When a woman walks out of her doctor’s office with multiple and often confusing names for her condition, she may feel lost. This list can give you and your partner a place to turn to for a little clarity (minus all the medical jargon).

During my first visit to the pelvic pain specialist, I was prodded with tiny needles and metal rods while my legs were held up in metal stirrups. The nurse tried to talk to me about school. Of course, there’s nothing quite like chatting about Wordsworth poems while having a metal prod shoved up your vagina.

I strolled out of the office that day with a diagnosis: pelvic myalgia. This was a nebulous term my specialist used to describe what he believed was an assortment of issues coming together to create my pain — though nerve pain was suspected. When it came to treatment, my doctor decided to slowly narrow down possible causes and address them accordingly.

I’d to fight feelings of dissatisfaction that day. I only had an amorphous idea of what was wrong with me, and I still didn’t even know what had originally caused the pain! Through an arduous journey of different treatments and experiments with various medications, we finally put a finger on what was causing my pelvic pain: a damning cocktail of pelvic floor dysfunction, pudendal nerve entrapment, vaginismus, and dyspareunia.

“Quite a list,” you might be thinking. The thing is, this kind of diagnosis isn’t all that unusual. Chronic pelvic pain is often caused by a multitude of different factors that combine to create the pain.

If you’ve had a similarly confusing diagnosis, your mind is probably swimming with questions: I have a name for my pain, but now what? Are only one factor causing my pain or multiple? If multiple, then how do they relate to one another? Where do I begin treatment if I have multiple disorders? How am I going to explain something so complex to my partner?

I want women to turn to this list for help. It’s a place free of intimidating medical terms and potential judgment. I also hope that the partners of pelvic pain sufferers can use this guide to deepen their understanding pelvic pain disorders, what causes them, and how they might affect quality of life/sex.

Please keep in mind that this list is not comprehensive, nor can I diagnose you. I’m not a healthcare professional of any kind — just a nerd who has done a lot of reading.

The What’s What of Pelvic Pain

Cervicitis (pronounced “sir-vuh-sahy-tis”): When the cervix (entrance to the uterus) is inflamed, swollen, or irritated. This causes pain during sex, bloody discharge, or spotting. In most cases, STDs are the culprit, particularly chlamydia or gonorrhea. But Cervicitis can also be caused other factors like allergies, radiation treatments, hormone imbalances, and physical trauma. Certain birth control methods – such as spermicides, diaphragms, or IUDs – can also lead to cervix inflammation. Treatment depends on the cause, but the go-to’s are antibiotics, various pharmaceuticals, or ablation (freezing or burning off the top layer of cervical skin).

Dyspareunia (pronounced “dis-puh-roo-nee-uh”): Continually painful intercourse. It could be caused by a number of issues both physical and psychological. Before worrying about whether you have dyspareunia, be sure that your sexual pain is not caused by lack of lubrication. Supposedly, doctors will generally investigate possible physical causes before looking into psychological ones. Admittedly, this has not been my personal experience, nor the experience of many other pelvic pain patients. Treatments vary dramatically depending on the source.

Endometriosis (pronounced “endo-me-tree-o-sis”): Little bits of the uterine lining begin growing outside of the womb, primarily in the ovaries or fallopian tubes. But this tissue can grow in other pelvic areas as well. These bits of uterine flesh gone AWOL bleed during menstruation, causing painful scar tissue in the pelvis. Some symptoms of this disorder include pain during sex, chronic pain, agonizing periods, and infertility. What causes it? Genetics is a primary player, but aging can also be a cited as a cause (unfortunately cells can go senile far before the brain does). Though there is no cure for endo, there are a number of pharmaceutical treatments: NSAIDS (anti-inflammatory), Opioids (strong painkillers), birth control pills, and other hormone medications.

Ectopic Pregnancy: A pregnancy that occurs in the fallopian tube or ovary instead of the uterus. Sometimes the pregnancy can even wander outside of the reproductive area entirely, though this isn’t as common. This only occurs in the early stages of pregnancy. Usually it is caused by damaged fallopian tubes, scar tissue, IUDs, STDs, or fertility drugs. Symptoms include belly pain, weakness, absence of a period, and spotting. If you suspect that you have an ectopic pregnancy, don’t hesitate to call your doctor or head to an emergency room. This is an emergency situation that could kill you if left untreated — especially if you show signs of shock (paleness, weak pulse, confusion). Treatments include medication that will flush the embryo or surgical removal of the embryo.

(Quick story if you’d like a laugh at my expense, or read on: I had continual pain in my lower left abdomen for several days, worsening with every hour that passed. I got dizzy easily and was constantly nauseated. I feared that it was one of two things: appendicitis or an ectopic pregnancy. After a lot of self-debate and consulting my nurse mother, I finally went to the emergency room. I spent over 6 hours waiting and got an MRI. The anticipation was killing me. What was the result? A young, exceptionally foxy doctor announced that I was just severely constipated. “Go to the drug store and pick up some MiraLAX. That should work,” he said. It certainly wasn’t one of my finest moments.)

Interstitial Cystitis (IC, pronounced “inter-sti-shil / sis-tight-is”): The bladder lining becomes inflamed for a long period of time, often resulting in bleeding. IC causes chronic pain, painful sex, and difficult/urgent/frequent urination. The exact cause of IC is currently unknown, but it’s often diagnosed in conjunction with irritable bowel and fibromyalgia (double whammy, baby). Whether the conditions have any direct cause-effect relationship has yet to be determined. Regardless of the cause, the current treatments are physical therapy, nerve stimulation, surgery, and various medications taken orally or injected into the bladder.

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD): Excessive tightness or looseness of the pelvic floor muscles. Ever done Kegels to tighten things up a bit? This is the set of muscles we’re talking about! If your pelvic floor muscles are too tight, it can cause many symptoms, including constipation, chronic pain, painful sex, muscle spasms, and problems urinating. If your pelvic floor muscles are too loose, you can suffer from incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse (which is your reproductive organs slide out of your body). PFD can also cause or worsen a number of other pelvic conditions, but we’ll discuss that later! The treatment depends on whether your muscles are too tight or loose, but it usually involves lifestyle changes, physical therapy, and the possible prescription of muscle relaxants.

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID): Inflammation of the pelvic region due to an STD, usually gonorrhea or chlamydia. Symptoms of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease include pain in the belly area, strange vaginal discharge, fever, and painful intercourse. Usually this condition is treated with antibiotics and then disappears without a trace. However, in some cases, it causes infertility and/or leaves excessive scar tissue, which can lead to chronic pelvic pain. Further pharmaceutical treatments will be used in this case.

Pudendal Nerve Entrapment: The pudendal nerve (a major nerve between the vagina and rectum) is compressed or trapped by the muscles surrounding it. Basically you have a pinched nerve — just in your lady parts. Symptoms include pain when sitting, genital numbness/sensitivity, vaginal/rectal spasms, and painful intercourse. The causes are varied, but usually involves a combination lifestyle, posture, scarring, stress, or physical trauma. Generally, doctors will experiment with various medications like painkillers, SSRIs, and anti-depressants to see what works best for you. Physical therapy, certain exercises, and lifestyle changes can help relax the muscles that are causing entrapment. Surgery is performed in severe cases, but this is a high-risk option, as the patient can lose all feeling in that part of the body.

Pudendal Neuralgia: This term is often used interchangeably with pudendal nerve entrapment. Though the symptoms are the same, the actual cause is not. Rather than being compressed, the nerve is simply damaged. The treatment for neuralgia is similar because nerve regeneration is unlikely (but you can always dream). At this time, it’s impossible to figure out whether you have pudendal nerve entrapment or neuralgia — at least as far as I know. In fact, there’s even some debate about whether these two things are different at all. (If anyone has any info on this, shoot me an email or comment below!)

Uterine Fibroids: Multiple benign (not cancerous) growths of attached to the uterine wall. Many women have a few fibroids and never notice, but when they come in large numbers or grow big, it can become a huge problem. Fibroids can cause chronic pain, painful sex, urinary frequency, weakness, and extremely heavy bleeding. There are different ways to approach treatment depending on the severity of the fibroids: uterine ablation (destroying the uterine lining), uterine embolization (blocking blood flow to fibroids), surgical removal of the fibroids, or pharmaceutical treatments. In extreme cases, a hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) may be necessary, but treatment options are becoming more sophisticated in recent years.

Vaginismus: Vaginal muscles tensing unconsciously to disturb and/or prevent penetration. This disorder is often mistakenly (and laughably) called “vaginitis.” It causes painful intercourse and sometimes makes sex impossible altogether. The condition usually develops as a psychological response to painful conditions, anxiety, stress, conservative moral upbringing, discomfort with sexuality, and sexual abuse. Treatment depends partly on the cause, but the most common remedies prescribed are lifestyle changes, psychotherapy, physical therapy, electrical muscle stimulation (not as painful as it sounds), and dilators (basically the medical world’s dildos). Finding the root of the disorder is essential to treatment.

Vulvodynia: Chronic pain of the vulva, usually characterized by burning, itching, or stinging. Sitting, sex, and urination become extremely painful. Vulvodynia generally comes in waves (or flares), followed by periods of dormancy where the sufferer can live a relatively normal life. Unfortunately, there’s no solid explanation for vulvodynia yet, but there are many speculations: allergies, autoimmune disorder (an overactive immune system that attacks itself), poor diet, nerve pain, or traumatic injury. Because the exact cause is unknown, a variety of treatments are usually applied including lifestyle changes, alkaline diet (avoiding acidic foods that cause inflammation), physical therapy, various medications, and – in extreme cases – surgery.

How are these all connected?

Chronic pelvic pain is incredibly complex. Many conditions are caused or affected by other disorders. Sometimes you can eliminate one problem but can’t shake another. It’s tremendously frustrating to experience and difficult to explain to others. The circumstances aren’t ideal if you’re attempting to communicate with your partner.

Of course, the better you understand the way certain conditions connect, the more you can work on getting better. Eliminating one problem might be a step in the right direction for treating your other issues. Here’s a little map I’ve drawn up to help you:

Oh, what a tangled web we weave! Okay. So this “map” is a hot mess, but that’s what chronic pelvic pain is sometimes! Even if this map is a bit…uh…primitive, it gives some understanding of the way various disorders impact each other.

I hope you find it helpful. If so, consider showing it to your partner. Communication and education are key to curing yourself sexually, but you can’t do it alone! Your partner needs to be involved in the process.