Hi Ginny: I had stayed away from the forum because I felt that no one really wanted to hear that something else besides gyn problems/adhesions could be causing their pelvic pain. It was extremely frustrating to me to post (which I spent a long time doing-reading others posts/commenting etc) and then only getting silence (for the most part) in return. I really thought (and still do) that others should think of other possibilities. I had (and could still have) terrible adhesions but it appears that they had nothing (or very little) to do with my pain problem. Believe me, staying away from the forum was extremely hard to do which made me realize that it had become an important part of my life. But I forced myself to. Then today I wanted to find Toni's address so I checked in with the forum, read some posts, saw this post, and here I am. Well, the verdict seems to be in. I have arthritis of the spine and right sacroilitis, cause unknown. The hypertrophied facet joints on the MRI indicate the arthritis, the location of the pain the saccroilitis. The doctor at the pain clinic said that sacroilitis is a very common source of pelvic pain, which is what the colo-rectal guy had told me. Why I got this, and so suddenly, 2 years ago is unknown. I had been doing heavy gardening at the time (digging repeatedly with a spade with my right leg)so perhaps I did something to the SI joint then and never gave it time to heal. Then when I did the step arobics this Spring I aggravated it again. The PT therapist said that step aerobics is one way to give you an SI problem if you don't already have one. (apparently SI problems are quite common, but its uncommon for them to cause *only* pelvic pain for so long, so in a way it is good I took the step aerobics as it seems to have brought the problem to a head) Why I got relief after each lap for 3-4 months each time is a mystery. But that's the time an injection into the area often gives relief for, so there could be some explanation. Even my pcp is convinced and up until very recently was insisting it was an adhesion/bowel problem. I will continue on the celebrex for 6 weeks. It helps but does not eliminate entirely the pain, but I feel pretty good. Just having an answer helps tremendously! The pcp said it will take awhile to go away if it is the SI joint. If in 6 weeks I haven't noticably improved I will ask about the injections into the SI joint. Why I have this inflammation is still unknown. As I said before it could have been caused by the gardening, or I could have a systemic disease with an unusual presentation. (like crohn's) I do have other abnormalities like the "chronic immune process" that showed up on my immunoglobulin titer. (which I've had for at least 25 years) Maybe in the future I will find out but right now all I can do is manage the symptoms. I was glad to read that you are getting along with your pcp better. I'm still not thrilled with my pcp office, but I'm going to hold off awhile making any changes.
Chris S.