Been diagnosed 4cm ovarian cyst, why extreme pain only at night despite loading up on painkillers before I go to bed?

[cst54070]

I cope all day on mild painkillers but come night time, I wake 2-3 times and spend hal an hour either on loo or rolling round the floor waiting for the painkillers to kick in. Pain very severe and strong desire to go to the loo. Realise, probably pressing on bladder etc but why no attacks during daytime. Getting tired now!! Will this just happen at the time of my cycle (don't have periods as on cerozet) or will this be constant for next month or so until my gynae referral comes through?

[AngelaAbell]

Hi cst

I don't know why the night pain should be worse than daytime but if the pain is that bad i think you shoul contact your specialist nurse if you have one yet, or your GP and/or oncologist to see if your referral can be bought forward. It must be exhausting aprt from naything else and you may need some medication to prevent it.

The need to visit the loo frequently is probably pressure. I find that worse at night and assume it is something to do with lying down. But you need to discuss this with you medical team asap.

Meantime, doring the Ovacome line. The support nurses are great and will be able to give you some well informed answers and advice.

Good luc - I hope you get those particular symptoms sorted soon and that your referral comes through quickly.

love Angela

[cst54070 in reply to AngelaAbell]

Thank you for the helpful comments, after three nights of extreme pain, I had my first whole nights sleep last night without painkillers so was a very happy bunny today. I guess it has gone through with my cycle, will have to wait and see now for next month.

[TinaWright]

Hiah,

Well I can kind of explain the night pain - often pain seems to feel worse at night time. I have coped pretty well during the day and then found myself screaming and crying in pain come bedtime.

During the day if we are on the go movement is often good for pain. Trying to lie still can make everything tense and we stiffen up.

Also when we are busy it often diverts the brain away from the pain signals.

Also when we are very tired our pain threshold lowers and we cannot tolerate so much pain.

My bladder always seems more active at night too - I put this down to not having anything else to think about. I wake with a heavy bladder and cannot sleep until I have been to the bathroom. Sometimes I can hardly pee much at all. During the day I seem to be able to hold my bladder for much longer, I put this down to having other things to take my mind off it. I also think it could be preasue especially if we lay on our side or tummy.

I hope these things make some sence to you - whatever illness we have whether it be serious or just something that niggles us, it always seems worse at night when its dark and still and all we want to do is sleep.

There is nothing worse being in pain at night, I`d advice you do as Angela suggested.

Best of luck from Tina x

[MargaretJ]

Hi cst! Can I make a couple of suggestions for the pain?

A hot water bottle or even two. Boots have some with furry covers that are great. After my debulking op I was in agony and only the HWB helped. I now get agonising back pain and the HWB soothes that too.

The other is some extra pillows to prop you upnso the pressure is different.

Some yoga relaxation exercises such as the (ill named from our point of view) corpse asana and the cleansing breath are very good at helping one to deal with pain, tensing up tends to make things worse.

Good luck!

M

[cst54070 in reply to MargaretJ]

Thank you for your helpful comments. Unfortunately I'm probably one of the few people who cannot sleep with pillows. I have to lie out totally flat, I do regularly practice yoga and agree with your suggestions, it does help. Will definitely go for the hot water bottle if it flares up next month......so not looking forward to it.Thanks again.

[MargaretJ]

You may find that sleeping sitting up helps. I do not normally (or should it be did not) use pillows either but I invested in some very expensive ones to enable me to sleep propped up when the pain was so unbearable last year and, while the sleep was intermittent I did at least get some relief from the pain. The HWB was brilliant too and explaining to people that an electric blanket was not better because it could not be targetted took some doing. It has just occurred to me that those heat pads they sell for arthritis and sports injury could help especially when the pain is at the back. Must try them as i get bad back pain partly due to a prolapsed disc discovered when they were checking to see if my spine had been invaded.

[Ema-June]

Hi there, hope you are well, you are in EXACTLY THE SAME place i was in before i was diagnosed with ovarian cysts so i completely understand how you feel! the best solution i have found is to get a hot water bottle they are a LIFE SAVER! honest! I used to get the pain during the night up to 3 times a night and its crippling isnt it? I used to just sit on the loo and rock forwards and backwards, also a good thing is to take deep breaths, focus on your breathing this make you feel calm and for some reason makes the pain go away! I still get this but not as often and it always seems to be at the nightime never the daytime i call them "attacks" too. Ive been like this since feb this year and been to the gyna still visiting, stay strong. Please use my tips because they really do help and its awful when you have nobody to turn to.

Good Luck

EJ xx