Ovarian Cancer Symptoms

They warning signs were vague if looked at them indivdually which is what I did, but there were many and in hindsight I should have put them all together. Let me state that I had stopped fertility treatmenmts in January 2004, 11 months prior to my diagnosis in November 2004 at the age of 42. In January 2004 I had my last internal and external sonongram to measure uterine lining & ovary activity and there was no sign of any tumors. Durining my TAH/BSO debulking surgery 3 tumors were removed. One the size of a human head, one the size of a grapfruit and one completely filled the uterus. About 2 months prior to my diagnosis. I experienced some horrible low abdominal cramping. Due to other long standing gyn issues I no longer menstruated through I did occasionally ovulate so I thought it was bad cramps. I had really bad back pain but again I expereinced lower back pain on and off for many years. I am a big girl what you might call reubenesque, but I have a shape, a noticable waist, body in proportion. Even being a big girl I did enough physical activity to not get out of breathe easily and that was happening. I also started to "loose" my waist line the way a pregnant woman does and my abdomen was getting bigger yet at the same time I simply could not eat at all and my abdomin was hard and my stomach was physically painful. What I learned at my disgnosis was that I had ascites which is free floating fluid in the abdomen & it was putting pressure on all my organs specifically my stomach and my lungs, not enabling them to expand and contract the way they needed to which caused pain. By the time I was diagnosed I looked like I was 5 or 6 months pregnant. Nothing fit. I was constantly urinating, or had the urge to and nothing happened. I also experienced constipation & diarrhea within the same day on a daily basis for about 2 weeks. This ended up being a result of my tumors putting pressure on my organs as they grew. When I did mange to get a little food down I expereinced horrible indigestion. It was the GI issues that finally had me go to the doctor. They warning signs were vague if looked at them indivdually which is what I did, but there were many and in hindsight I should have put them all together. Let me state that I had stopped fertility treatmenmts in January 2004, 11 months prior to my diagnosis in November 2004 at the age of 42. In January 2004 I had my last internal and external sonongram to measure uterine lining & ovary activity and there was no sign of any tumors. Durining my TAH/BSO debulking surgery 3 tumors were removed. One the size of a human head, one the size of a grapfruit and one completely filled the uterus. About 2 months prior to my diagnosis. I experienced some horrible low abdominal cramping. Due to other long standing gyn issues I no longer menstruated through I did occasionally ovulate so I thought it was bad cramps. I had really bad back pain but again I expereinced lower back pain on and off for many years. I am a big girl what you might call reubenesque, but I have a shape, a noticable waist, body in proportion. Even being a big girl I did enough physical activity to not get out of breathe easily and that was happening. I also started to "loose" my waist line the way a pregnant woman does and my abdomen was getting bigger yet at the same time I simply could not eat at all and my abdomin was hard and my stomach was physically painful. What I learned at my disgnosis was that I had ascites which is free floating fluid in the abdomen & it was putting pressure on all my organs specifically my stomach and my lungs, not enabling them to expand and contract the way they needed to which caused pain. By the time I was diagnosed I looked like I was 5 or 6 months pregnant. Nothing fit. I was constantly urinating, or had the urge to and nothing happened. I also experienced constipation & diarrhea within the same day on a daily basis for about 2 weeks. This ended up being a result of my tumors putting pressure on my organs as they grew. When I did mange to get a little food down I expereinced horrible indigestion. It was the GI issues that finally had me go to the doctor.

When the survivor has a deleterious mutation of the BRCA 1 or 2 gene that carries an elevated risk, or if ovarian cancer runs in the family. When the survivor has a deleterious mutation of the BRCA 1 or 2 gene that carries an elevated risk, or if ovarian cancer runs in the family.

Unfortunately there is no easy and reliable way to diagnose ovarian cancer early. When the cancer is far enough along to start causing symptoms of pelvic pressure, urinary frequency, feeling full after eating small quantities of food, and tummy enlargement from fluid in the abdomen and pelvis, it is almost always at least Stage lll and easily seen with a sonogram or CAT scan or MRI. The symptoms of early ovarian cancer are subtle and often misconstrued as bowel problems. They are sometimes called the ovarian cancer "whisper" because they aren't easily heard. Burping or excess flatulence more than half the time, should prompt a visit to be checked. Most gynecologists will perform a pelvic exam. I would suggest a transvaginal sonogram (TVU) to look for cysts and fluid. If there is fluid in the pelvis that can be sampled with a needle, the diagnosis can be made from finding ovarian cancer cells in the fluid. Usually the TVU is diagnostic at that point anyway and sampling the fluid is just confirming the diagnosis. Sadly, the TVU may not show anything worrisome in the earliest stages of ovarian cancer. Often patients with and without symptoms ask for a CA 125 blood test or the newer OVA1 test to look for cancer. These tests are not good for screening because of the high false positive rate. In my experience they often come back high when there is no obvious abnormality. Then what? The patient undergoes surgery because they get nervous. Hopefully the answer to the dilemma of diagnosing ovarian cancer is right around corner. Unfortunately there is no easy and reliable way to diagnose ovarian cancer early. When the cancer is far enough along to start causing symptoms of pelvic pressure, urinary frequency, feeling full after eating small quantities of food, and tummy enlargement from fluid in the abdomen and pelvis, it is almost always at least Stage lll and easily seen with a sonogram or CAT scan or MRI. The symptoms of early ovarian cancer are subtle and often misconstrued as bowel problems. They are sometimes called the ovarian cancer "whisper" because they aren't easily heard. Burping or excess flatulence more than half the time, should prompt a visit to be checked. Most gynecologists will perform a pelvic exam. I would suggest a transvaginal sonogram (TVU) to look for cysts and fluid. If there is fluid in the pelvis that can be sampled with a needle, the diagnosis can be made from finding ovarian cancer cells in the fluid. Usually the TVU is diagnostic at that point anyway and sampling the fluid is just confirming the diagnosis. Sadly, the TVU may not show anything worrisome in the earliest stages of ovarian cancer. Often patients with and without symptoms ask for a CA 125 blood test or the newer OVA1 test to look for cancer. These tests are not good for screening because of the high false positive rate. In my experience they often come back high when there is no obvious abnormality. Then what? The patient undergoes surgery because they get nervous. Hopefully the answer to the dilemma of diagnosing ovarian cancer is right around corner.