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Worried about bowel/ovarian cancer

ejm93
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Hi, apologies this is long but wondering if anyone can help out worried 25 year old! 

The past two months I have had the same illness round about the time of my menstrual cycle. Last month I was (sorry for the tmi) constipated which pressed on to my bowel causing a UTI. I had a pain in my right hand side. The GP I saw put it down to constipation and uti. She said it could potentially be appendicitis but when she felt my stomach she felt no lumps or bumps and said if there were any cysts or bumps she would have been able to feel them and I would have been in pain when she pressed down. After a week and a half my uti went away and my bowels were back to normal. 

Everything remained normal for another month until on the eact same day the following month my constipation returned which pressed onto my bladder again. Thankfully no uti this time! However, I saw a different GP and she pressed on to my stomach again and because it was eactly one month on I was sent to SAU where they did blood tests, urine test and pressed and felt my stomach, ovaries and bladder again. I had no reaction when they pressed down and all my bloods were clear. The ANP said this is a menstrual issue where my progesterone levels are very high at the time of ovulation which causing all the upset in my stomach. I was discharged from hopsital the same day. 

I went back to my GP the following day who decided to send me for an urgent scan. I said right there and then I am worried it is ovarian/colon cancer and she said because of my age and both GPs and ANP finding no painful lumps and bumps she doubts it is cancer. 

 

However, I am absolutely terrified to go for scans soon as  I'm worried something will be there. I keep reading stories online about people misdiagonsed with menstrual issues/ibs actually turning out to be cancer. 

Also, I have had no symptoms apart from bloating and pain but the bloating went away after constipation. My full blood counts were clear and I was told that these would be irregular if cancer was present somewhere in the body. 

Anyone got any advice? Thank you for reading such a long post. Maybe I'm just overreacting. But again, terrified! 

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    Hello and thank you for posting a question. I am sorry to learn about your situation.

    Waiting for tests investigations and the results can be very stressful and so I can appreciate that this must be a worrying time. I think that it is natural to worry about what the tests will find and for some people there is a natural inclination 'to put one's head in the sand' and hope the problem goes away. But for most people this kind of approach does not work, as it does not answer any questions about what the cause of symptoms may be. So as hard as it is the best way to 'put this to bed' is to go for the scan as this is the only way of clearing things up. 

    While it is fair to say that people of your age can get serious illnesses like cancer, I cannot stress enough how rare this is. Any type of cancer is uncommon in a person of your age and bowel and ovarian cancer are particularly rare in young people. Also I don't think for one second that anyone is seriously suspecting cancer. It is much more likely that they are looking to see if you have an ovarian cyst or another benign (non cancerous) condition. 

    If you look online you will always find people who have not had straightforward experiences as these stories are somehow, for want of a better way of saying this, more interesting to read.  Also writing about things helps people who have has a difficult time process their thoughts. The thousands and thousands of people who have had a more straightforward expedience tend not to write about it. So much in the same way as just getting news from one source what you have been reading is not a balanced view.  Also I doubt that many of the people who turned out to have cancer were your age. So while I accept that this must be scary having the scan is the way forward.

    If you think that it might help do give us a call. The number to ring is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

    All the best,

    Jean

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