| One-Minute Clinician

Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions

A cluster of conditions that frequently co-occur, can be local or widespread, and either solely or predominantly affect women are referred to as chronic overlapping pain conditions. They include:

  • Endometriosis
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Painful bladder syndrome
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Chronic low back pain
  • Headaches
  • Migraine and tension headaches
  • Vulvodynia
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome

Once a patient has one of these conditions

  • It becomes more common that they can develop another condition
  • Over the course of a lifetime, patients can suffer from multiple conditions at one time...and one condition gets better and another begins
  • Some of these conditions only affect women (such as endometriosis and vulvodynia)

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