Does this sound like ovarian cancer? This is a long one so bare with me....

[Sloughbird95]

Ive been having concers about cervical cancer recently because of irregular periods and frequnt urge to urinate, i spoke to my doctor and he said it sounds like a problem with my ovaries but with my age (26) he said its highly unlikely to be ovarian cancer. He sent me for a smear test and some swabs and they all came back normal! A letter came back in the post today inviting me for a transabdominal scan, now im worried i have ovarian cancer ive been getting bloating, sharp pains at both sides of my ovaries also discomfort after i eat large ammounts but only sometimes, i get frequent heartburn and indegestion and i get hot and sweaty very quickly, Now i keep aching in my pelvis and legs afew days before my period. Does it sound like ovarian cancer could be the culprit?

Thanks for any replies x

[Zel64]

Hi Sloughbird95, the transabdominal scan will allow them to take a look at your uterus and ovaries and see if they can figure out any obvious cause of the irregular periods, bloating, frequent urination, etc. As your cervical smear tests have come back as normal they’ll have been able to rule out cervical cancer from that.

Ovarian cysts are quite common and are mostly benign and if they find any during the scan they can do blood tests to look for markers of ovarian cancer. They can also do a repeat ultrasound/s to see if they change over time as many cysts are self resolving (I’m 36 and have ovarian cysts (benign) so have been through these tests).

Ovarian cancer is more common in the over 50s so there could well be another issue at play such as endometriosis.

Hope you have an answer soon x

[AskEveTeam]

Hi there, Thank you for your message.

It's reassuring that your investigations for ruling out cervical cancer went well. Your doctor is being thorough by referring you for a scan to look at your ovaries, but it's very unlikely that this will be ovarian cancer, for example, the bloating you describe doesn't align with ovarian cancer bloating - which we expect to be persistent, i.e. not going away regardless of time of day, food or no food etc.

Wishing you the best for your scan and we hope that this will give you the answers you need and help your anxiety.

Best Wishes,

The Ask Eve Team