Pelvic Pain Specialist

Leia Rispoli, MD

Interventional Pain Medicine located in Newport Beach, CA & Marina Del Rey, CA

Pelvic pain is a common and debilitating complex condition that many men and women face today. Pelvic pain can include pain in the lower abdomen, perineal, rectal, or buttock region, and may also present with bowel, bladder, or sexual dysfunction. Symptoms could be due to problems with your reproductive, digestive, or urinary systems, however many patients are often plagued with frustration after seeing several urologists, gynecologists, gastroenterologists and are still facing daily symptoms without answers or treatment options. If you have chronic pelvic pain and can’t find a solution, fellowship-trained specialist Leia Rispoli, MD, can help. At her office in Marina Del Rey and Newport Beach, California, Dr. Rispoli offers advanced treatments like medical Botox® injections to relieve muscle spasms and other causes of pelvic pain. To find out more, call Leia Rispoli, MD, or book an appointment online today.

Pelvic Pain Q & A

What is pelvic pain?

Pelvic pain may affect men or women. Pelvic pain is a complex disorder and often presents as a combination of symptoms within the lower abdomen, perineal, rectal, and buttocks region. Patients may often also present with bowel, bladder, or sexual dysfunction.

Common diagnoses patients present with include:

Endometriosis
Interstitial cystitis
Pudendal neuralgia
Post-hernia repair pain
Chronic anal fissure
Dyspareunia
Myofascial pelvic pain
Chronic prostatitis
Persistent gonadal arousal disorder (PGAD).

Most often, however, patients present with no diagnosis thus far in their journey and are seeking expertise for diagnostic evaluation and treatment options.

How is pelvic pain diagnosed?

To diagnose your pelvic pain, Dr. Rispoli takes a long and detailed history to learn about the symptoms you’re experiencing. She also reviews your medical history and current general health, then conducts a physical exam.

You might need to undergo other tests to rule out or confirm possible causes of your pelvic pain. These could include:

X-rays
Ultrasound scan
CT scan
MRI
General workup from a gynecologist
General workup from a urologist
General workup from a gastroenterologist

It’s possible that by the time you see Dr. Rispoli about your pelvic pain, you’ve already undergone many of these tests without making much progress. If so, you’re in the right place because she can get to the root cause of your pelvic pain even when you’ve had no success elsewhere.

What treatments are available for pelvic pain?

The treatment you need for your pelvic pain depends on the root cause of your symptoms. Dr. Rispoli firmly believes in a collaborative approach to pain, and typically wishes to involve an evaluation and treatment by a specialized and trained pelvic floor physical therapist as well.

Dr. Rispoli specializes in treating disorders of the pelvis that cause chronic pain. Physical therapy can play an important role, as mentioned. Medication can help relieve inflammation and nerve pain, and some conditions might benefit from regenerative medicine treatments like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M) therapy.

Dr. Rispoli also specializes in using Botox injections with ultrasound guidance for muscle spasms in pelvic floor disorders. This has been extraordinarily successful in male and female pelvic floor dysfunction, especially when combined with pelvic floor physical therapy.

If you have pelvic pain and don’t know why, visit Leia Rispoli, MD, for an expert diagnosis and effective treatment. Call to schedule a consultation or book an appointment online today.