Hi all,

I'm new to posting - have been reading a few posts for a while and thought I'd dive in.

I'm aware I have some significant HA to deal with, but I also wanted to crowdsource some perspective on physical symptoms and see if anyone else has experienced similar.

I'm late 30s, two children. Pretty severe pelvic instability in pregnancy #1, better controlled for in #2, but obviously my pelvis is a bit dodgy and misaligned at the best of times.

Since pregnancy #2 and especially from about 12 months post-partum I've been experiencing low pelvis pain - mostly at the front, often across the pubic bone out to the front of the hips, and at times radiating around to the lower back. Sometimes I get a sharp muscle-pull/tear type of feeling from beside my belly button down towards my pubic bone if I move/stand/sit/lie down in a particular way. Occasionally I get the same sharp pain/discomfort if I sneeze with unexpected force. I did have some abdominal muscle separation after both pregnancies but thought from what a couple of physios have said that it was resolving fine.

Probably TMI but I also feel like bladder and bowel function are a bit...I don't know. Sort of different and a bit uncoordinated, and accompanied by different sensations before a movement than prior to when these symptoms started up. No actual significant changes in bowel movements that I can really observe, I suppose, aside from Western-diet-and-lack-of-exercise-induced constipation at times (not severe, just not...'optimal', and with a bit of mucus if I really squinted and looked closely enough ). I had a PCR test done and all it showed up was d.fragilis - I've taken a specific probiotic to help and that seems to have lessened the small amount of additional mucus, so I'll call that a win.

I've had a couple of pelvic ultrasounds done so I'm not concerned about ovarian cancer (any more...). Pap smears up to date and all clear. Blood tests all generally good, although my iron is around 132 Hb / 40 ferritin which is low-ish for me but considered 'normal' for the population. At times I get quite dizzy standing up too quickly, and I have some vague nausea-type feelings at times during the day - although again I suspect this might be the low-ish iron stores (I had similar in pregnancy #2 and really felt symptomatic).

While the u/s scans were clear, I'm still really concerned that the weird and at times painful pelvic sensations are signs of cancer - specifically colorectal cancer. I've had an FOBT that was negative, and my GP has now referred me to a GI/gen surgeon for a consult and possible colonoscopy to rule out bowel issues.

I'm trying to stay positive but I find it difficult to refrain from consulting Dr Google and the fear is just all-consuming at times. I'm also following up with a women's health physio to work out whether the pelvic pain and weird sensations and digestive stuff is all related to core muscle weakness, a diastasis recti, or some other kind of pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. I kinda *know* it is something like that, but the HA-dominant part of my brain just keeps searching for the 1-in-100,000 instances of a young healthy person with 'vague pelvic and GI pain' having cancer.

I basically just need a cheer squad of people to tell me I'm okay, and will be okay in future (as far as anyone can predict!).

Thanks for reading, especially if you made it this far... :-D