Suggest at-home tools to manage your pain
• Consider what medication might be appropriate to help manage your pain, like analgesia or hormonal medication
• Reduce the cost of other allied healthcare services through a GP chronic condition management plan (GPCCMP)
  • A GPCCMP allows you to access up to five Medicare-rebated allied health visits, such as a physiotherapist, dietitian, podiatrist or psychologist.

A pelvic health physiotherapist is a qualified health professional who specialises in managing pelvic and vulval pain conditions. They will work with you to create a personalised treatment plan that aims to reduce your pain, improve your mobility, and ease anxiety and other pain-related worries. Together, these factors can improve your day-to-day function and overall quality of life.

They can help with:

• Pain education and reducing pain-related anxiety
• Pelvic floor muscle tension
  • These muscles are often ‘tight’ as they’re trying to protect you out of habit. This might include breathing exercises and specific whole-body stretches.
• Designing a gradual movement or exercise program just for you – especially if pain-related worries have made you avoid certain activities or exercise
• Toilet or bladder concerns, such as holding on to wee or poo, difficulty emptying your bladder or bowel, or losing control of your bladder (incontinence)
• Tools such as electrotherapy (sometimes called TENS) to prevent and manage pain flare-ups.

A dietitian is a qualified health professional who specialises in food and nutrition. Working with a dietitian can be helpful for pelvic and vulval pain, as what you eat and how often you eat might affect your symptoms.

A dietitian can help you:

• learn more about nutrition and how it supports your health
• understand the relationship between food, digestion and pain
• develop a regular eating pattern if you are skipping meals or struggling to eat enough
• manage digestive symptoms such as bloating, constipation, diarrhoea or nausea
• identify and manage food sensitivities that may be contributing to symptoms
• find meal and snack ideas that fit your lifestyle and needs
• make food choices that support your energy levels, wellbeing and pain management.

An occupational therapist is a qualified health professional who can help you overcome challenges to complete everyday activities. They can work with you if your pelvic pain interrupts your daily life, and help you to stay active and keep doing the activities you love to do and need to do.

They can help with:

• getting you back in charge of your life, instead of pain being the boss
• learning about how pain impacts your mind and body to interrupt everyday activities
• understanding how places, people and sensations can help you to feel more comfortable
• creating a routine to manage pain which helps you sleep more deeply and feel more energised during the day
• working together with you and your parents, teachers and coaches to support you to manage pain at home, in school and in the community, including:
  • connecting with friends and having fun
  • building ways to focus in classes and training sessions to help keep learning
  • having regular access to calm places to relax and manage your pain
  • finding ways to move your whole body and pelvic muscles during the day
  • getting to the bathroom regularly to manage periods, irritable bladders and constipation.

A pain psychologist is a qualified mental health professional with extra training in helping people who live with ongoing pain, including pelvic and vulval pain. They understand the strong connection between the mind and body, and that pain is not ‘just in your head’ – it is a real experience that affects your body, thoughts, emotions, relationships, and what you feel able to do each day.

They can help with:

• understanding your pain and what makes it better or worse
• teaching you to recognise early warning signs of pain flare-ups
• explaining ways to manage pain episodes or flare-ups
• balancing your activity and rest so you don’t overdo it or burn out
• working through difficult past experiences, such as medical procedures
• managing your stress, anxiety or low mood linked to pain
• building your confidence to talk about your pain with family, friends or teachers
• building the skills you need to keep doing the things that matter to you.

A nurse is a trained health professional who plays an important part in a multidisciplinary team. A nurse’s role is to look at a person as a whole human being, not just a diagnosis or a set of symptoms – thinking about how a health condition might affect someone’s body, emotions, daily life, relationships, school, work and overall wellbeing.

Nurses focus on the bigger picture, making sure people feel supported, understood and cared for in every part of their life, not just their medical treatment. Nurses can be found in many settings, from hospitals to local doctors’ clinics – you might even have one at school.

A nurse can help with:

• listening to and understanding your experience
• pain education
• coordinating and navigating the health services you need
• supporting referrals you may need for other specialists
• increasing your confidence with navigating the health system.

A gynaecologist is a qualified medical doctor with extra training in the female reproductive system. Some people with pelvic pain might see a gynaecologist, but with a good doctor and a team of other health professionals, you might not need to see one at all. There may be appropriate public hospital specialist paediatric and adolescent gynaecology services near you.

They can help with:

• making sure there aren’t underlying causes for your pain
• reviewing ultrasounds or other scans of your reproductive organs
• suggesting the right medicines to help with your pain
• in some cases, organising an intrauterine device (IUD) insertion or other types of contraception (this is a long-term form of contraception which can also help with pelvic pain).