anitaama

Symtoms

Posted on 05/02/08, 05:56 pm

Ovarian Cancer Whispers - so listen... Watch for Pelvic or abdominal pain or discomfort; vague but persistent gastrointestinal upsets such as gas, nausea, and indigestion; frequency and / or urgency of urination in the absence of an infection; unexplained weight gain or weight loss; pelvic and / or abdominal swelling, bloating and / or f eeling of fullness; ongoing unusual fatigue; or unexplained changes in bowel habits. If symptoms persist for more than 2 weeks, ask you r doctor for a combination pelvic / rectal exam, CA-125 blood test, and transvaginal ultrasound. A Pap Test WILL NOT detect ovarian cancer.

• Reply #1 05/03/08  6:50am
  
  JulierRae
  Thanks Anita for the symptoms and the tests needed to confirm or not Ovarian Cancer, because it does whisper. This is the kind of information I was hoping to get out to women. If I had gone to the doctors when I first had symptoms, maybe it could have been caught in an eariler stage. Thanks Again!
• Reply #2 05/04/08  4:47am
  
  Halli
  It crept up on me over, I believe, over a period of years. Very subtle and slow with no noticeable symptoms until I realised that my stomach was becoming quite huge. I remember that I couldn't hold it in and that it was as big when I was laying down, which wasn't normal. My periods were becoming increasingly more bloody and then I had one in the middle of my cycle and knew that this was significant and went to see the doctor.
  
  I put the slow and subtle changes, like tiredness and struggling to keep up with a full and busy lifestyle, down to getting older and the onset of the menopause.. and thought that getting older was such a difficult and dreadful thing.. My cancer, though huge, was contained in my ovaries, so that other organs were not involved. this meant that I didn't have very many symptoms.
  
  As soon as I had recovered from the initial surgery and the tumour was removed, I felt ten years younger. It was only then that I realised that certain things I'd put down to getting older were in fact symptoms, particularly the weight that I was carrying around inside and the vague but persistent discomfort that went with it, also my stress levels had been very low for quite some time. I had suspected that something was wrong, life was becoming an increasingly greater struggle for me and thoughts of cancer were whispering to me throughout. With nothing to back up my imaginings I dismissed them and continued to struggle till I became accustomed to the difficulties and accepted them as being a normal part of my life. I've since learnt to trust my instincts and would urge anyone with vague feeling of things being wrong to get themselves to the doctor..
  
  In my experience, women who are ill, often push themselves very hard.. as if by taking on lots of work and responsibilities, they are proving to themselves that everything is ok. Accepting that you are ill is the first step. Trying to find out what is wrong can create a whole lot of new problems, particularly with such wide ranging symptoms as present with OC. Also GPs are not specifically trained or experienced in dealing with this. You could well be the first patient they have ever seen with this disease. You run the risk of being misdiagnosed and treated for all sorts of things before it is discovered. You could also be told that there is nothing that they can find wrong with you and by being persistent you can sometimes be looked upon as a hypochondriac or suffering from depression etc.. Cancer is, too often, the last thing that a GP will investigate, when I believe it should be the first.
  
  
  
• Reply #3 06/03/08  9:51pm
  
  rj1976
  In my experience,the GP was so focused on everything but cancer. My symptoms were digestive problems and abdominal bloating. I was told to take laxatives for 2 weeks on my first visit since the Dr. thought I was just constipated, then went back. The second visit I was told (by the same doc) that I must have some sort of virus. The third visit (and 2nd set of X-rays), the doc was just plain annoyed and told me I really didn't have a problem and that he didn't think my stomach was all that big--I'd probably just gained weight.
  
  That occurred over a 6 week period. I made another appt with a different GP the next week, and went from the clinic to the ER to the hospital to the operating room. I was in so much pain--the tumor had pushed my bladder up into just under my chest and I had a serious bladder infection from not being able to drain it for months. The oncologist that did my surgery was so angry because he'd looked back at the Xrays that had been taken almost 2 months before, and the tumor had been plain as day and much smaller at that point. At the time I had that first surgery, I looked like I was 4-5 months pregnant.
  
  I believe that the doctor never looked into the possibity of cancer because of my age and health history. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are so similiar the the symptoms of so many other things, but should be looked into--no matter what age--if those symptoms exist.
• Reply #4 09/30/08  10:06am
  
  Darlinwife
  I am still in the I DONT KNOW IF ITS CANCER STAGE, but I can tell you that for the past year, I have noticed alot of bloating, big tummy, constipation, indigestion, tiredness, pain in my left side, sometimes very sharp pain, and weight gain(25 lbs).
  I was diagnoised with diverticulosis, and I had a bout with it, so I went to the ER in FEB-08 and again in JUNE-08, and a CT scan BOTH TIMES showed a multiloculated cyst. NO ONE sent these records to my family dr, so it went unnoticed for 7 months. Now a vaginal ultrasound shows a complex cyst that has grown from 3.1 in feb to 3.7 in june, and now in sept 5cm. I am aggressively working on the final diagnosis with my gyn-oncologist. 10/08/08, I should know something. I am trying to focus on "Its Just a benign cyst", because I really dont feel so bad, that I would think cancer, but then again, I dont want to be naive about it either. I was wondering, do these symptoms concur(sp) with benign cysts as well as Cancer?
• Reply #5 10/19/08  10:07am
  
  anitaama
  This is why we have to get the word out to women everywhere about the signs and symptoms of OVCA. Evidently to Dr.s also. I wish I knew how to do that. I have written to my local TV stations to do a segnemnt on it and also have written to Oprah to do a show on it. Do you know how many women would benefit if Oprah would do a show? But my efforts so far have been in vain. I continue to persue however.

To increase the awareness of the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer and those who are affected by it.