silver_shoes
01-08-17, 00:59
I think I should start by mentioning that this is very much a "TMI" post.. I apologise, but am very worried so hope you will bear with me if you do decide to read on! I also apologise now that this will be a long post! But very scared.
I currently have worries about my fertility, and maybe ovarian or cervical cancer.
I have had some issues with my periods. I will say that I have been under a lot of stress this year with some family issues which began at the end of last year, flared up again around February time and have caused a lot of trouble and anxiety for me ever since. I have got myself very down because of the issue, caused by a troublemaking member of my husband's side of the family and I now have a very strained relationship with my mother and father in law because of this. Also a good friend of mine has been recently diagnosed with cancer and I have been worried for him. As well as that, (and I know this is going to sound very overdramatic) but when the Grenfell Tower fire happened, the news footage upset me profoundly and I couldn't sleep properly for a number of nights afterwards. I also had a massive IBS flare-up, just after my last period, and I know that the combination of stress/not being well can affect periods.
I have never previously had any issues around the regularity of my periods, until now (the exception being several years ago when I went through a horrific relationship break-up and I skipped three periods due to the stress, but things got back to normal).
So what has happened is - I didn't have a period during May this year at all, then had one at the start of June - and haven't had one since. I'm 35, 36 next month. I have an app on my phone which I use to keep track of my cycle, and I am pretty sure that I ovulated as normal, most women will know that there are "signs" of this lol. I then started with my usual bad PMT... which has continued for several weeks now, with no sign of my period arriving. I am emotional, my breasts are sore, I am extremely tired etc etc. I am definitely not pregnant, having recently had four negative pregnancy tests over the last few weeks! (Will come to that shortly). I have been through weeks now, of thinking surely my period is going to arrive today, but it hasn't. I have been extremely emotional, my poor husband has been on the receiving end as I have been horrible to be around and felt very mentally not great at times.
Last Wednesday, I saw my GP about this issue, and she requested some blood tests - full blood count, thyroid and some hormone levels.
On Thursday evening, I suddenly started to develop an intense ache deep inside my vagina but initially i was not too worried about this as this can often happen when my period is imminent. However the ache developed in to pain which became unbearable and so later that night my husband took me to A&E. The pain was so severe I thought I might faint and I felt sick. Whilst there they checked my BP, oxygen etc and all was normal, and by that point the bloods the GP had carried out were on the system and the A&E doctor told me they had all come back normal. They carried out a urine test to look for infection - all normal, and also a pregnancy test, which came back negative, no great surprise as by this point I had done two home tests already. They said from the A&E point of view there was nothing further that needed doing, however they arranged for me to come back the following morning, to the Gynaecology assessment unit, as the problem obviously needed investigating further.
So Friday morning off we went to the Gynae department, where I arrived in loads of pain and feeling generally terrible. I was seen by a consultant gynaecologist who carried out an internal examination (ouch!!!) and told me that all was normal. He took some swabs, which he said was standard practice. He said he could not find a reason for my pain but if it persisted then I needed to see the GP.
We went home and the pain was still there but as the day progressed thankfully it started to ease. However (!) as the day went on, I started to develop a new pain, which was a throbbing kind of pain, in my lower left abdomen (almost lower pelvic I suppose). I thought finally maybe my period is going to make an appearance. The pain carried on all through Saturday and was beginning to get more severe. By the time Saturday night arrived I was close to tears because of it. I couldn't go to bed that night as didn't know what to do with myself, and by about 1am Sunday morning I was literally rocking on the sofa in absolute agony. I called 111 and was made an appointment which was a few hours away - I did try to wait it out however the pain became so totally horrific that I called an ambulance and they sent one out and I was taken to hospital. On the way there I had a lot of gas & air which helped. When I was there I was taken to the Majors unit of A&E and they put a cannula in me and took some bloods and eventually I was seen by a doctor who said that, again, they had come back normal and all my obs were fine. She suggested that maybe (but not definitely) an ovarian cyst might be the cause, and that they were going to let me go home but I should see my own GP to be referred for further tests. I asked her if it could be anything sinister such as cancer and she said no, as my bloods are normal and I have no other signs of anything awful . So, I saw the GP yesterday (Monday) morning and he has referred me for an urgent ultrasound scan. Thankfully, the pain has now gone away, except for the occsional twinge.
But of course, I am very scared. Firstly, due to the fact my period hasn't arrived. My husband and I wanted to try for a baby when I have lost enough weight and the thought of not being able to do that absolutely terrifies me. For weeks now, I have had this absolutely horrendous ongoing PMT and I just want my period to arrive!!
Secondly - I am concerned about them potentially missing ovarian or cervical cancer. As it happens, I was due to go for my smear test last week but then the vagina pain started to develop so I cancelled the smear test, though I will rebook it as soon as I feel able to. I have always had normal smears previously. I am absolutly exhausted, though not sure if this is due to worry, or whatever is wrong with me.
Could the blood tests have missed a form of gynaecological cancer? The A&E doctor reassured me that if it was sinister,they would surely have seen something in all my bloods but everything, eg white cells, haemoglobin, liver function, kidney etc was all within normal ranges.
Thirdly - if I do have an ovarian cyst, could it just randomly burst and kill me? We are due to go abroad on holiday in early September and I am terrified that if I do have a cyst, the cabin pressure on the plane might cause it to expand and burst inside me. Back in 2015, I did have a transvaginal (internal probe) ultrasound as I had a similar pain back then, but to a lesser extent, and my ovaries were found to be normal, but of course a cyst could have developed in the time that has passed since then. The holiday is all paid for and we have been looking forward to it for ages :(
Thank you to anyone who has had the patience to read to the end of the post!
I am praying that this is all just down to stress and that it's put my hormones out of whack.
Can anyone relate, has this happened to anyone before? And what about my cancer worries? So scared. :unsure:
I currently have worries about my fertility, and maybe ovarian or cervical cancer.
I have had some issues with my periods. I will say that I have been under a lot of stress this year with some family issues which began at the end of last year, flared up again around February time and have caused a lot of trouble and anxiety for me ever since. I have got myself very down because of the issue, caused by a troublemaking member of my husband's side of the family and I now have a very strained relationship with my mother and father in law because of this. Also a good friend of mine has been recently diagnosed with cancer and I have been worried for him. As well as that, (and I know this is going to sound very overdramatic) but when the Grenfell Tower fire happened, the news footage upset me profoundly and I couldn't sleep properly for a number of nights afterwards. I also had a massive IBS flare-up, just after my last period, and I know that the combination of stress/not being well can affect periods.
I have never previously had any issues around the regularity of my periods, until now (the exception being several years ago when I went through a horrific relationship break-up and I skipped three periods due to the stress, but things got back to normal).
So what has happened is - I didn't have a period during May this year at all, then had one at the start of June - and haven't had one since. I'm 35, 36 next month. I have an app on my phone which I use to keep track of my cycle, and I am pretty sure that I ovulated as normal, most women will know that there are "signs" of this lol. I then started with my usual bad PMT... which has continued for several weeks now, with no sign of my period arriving. I am emotional, my breasts are sore, I am extremely tired etc etc. I am definitely not pregnant, having recently had four negative pregnancy tests over the last few weeks! (Will come to that shortly). I have been through weeks now, of thinking surely my period is going to arrive today, but it hasn't. I have been extremely emotional, my poor husband has been on the receiving end as I have been horrible to be around and felt very mentally not great at times.
Last Wednesday, I saw my GP about this issue, and she requested some blood tests - full blood count, thyroid and some hormone levels.
On Thursday evening, I suddenly started to develop an intense ache deep inside my vagina but initially i was not too worried about this as this can often happen when my period is imminent. However the ache developed in to pain which became unbearable and so later that night my husband took me to A&E. The pain was so severe I thought I might faint and I felt sick. Whilst there they checked my BP, oxygen etc and all was normal, and by that point the bloods the GP had carried out were on the system and the A&E doctor told me they had all come back normal. They carried out a urine test to look for infection - all normal, and also a pregnancy test, which came back negative, no great surprise as by this point I had done two home tests already. They said from the A&E point of view there was nothing further that needed doing, however they arranged for me to come back the following morning, to the Gynaecology assessment unit, as the problem obviously needed investigating further.
So Friday morning off we went to the Gynae department, where I arrived in loads of pain and feeling generally terrible. I was seen by a consultant gynaecologist who carried out an internal examination (ouch!!!) and told me that all was normal. He took some swabs, which he said was standard practice. He said he could not find a reason for my pain but if it persisted then I needed to see the GP.
We went home and the pain was still there but as the day progressed thankfully it started to ease. However (!) as the day went on, I started to develop a new pain, which was a throbbing kind of pain, in my lower left abdomen (almost lower pelvic I suppose). I thought finally maybe my period is going to make an appearance. The pain carried on all through Saturday and was beginning to get more severe. By the time Saturday night arrived I was close to tears because of it. I couldn't go to bed that night as didn't know what to do with myself, and by about 1am Sunday morning I was literally rocking on the sofa in absolute agony. I called 111 and was made an appointment which was a few hours away - I did try to wait it out however the pain became so totally horrific that I called an ambulance and they sent one out and I was taken to hospital. On the way there I had a lot of gas & air which helped. When I was there I was taken to the Majors unit of A&E and they put a cannula in me and took some bloods and eventually I was seen by a doctor who said that, again, they had come back normal and all my obs were fine. She suggested that maybe (but not definitely) an ovarian cyst might be the cause, and that they were going to let me go home but I should see my own GP to be referred for further tests. I asked her if it could be anything sinister such as cancer and she said no, as my bloods are normal and I have no other signs of anything awful . So, I saw the GP yesterday (Monday) morning and he has referred me for an urgent ultrasound scan. Thankfully, the pain has now gone away, except for the occsional twinge.
But of course, I am very scared. Firstly, due to the fact my period hasn't arrived. My husband and I wanted to try for a baby when I have lost enough weight and the thought of not being able to do that absolutely terrifies me. For weeks now, I have had this absolutely horrendous ongoing PMT and I just want my period to arrive!!
Secondly - I am concerned about them potentially missing ovarian or cervical cancer. As it happens, I was due to go for my smear test last week but then the vagina pain started to develop so I cancelled the smear test, though I will rebook it as soon as I feel able to. I have always had normal smears previously. I am absolutly exhausted, though not sure if this is due to worry, or whatever is wrong with me.
Could the blood tests have missed a form of gynaecological cancer? The A&E doctor reassured me that if it was sinister,they would surely have seen something in all my bloods but everything, eg white cells, haemoglobin, liver function, kidney etc was all within normal ranges.
Thirdly - if I do have an ovarian cyst, could it just randomly burst and kill me? We are due to go abroad on holiday in early September and I am terrified that if I do have a cyst, the cabin pressure on the plane might cause it to expand and burst inside me. Back in 2015, I did have a transvaginal (internal probe) ultrasound as I had a similar pain back then, but to a lesser extent, and my ovaries were found to be normal, but of course a cyst could have developed in the time that has passed since then. The holiday is all paid for and we have been looking forward to it for ages :(
Thank you to anyone who has had the patience to read to the end of the post!
I am praying that this is all just down to stress and that it's put my hormones out of whack.
Can anyone relate, has this happened to anyone before? And what about my cancer worries? So scared. :unsure: