Bloating, pelvic pain, upset stomach

[enidoreilley 83]

I have had the old health anxiety itch creeping back up. My body has not been handling eating pretty normal foods lately. I developed some lactose intolerance recently, so I know that, but sometimes I get horribly sick after just a bite or two of food. Very bloated, full feeling, feelings of nausea, both constipation AND diarrhea. Most frighteningly, I get these occasional pangs of pain in my lower pelvic region. My lower back hurts, but that feels very musculoskeletal.

I am very very concerned about ovarian cancer. I am convinced I have it. Over the years, this fear keeps coming back. I have been to the gyno within the past few months and she didn't do any imaging but she did a pelvic exam and told me my ovaries are fine. I still feel like she needs to do imaging. I feel like they are not. I have lots of hormonal issues happening and all this fear is taking a toll on me. I have been in my room all day and don't want to leave or eat because I am afraid I will get a pain and it will re-convince me that I have ovarian cancer. Please tell me about any experiences anyone here has with this. I have been on top of my anxiety lately but now I feel like I am being smothered. I can't take an ativan because I have a paper to write.

[Holls 1505]

9 hours ago, enidoreilley said:

I have had the old health anxiety itch creeping back up. My body has not been handling eating pretty normal foods lately. I developed some lactose intolerance recently, so I know that, but sometimes I get horribly sick after just a bite or two of food. Very bloated, full feeling, feelings of nausea, both constipation AND diarrhea. Most frighteningly, I get these occasional pangs of pain in my lower pelvic region. My lower back hurts, but that feels very musculoskeletal.

I am very very concerned about ovarian cancer. I am convinced I have it. Over the years, this fear keeps coming back. I have been to the gyno within the past few months and she didn't do any imaging but she did a pelvic exam and told me my ovaries are fine. I still feel like she needs to do imaging. I feel like they are not. I have lots of hormonal issues happening and all this fear is taking a toll on me. I have been in my room all day and don't want to leave or eat because I am afraid I will get a pain and it will re-convince me that I have ovarian cancer. Please tell me about any experiences anyone here has with this. I have been on top of my anxiety lately but now I feel like I am being smothered. I can't take an ativan because I have a paper to write.

I've had the ovarian fear a few times. I'm turning forty in dec so I'm noticing a lot of hormonal changes. It started after my last baby six years ago. The ovarian fear can be a long cycle.. you feel bloated and tummy pain after eating... Then you worry.... then when you do eat you have pain or twinges from the anxiety the bloating is causing.. and round and round. A change in diet can cause bloating, recent antibiotics use..my gyno assured me that it's rare to have ovarian cancer in women who still have a menstrual. She said think 70s.. she did an exam and wasn't concerned and it did relieve my worries. Your Dr wouldn't send you on your way if she saw, felt or heard anything concerning while visiting with you. When I let the fear go, my tummy issues resolved soon after. Hugs. 

[mollyfin 366]

Ovarian fears are my "main" ones (I have a lot of problems with mine, my mother had an ovca scare two years ago, and a friend of mine died from it very young) so I know how you feel - but I also know that the symptoms you're describing are very vague.  And lactose intolerance can definitely make you bloated and cause diarrhea - not sure about constipation but that's usually caused by diet.  Constipation caused by blockage (like cancer) usually means you only pass liquid stools or nothing at all, or such is my understanding (I'm not a doctor, just a hypochondriac with lifelong stomach problems).  Even if you do have a gyn issue, the odds of it being cancer and not a common benign problem are very low.  There are so many things that can go wrong there that aren't dangerous, but are extremely unpleasant (endometriosis is very common, for example, but it's difficult to test for so a lot of people don't know they have it).  

I get why ovarian cancer is terrifying.  It grows fast and can be hard to detect.  Everything about it is scary.  And let me make it clear, I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE OVARIAN CANCER, but when my mother (74 at the time, so prime age for it) was preparing for her surgery  to diagnose the mass on her ovary (it ended up being benign, but I lost a lot of sleep over those months!), she met with her GP to go over her test results, and he said something I was surprised to hear, and that's that ovarian cancer statistics are rather out of date, and treatments now are much better than they were when those stats were being calculated.  Ovarian cancer is no longer considered an automatic death sentence; in a lot of people, it's turned into a chronic disease.  Wipe most of it out with chemo, assume that there will be a recurrence at some point; if/when that happens,  chemo again, repeat for as long as possible.  I know that's what was done for someone in my extended family; she ended up dying of something unrelated in her 70s after 20 years or so of successful treatments.  

It's still scary, it's still a disease no one wants, I know it doesn't really make a difference when it comes to HA, but once again Dr. Google just doesn't give us the whole story.  

As for whether your doctor should do an ultrasound or not, well, I would get in touch with her, explain your concerns, and ask why she specifically thinks an ultrasound isn't necessary at this point in time.  I tend to find it really helpful to know WHY my doctors aren't doing certain things that I feel must be necessary, or why they think my issue isn't X but Y.  I guess because it makes me feel more confident that they're not just blowing me off.