Am I having a premenopausal symptoms?

[portaferissa]

I am 47 and recently had a small cyst discovered on my ovary. Had a blood test for tumour maker and it came back negative. I have an abdominal pain. It is bearable, no need to take a pain killer but comes and goes every day. I do recollect a 2 or 3 slightly sweaty nights and had one heavy bleeding in March and my current period is delayed. Does anyone else experience the same pain? I wonder if mine is coursed by the possible menopause or cyst or something else.. My mother died of ovarian cancer. I am sick worried now. The cyst is being monitored in case it grows otherwise it does not need to be operated I am told.

[wobblybee Administrator Pioneer]

Hi portaferrisa

You are in the right age group to experience premenopausal symptoms such as you describe. My periods stopped completely when I was 54, I'd had a relatively straightforward menopause, although there were lots of weird symptoms. But, since my early 20s I'd experienced low abdominal pain on either side, this was at times excruciating.

I put off mentioning this to my GP and it went on for years. Eventually I had some investigation and it turned out that I had adhesions around my ovaries. Now, 10 years on from the cessation of periods, I'm mostly pain free and there was no mention of monitoring.

I understand your anxiety, my own mother died from cancer. I found a site that might put things into perspective for you - mskcc.org/cancer-care

The information given does get a bit 'technical' but it gives facts, useful if you feel the need to follow anything up. Hopefully this won't be the case because you're already

being monitored

Best regards xB