A little bit about myself, I am 22 years old and have had my period since I was 14 years old. Almost immediately was put on birth control due to have an ovarian cyst and heavy painful periods. I did not have much problems with this until about 7 months ago. I started getting pain in my left ovary like clock work 1 week after my last week of birth control pills (1 week after my period). It is an aching pain that last usually a week or so, sometimes longer. I went to my doctor and had an ultra sound done which came back normal. My doctor told me just to come back if I had pain that worsened. The pain is not horrible but it is frustrating that it continues to return every month. Taking Ibuprofen doesn't seem to help. Using a heat pad helps temporarily. My doctor previously had suspicions of endometriosis but said that testing for this is expensive and wouldn't be necessary unless I had problems conceiving. I was taking Ortho tricycline (sp?) but switched to Yasmin at the start of this cycle in hopes that within a couple of months it will take away the reoccurring pain. Has anyone experienced something like this? I do have cramping during my periods but not nearly as bad as it used to be pre-birthcontrol. Does this sound like endometriosis? Is there anything I could possibly be doing to try and stop this pain from coming every month? Please help as I have grown completely frustrated and I don't think my doctor is really caring to help.
Left ovary pain 1 week after period - Endometriosis UK
Left ovary pain 1 week after period
Hi i to found myself in a similar situation i suffered from the age of 14 when i first started my menstraul cycles and over the years had scans and colonoscopys etc most of my pain would be on my left side. I tried numerous contraceptive pills and pain relief but nothing helped. I saw the gp regularly but was always made to feel like it was normal period pain and just to get on with it i felt like no one listened. Try seeing a different GP or asking for a second opinion i did and it was a doctor that i had only seen once at the end of last year who referred me to the specialist and i had my laparoscopy last week confirming endometriosis. You know your own body and only you know how it feels, you know when it does not feel right, if you feel like your GP is not listening or does not understand it is your right to get a second opinion. I hope you find someone who gets you the support you need
Thanks for your reply. When was your pain there? Was it all the time or during a certain time of your cycle? Also, if you don't mind me asking how old are you?
I have discomfort most of the time but the pain gets much worse the week before my cycle during my cycle and the week after. Heat helps a little with the pain. Yeah i dont mind at all im 27 x
Thanks for your response. Yeah I feel like the symptoms I'm dealing with are definitely from endometriosis. Did you try any birthcontrols to relieve it. If the pain sticks around for a couple of months after trying this new birth control I'm definitely going in for a lap! Have you tried/been able to conceive? I'm not at the moment but the thought of it effecting my fertility has really been on my mind lately.
Yeah i have tried many of the birth control pills they didnt work for me but they do work for many women. I really do understand your worrys about fertility i have had the same worrys for many years but many women with endemetriosis still have children. I have just had tube test when i had my lap because of these concerns and one of my falopian tubes is closed i am not sure yet if they are able to repare this or not i have to wait for my follow up in a few weeks x
It's a shame that lap is so expensive because it'll cost me so much with my bad insurance 😭 I work at a doctors office and they have told me lap maybe wouldn't be worth it and as soon as I can I should just try to conceive but that doesn't sound like it'll fix my pain and I don't want to live with this for years.
Do you live outside of the uk? I did not realise that you would have to pay for your treatment i suppose sometimes we take the NHS for granted x
I live in the US not UK, but no matter where we live, we are all women with a lot of the same issues. I have had really bad pain, heavy bleeding, hormonal imbalances, and irregular cycles for years. I don't have a regular cycle it skips around and will disappear for months at times. Then when I have something it is extra awful!
I certainly understand the frustration of not being heard and just being told to take more birth control... They always say if you still have pain, come back...then if you come back they treat you like crap and try to give you another kind of BC... I was on Depro shot for 7 years when I was a teen and into my early 20's. I think it has caused a lot of the problems that I have now and started after I got off the shot in my early 20's. I also think I have PCOS caused by the depro, but I have not been diagnosed with it, even though I have all the signs. Of course the Dr.s instantly claim that depro causes nothing like that... and shut you down and don't want to hear about it. However, there are a lot of long time users of that online that have had massive issues galore! (me being one of them)! BC of any kind...didn't help and I actually get quite a few nasty side effects that Dr.s seem to know nothing about as well as the emotional roller coaster of mood swings it caused me.
It took me over 17yrs of going to different doctors before one would actually listen and sent me for an ultra sound and then laparoscopy. By then I was in my early 30's. They did find endometriosis and other issues. Removing the endo and a few fibroids did help for about 2 years. I would say that was certainly worth having because I felt a lot better. No woman should have to wait that long!
I have struggled quite a bit through a lot of pain, embarrassment, and anxiety because no one would listen. Frankly it pisses me off when no one will do anything or care to take a look unless you are trying to conceive... I have not tried and I don't want to, but still...the sexist double standard is BS! Both male and female Dr.s have acted that way. To be honest the female Dr.s have been worse than the male ones by far!!! Male Dr.s have actually been much more understanding and likely to listen! Us ladies have jobs and careers and trying to do that and feeling ran down, in pain, and sick doesn't help when we can't get help because we don't want to pop out children at that time... What about our health and quality of life that Dr.'s are supposed to take care of? I think I have had about every card pulled on me to avoid giving me care despite having good insurance. I have had Dr.s treat me poorly because they thought I was unmarried... (when I am)... and refer to my husband as my boyfriend... Hello who's super awesome insurance is going to pay you DR... Ugh... Ok that rant over...
My pain eventually returned and now I am scheduled to have everything removed, but one ovary I am really scared about losing everything, but I pray my quality of life will be much better. If something would have been done sooner and all the birthcontrol not pushed upon me, maybe things would have turned out for me much more differently and I wouldn't be having to get all of my lady goods removed. Stuff like this doesn't run in my family either...
Hugs to all you ladies struggling unheard. Willing to share any info I can if it can help someone going through the same thing because I have been through a lot! I probably could write a book not kidding! Maybe I should!