worried about ovarian cancer or stomach cancer

[livethelife]

I am a 47 year old female - I have suffered from health anxiety almost my whole life and it has not been fun. thankfully I have had times of feeling well in between all of the mental junk that goes on with HA.

I have been having troubling GI symptoms for about a a year now. started with stomach pain last fall - pain was relieved when I ate and would sometimes wake me up thru the night. I went to see my GP and she said that it sounded like classic symptoms of an ulcer (not sure why I would have an ulcer) but anyway she put me on an acid blocker for 6 weeks and the symtpoms resolved.

this past summer the symptoms came back - same thing. went to the doctor she wanted me to do another round of PPI (acid blocker therapy) for 8 weeks and then get tested for H pylori (stomach bug that can cause ulcers) - H pylori test came back negative - that was in October.

now I am having more stomach pain again and a nagging pain in my lower right side (ovary area). I have had this pain before too and had an ultrasound a year and a half ago - they did see a cyst on my ovary at that time but said it was nothing to be concerned about. now of course I am worried that this cyst was actually the start of cancer or has somehow turned into that. I was not asked at that time to do a follow up ultrasound or anything.

other confounding factors is that I have lots of bloating BUT I have had bloating issues for years that I have never been able to figure out the cause of so I can't really say that it is a new symptom but it is annoying and seems worse now or is that just because I am focusing on it.

I also seem to be having problems swallowing but again i'm not sure if this just my imagination because this is one of the symptoms that can come with stomach cancer and ovarian cancer etc.

I went out for a big lunch yesterday that was amazing and then my lunch just seemed to sit like a rock in my stomach - it felt like it was still there when I went to bed last night.

a week or so ago I developed constipation - not totally unusual for me but of course one of the symptoms of what I am worried about.

anyway....just wanted to get all of that off my chest. I am seeing my GP this afternoon so I will see what she says.
will probably have to wait 6 months for an ultrasound.

any comments or reassurances would be appreciated.

[Annie0904]

As I have had most of those symptoms, I would put it down as anxiety and ibs but I am sure your doctor can reassure you better than anyone else. I hope your appointment goes well and please let us know how you get on :)

[livethelife]

thanks for your comments Annie - I will post again after my appt.

---------- Post added at 17:00 ---------- Previous post was at 13:14 ----------

so. saw my GP today. she was a bit more rushed than usual which isn't typical for her (thankfully). usually she will give you all the time you need.

I told her my concerns re: ovarian cancer and stomach cancer. she didn't dwell much on the stomach stuff as she said that my symptoms sound like IBS. likely true as most of this stuff I have had for years - bloating - bouts of constipation etc.

I had her pull up my ultrasound from a year and a half ago to see what it was that they found then as I couldn't remember. at that time i had a 2.5cm fibroid tumor (benign) on my uterus and ovaries were normal. I asked her if this fibroid would still be there and she said that yes it would be - they don't go away until after menopause and she also said that it could have grown and could be causing symptoms such as pain and heaviness in my abdomen. so all of that is good because this pain in my ovary area is very similar to what I had back then.

i asked her if she thought an internal exam would be a good idea and she looked at my record and said I was due for a pap. but she could not do it today. i have an appt at the end of november when she will do a pap and an internal at that time.

in the meantime she is scheduling an ultrasound but I will have to wait for 5-6 months for this (Canada) :(

however, once she does the internal I think I will feel better and I also feel a bit better now knowing that my pain could be coming from my fibroid and from IBS.

so I will try to let my anxiety go for now and see if I can get feeling better. also will look into what types of foods I should eat to make IBS settle down.

so that's it for now. will post again with an update after my appt at the end of this month.

[Annie0904]

I am pleased that you are feeling more reassured after seeing your doctor. I had fibroids in my uterus but they were causing heavy bleeding for me so I had a little op to remove them. x

[livethelife]

im getting so nervous about my docs appt on wed. she will do an internal and im afraid what she might feel. now i have urinary frequency too and have almost lost my appetite for the last couple of days. i am a mess. lots of crying.

[asatylerluca]

Hiya,this was me until yesterday.I suffer with IBS and health anxiety.Recently I was suffering low pelvic pain,low back ache,bloating,no appetite,so of course I went to Dr.Google and diagnosed ovarian cancer,the more I worried the worse it got.Dr referred me for a scan as she knows I have HA.Cue 3 weeks wait for the scan then a couple of days before I couldn't eat a thing,and on the day I was thinking what song to play at my funeral:blush:.So I went for the scan but was told bladder wasn't full enough so she did an internal ultrasound as I lay nervously studying her face intensely for any clue,all of a sudden she said everything looked normal and off I trotted home.Oh yes I had the urinary frequency too,all down to anxiety,fingers crossed for you,i know exactly how youre feeling xxxx