just browsing in here, question...

[hope08]

hello ladies. first off let me say you are all amazing for fighting whatever it is you have to go through with this disease....

i have endometriosis, and a lot of different stomach problems. i have been told i have IBS, GERD, ulcer and gastritis. cancer runs in my family and i had been paranoid about it over the past year....and my doctor looked at me like i was crazy when i told him i wanted to be tested.

well last week i started having really bad pain in my upper uterus area and kind of by my belly button....it wasn't like any endo pain i have had, or stomach pain. the doctor told me they were just urgent care and couldn't do much for me and that i would need to go to the ER (didn't go)

my question is, how did you find out you had this? are there any symptoms that seem to be the same with each person?


sorry if this offends anyone, my being in here and not being diagnosed with ovarian cancer...i just wanted to get some facts....

thanks

[hope08]

thanks so much for the comments. i thought for some reason it would be a little offensive, but you proved me wrong :)

i did have a family doctor, but she is leaving the practice now....and to be honest she wasn't that great anyways. i was referred to a doctor that just came to my area, and from what i have read she is well known for being caring and really helpful. i don't go to her until feb 4th, and i feel sorry for her for all the loads of stuff i am going to drop on her! i just hope she really is understanding and tries to help.

as far as my gyno goes....well he is just greedy and the worst doctor ever. i kept having really bad cramping pain, to the point where i would take tylenol pm to get some sleep, and it would STILL wake me up. i went to the gyno and he told me that its probably 'just your body' and that he would give me something for the pain....anaprox aka aleve. then a month later, the cramps were the worse they had ever been. this pain was so bad that i thought i was going to pass out from it. i held out through the night, and then something inside was just telling me this pain is NOT normal you need to go to the ER. so i did, they ran CT scans, did blood work, came back with nothing. they had to give me vicodin and demerol in my IV to take the pains edge off, it was horrible. so then i go back to the doc after i got out of the ER for an emergency appt....showed them my arm (i have rollin g veins and this lady blew out mine, creating a HUGE bruise on my arm) and said "something is wrong, i went to the ER because of pain, it is not normal nor am i overexaggerating this pain, you need to do something." so finally after 7 months of pain, they ordered me a laproscopic surgery. even right before i was going in to the room, my doctor said " you know, %92 of women that come in here getting this done, think they have endo but they don't, it ends up being some stomach issue" (he is very arrogant and prissy) so im like 'well thats fine, i can decipher from my stomach pain and this is not my stomach its my uterus"...first thing i hear when i wake up from surgery "well, it looks like you hve endo". FRIGGIN IDIOT. the worst part of that whole situation is that he didn't even remove the endo. he said it was diagnostic surgery. UGH.
so i am not wanting to go back to him, but i am having a hard time finding a better gyno.
i had gone through 3 before him, in the course of a year.
the only thing he gives me now, is continual hormones to where i am in a medically induced menopause and darvocets for pain.oh, and the option of being in clinical trial studies, which is creepy.  the thing is, i dont want to just mask my pain. i want to really figure out what is up.
i feel bad for saying i am frustrated, because i can only imagine what some of you are going through, but i am. i hate the fact that i have had these problems for so long, and no one seems to take me seriously, no one really searches for the answer. i have spent about a grand this year just in trying different 'natural remedies' people suggest, or i hear of. i hate being in some kind of pain every day and just having to deal with it. i hate telling doctors my whole health story, and them looking like the dont believe me or something and just tell me i need to go to a specialist....they don't do much either.
so i do want to do some testing, but i just have to find a legit gyno first, hopefully soon.
on top of all of this, my boss is a she devil, and doesnt allow me to miss work, or have time off for doc appts. she wrote me up a couple of weeks ago for coming in an hour late and told me she didn't care what kind of health problem i had, that i needed to be into work at 7am. BEECH.
anyway i am sorry i am rambling now, but thank you for your knowledge. i will be praying for you :)

[Jan214]

No one will be offended that you are here asking questions.  We WANT women to come on here and ask enough questions so that they will rule out OVCA as the cause of their problems.  We don't want anyone to be diagnosed with this but we would rather you find it at stage 1 than stage 3 or 4 like most of us.

Last year the powers that be (GCF, SGO, ACS, etc) came up with this list of symptoms.  As you can see they are the symptoms for a cagillion things but as they say if they persist see a Dr., preferably a gynecologist.

Bloating
Pelvic or abdominal pain
Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency)
"Women who have these symptoms almost daily for more than a few weeks should see their doctor, preferably a gynecologist."

(I also had a low grade fever off and on for 6 weeks and at other times thoughout that year and 3 mths.  Gilda also had unexplained fevers.  I knew I was out of remission when i woke up with a 102 fever.  Some people had other symptoms also.)

In spite of this and especially with your gastro background, Drs will tend to blow it off and tell you it is all of the gastro stuff.  That sounds like a lot of gastro stuff.  I am sorry you have to deal with those as I know how painful they are.  I have GERD and IBS although the IBS quit after my surgery.

Do you use the urgent care center as your primary care dr or do you have a regular dr?  If you don't have a primary care physician and you have ins, I would suggest finding a good family dr, than a gyn.  I have a wonderful GP and she is so helpful.  All of my records for everything are sent to her and that way all of my records are in one place.  Plus she is better at the sniffles than my onc.  :)  Get that Dr or even a few friends to recommend a GYN.  Either your GP or GYN can order a TVUS and I suggest you have one ASAP.   Do you have ins?  Even if you don't that test is only about $200.  and I STRONGLY recommend it.  
For a year I thougth I had pulled a stomach muscle or had a hernia or something.   Don't mess around with this.  Some people will tell you ovarian cancer is fast growing and sometimes it is, but looking back I KNOW when mine started and it was a year and 4 mths before I went to the Dr.  By the time I found out it was cancer, i was 3c.  
I am sorry I am rambling but this is my second go round and I am really sick today. Both in mind and body, and by really sick I mean something so horrible you can't even imagine it even with all of the painful things you have been through.  No illness, no medication does to a person what cancer and chemo do.
I saw your post and wanted to answer it because this is not something  you want to screw around with.  Give yourself a present and go to the gynecologist.   I promise it is the best thing you will do for yourself all year.  
I am sitting here crying because I am so fricking sick of this disease for me and everyone else and I don't want you to be one more.  I want them to find a cure and real screening tools for this before my daughters get it.  You may read this and think I am just some emotional crackpot, but the ladies will tell this is a day in the life of cancer.  Have a TVUS and tell all of your friends to have one too.  Right now it is the only screening for ovca that is worth a dam*.
Kindest Regards,
Jan

[Casey06]

This is one of the best sites (I think) for information on ovarian cancer:

http://www.ovariancancer.jhmi.edu/menu_understanding.cfm

Another is:

http://www.ovariancancer.org/

good luck

[silver&gold]

Hi , I had endometriosis and heartburn stomach pain ,low grade fever and flu symptoms . I went back and forth to the hospital over 18 months and was told that my 2 complex cysts were probarbly endometriomas.  Eventually I had a hysterectomy after a sharp rise in my ca125 level and was found to have ovarian cancer through endometriosis that had turned malignant. This is a rare thing to happen im told so thats good but if you are not happy with the explanation of your symptoms by your doctor or you feel unwell please go back and ask for a tvu (ultrasound) and a ca125 blood test.  I feel so passionately about this and wish I had not been made to feel I was making a fuss . Make as much fuss as you need to to get these tests if you are at all in doubt .  Take care  Angie xx

[susanlynn]

Hi -- I had vague symptoms -- pain and fullness (both stomach and lower) that seemed to come and go with my menstrual cycles.  I ignored these for a long time and then I finally had a pelvic ultrasound which revealed I have a 13 cm ovarian "mass".  This was discovered last July and I haven't had surgery yet because no health insurance benefits until March of this year (08).  

A pelvic ultrasound is a pretty simple test that I wish I would have had when I first started having symptoms.  Your ob/gyn will probably order it if you ask, especially considering your symptoms and family history.