I am a mess! convinced I have ovarian cancer.

[jinglebells]

Firstly I would like to apoligise for the long post in advance. where do I start, at the begining I guess.

It all started about 6 months ago, I had a lump in my throat and some persistant left sided upper back pain, as silly as I was I refered to Dr google and ended up self diagnosing my self with cancer of the oesophagus.
From that point onwards things went downhill. I suddenly developed a bunch of other symptoms (which looking back I am sure was my bodies way of responding to the blind panic). I felt extremely tired, had constant nausea and developed problems swallowing, probably because I had read they were the symptoms of oesophageal cancer. After a few months things settled down slightly but I developed other symptoms, hiccups and burping being two of the most annoying. During that time I had a breast lump (thought i had breast cancer, also considered stomach cancer) the lump turned out to be harmless.
The latest thing is my obsession with ovarian cancer. I think its more than an obsession and I really am convinced I have it. This has been going on for the last 6 weeks, I have seen a gyn consultant and I am currently waiting for an ultrasound appointment. My symptoms are:
constant nausea,
bloating that makes me look 6 months pregnant, has reduced slightly but I am still bloated.
Left side pelvic pain.
I have also experienced one episode of pain (severe) during sex and
over the last few days I have developed left sided back and leg pain (I read a few days ago that this is symptoms of ovarian cancer, is it possible my brain is tricking me?)
along with that I am also burping constantly and
still suffering from hiccups. Its strange hiccups, it’s only ever the one hiccup but happens about 30 times a day.
The last thing on my list is the abdominal movement, I feel like i have something in my tummy which is moving (convinced this is a huge tumour pushing everything upwards).
Before I had the gyn appointment on Monday I was trying to tell myself it was IBS as I have been slightly constipated, I had almost convinced myself. The consultant I saw wanted me to go for a scan to rule things out and said to me as I was leaving not to worry too much as people with ovarian cancer normally present with hiccups AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! I hadn’t mentioned that I was having problems with hiccups as I didn’t think it was relevant, but I am sure you can imagine how it has all gone badly from there!
This week has been the worst week of my life; I am so sure I have ovarian cancer as I have all the symptoms and the hiccups! Last night it came to a head and I told my partner all my fears and spent 4 hours crying. He is supportive but can’t relate to what I am going through at all.
Has anyone else heard of hiccups being a symptom of ovarian cancer? Dr google hasn’t. I know I should stay away, but the state I am in at the moment I can’t make it any worse. I don’t know how I am going to bear waiting for the scan, and then 10 days for the results, I am a mess now.
Thanks for listening to me; any advice would be greatly received. Does anyone else have hiccup issues that aren’t ovarian cancer?
:weep: :weep: :weep:

[AntiLove_SuperStar]

All those symptoms may be attributable to anxiety, or something more benign, or ovarian cancer.

The really excellent thing is that you went to the doctor and now you're going to have a scan. If it is cancer, your chances are good!

Its understandable that you are worried. Can you go to your GP, or just have a chat on the phone? You might find that reassuring, or perhaps in the meantime you can have a short course of meds to just calm you down and get you through the next few weeks?

Pain can definitely be psychosomatic. All this could be anxiety. There is a chance its cancer but if it is, you're doing the right stuff.

AND STAY OFF GOOGLE!!! It won't help you. Its in your consultant's hands now. They arn't infallible, but RE the hiccup thing, I'd believe them over Google any day. But that doesn't mean you definitely have cancer!

[Mondie]

Have a look at the below thread, someone who is going through similar things to you:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=48471

I haven't heard of hiccuping being a sign of ovarian cancer, but have heard that they can be stress related.

Hugs

:bighug1:

[Jo3016]

Hi

I just read your thread - I am the one who wrote the thread that Mondie referred you to.

I have had wierd symptoms for about a month, starting with pains under my ribs (mostly left side), acid, burping and awful trapped wind pains etc. This week, I am convinced that my stomach is bloated although my husband says it doesn't look any different. I also have low back ache.

I have been to the doctors 4 times over the last month. I am on some drugs to help with the burning pain under my ribs which has helped quite a bit. I have had blood tests that have come back normal and have an abdominal and pelvic scan on Tuesday. I had to go back to the doctor today just to be reassured before the long weekend. I saw a different doctor who told me that while my symptoms could be early ovarian cancer signs, they are a lot more likely to be symptoms of IBS especially given my terrible health anxiety. He said bloating with Ovarian cancer is due to fluid within the abdomen which tends to make it feel tight and hard to touch. He said it was more likely to be gas and that the scan would show whether it was fluid or gas.

I spend my days at the moment, lurching between feeling positive and convinced that it is just IBS, to being convinced that I have ovarian cancer. My husband is very understanding but doesn't know what to do with me!!

How old are you? Do you have any children?

I haven't heard about the hiccup thing either. I just have belching and the other end!! (Sorry!) but a lot more than normal!!

Let's stay in touch. We are clearly going through the same fears at the moment and perhaps we could be a comfort for eachother.

Take care

[jinglebells]

Thanks for the replied, have had some internet problems hence the delay.

I am sorry to hear you are going through a similar thing Jo, it's certainly no fun!

I also have a scan tomorrow, it's a pelvic scan done abdominally. I was under the impression that these are less accurate than a transvaginal scan? thinking of requesting one of these.

I 24 years old and have two children, how about you?

The hiccups and leg pain have really been bothering me this weekend. Hoping the leg pain is all in my imagination ( when I had a breast lump I developed arm pain which disappeared when I got the all clear!). Have an appointment with my GP on Thursday to discuss my health anxiety, which I haven't really done up to now. Ver nervous about tomorrow, think I have to wait 10 days for the results :weep: .
Good luck tomorrow Jo, let me know how it goes.
J:hugs:

[xfilme]

Hi,

I come from a nutrition background and was wondering if the two of you could describe your typical diet for me? What do you and dont you eat on a regular basis etc? try and be specific and I will try and see if there any obvious problems with your food and drink consumption that could be causing you both IBS.... your symptoms are VERY inkeeping with both IBS and food intolerance. Let me know what you both eat and ill have a quick look into the nutrition side for things that you may be doing that are causing the bloating etc x

[jinglebells]

hey xfilme, thankyou for the offer, I would very much like to take you up on it. A typical day consists of:
Breakfast: bowl of rice krispies with milk and slice of white toast with butter.

Snack: Pear and cup of decafe coffee with powdered milk

Lunch: cup of soup, wholemeal bread roll, peach. yogurt(activia)

Snack: piece of soreen (malt loaf) with butter

Dinner: chicken breast, brocolli, sweetcorn and mash potato.

Day 2

Breakfast: 2x weetabix with milk, yogurt (Activa)

Snack: bananna decafe coffee

Lunch: round of ham sandwiches (white bread), rice cakes, pear.

Snack: peach and pistachio nuts

Dinner: spag bol with veg and cheese (wholemeal pasta).

my diet has changed very little over the last 3 years, but my anxiety levels have! I have my suspisions that bread doesn't help with the bloating, but I am not certain about this. i have just started drinking peppermint tea, but at the moment I am not seeing any effects.
Thankyou for your help :flowers:

[xfilme]

I shall send my response in a private message jinglebells x

[Jo3016]

Hi

I had my pelvic and abdominal scan today which were fortunately carried out by a doctor rather than a technician. This meant that I could get the results straight away. He couldn't see anything untoward. I have a tiny cyst on my right ovary which he said would not cause pain and was almost defintely to do with me being mid-cycle.

I feel a lot better now but still have pain and bloating. Over the weekend, I developed bad low abdominal pain and constipation together with low back pain. I have a lot of gas and have had a BM since but it seems odd - about 4 times each morning in pretty quich succession but painful and narrow.

Food wise, this last week, I have been eating very differently. I have cut out wheat and have been eating mostly raw fruit and veg and rice and oats but aparently, that can cause bloating too. I don't know what to do!!

I am determined not to move on to bowel cancer now that I have had the all-clear from ovarian although I can feel myself slipping in to it!! I am going to my first CBT session tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

How did your scan go jinglebells?

[xfilme]

As I mentioned to jinglebells in a private message.... many vegetables, especially when eaten raw can cause pain and bloating due to food intolerance. If you suffer from hayfever, it is likely that the raw veg you are eating could be "pollen foods". This means grown in an area with high pollen. The body can cross react with the protein in these foods assuming they are pollen and not protein... its only a possibility as your pains have been going on for longer than a week... I assume before this you ate less raw veg? So maybe theres nothing in it. For me, if I eat a raw carrot, within 20 minutes I get bloating, stomach cramp and a migrane.... perhaps, like I also suggested to jinglebells, try starting a food diary... detailing all the food and drink you consume and at what time and writing down any symptoms and the times... over a week you may be able to identify triggers. Try eliminating certain foods and see which ones make the greatest difference. The myth that our bodies crave what it needs is inaccurate.... the body tends to crave the things that are not good for it... maybe try and stop eating the food/drink you consume the most and see what happens.

[Dotcom]

Please let us know how you got on x

Thinking of you:hugs:

[jinglebells]

hey,

Jo, I am pleased you got the all clear from your scan. Your BM can prob be explained by your change of diet, try to take comfort in the fact you don't have ovarian cancer!!

My scan also went well, a technician did mine. Luckly she was very chatty and didn't mind talking me through the whole thing, she seemed confident there was nothing too sinister going on. I have to get the official results from my GP next week but she said there wouldn't be anthing in the report that she hadn't told me. She seemed to think it was bowel related and I think she is right( caouldn't say that at the weekend!). She scaned my kidneys just to make sure. I feel it was the reassurance I needed and am trying very hard not to think about any other illnesses or question the scan.

I can relate to what your saying about slipping into "bowel cancer", I refuse to even think about it. I thiink if I stay away from google that will help me a huge amount.

I still have the same symptoms as before the scan, the hiccups are driving me nuts! I have an appointment with my GP tommorrow to discuss things. I just started a food diary on the great advice from xfilme (thanks!) and am going to try and fix things by changing my diet before jumping in with the meds.

I didn't feel overly relieved after having the scan, but I am def feeling much more positive about things. This site is great, a big thankyou to you all :bighug1:

[Amanda74]

Hi

I can relate to what you are going through, I am convinced I have ovarian cancer and Im really scared, am finally going to go to the docs tomorrow to ask his advice.
I have polysistic Ovaries and I am really scared that one of the cysts has turned into cancer.
Hopefully he will refer me for a scan.
Will let you know how I get on

A

[Trisha E.]

Dear Jingles, I totally understand where u r coming from, have you been to a gastrologist? I have severe chrons disease, just found out in October, 2013, I recently have had severe pelvic pain that goes around to my back, and down to my thighs, I have a small cyst on my left overie and have recently started belching and hiccuping all the time, and it is always only 1 or2 at a time, I have rad some where too about it being possible signs of cancer, I have an appt, on the 22nd of July for an exploreitory surgery, I have had a vaginal ultrasound but Dr. Is out of town and don't know results on it, I was in the hospital. Twice last week becaus of pain, and this to could be ove rain cancer or just related to my chrones, or to the infussions I get every eight weeks of remicade for my chrones, have you ever been tested for chrones ? You might want to see a gastrologist, and ask to be tested, a good Gastro, I had one and he said it was my gallbladder , and took it out, guess what, nothing wrong with it, and he didn't even look for chrones, it is very difficult to see and determan, it took 2 years on me to find it, nausea, vomiting and diareha up to 20 times a day, when I get my results on tests I will let you know, when I saw your story, I thought OMG did I just type that?.. SO similar to my troubles, good luck and God Bless, Trisha E.

[hannah25]

Oh dear, i've just been reading all of this and now I'm more worried than I was before, haha!
I've had a pain under my left rib (quite high up, but it moves around a bit) for over a year now. It feels like a stitch and sometimes I can feel it when i move.
In the past 3 weeks the pain has gotten worse, I've had extreme tiredness, constipation and then diarrhoea, belching, belatedness and sharp pains on my lower left abdomen (where ovary is).
I'm terrified that some kind of cancer has been sitting there for a year and is now in late stages.
I had an ultrasound about 3 months ago which was all clear, have had test for h.plori. The doc is reluctant to do further tests as she thinks it's IBS and anxiety related. I'm going out of my mind with worry as I feel so ill and convinced it's something awful.
Can anyone offer any advice/reassurance? I've been off gluten and wheat the past 3 days to see if this helps.

---------- Post added at 21:51 ---------- Previous post was at 21:40 ----------

I've also had excessive gas and tummy gurgling a lllll the time...