As a child, you tripped and skinned your knee. In high school, you sprained your ankle during a tennis match. And last month, you outlasted a three-day headache.

But you don't know pain like Brittney Fisher's.

Her pain — the chronic kind — lasts for months, even years. It prevents her from working and even strained her personal relationships because friends and family don't understand what it's like.

Medical experts believe more than 10 million women suffer from chronic pelvic pain, a condition that Fisher, 23, developed in 2008.

Fisher's pain persisted, and its source eluded doctor after doctor.

Relatively few health care providers are trained to treat chronic pain patients, according to Dr. Christopher Criscuolo. Criscuolo is a pain specialist for Alegent Health in Omaha. He sees patients at Alegent's Lakeside Hospital and Immanuel Medical Center.

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