Is changing ovulation pain from one side to the other normal?

I’m so sorry to hear that.

So it depends on how severe your endometriosis is on whether or not it can only be diagnosed by a laparoscopy or if an MRI is possible (but severity of the stage of the disease doesn’t correlate with the severity of your symptoms - some can have mild endometriosis but have debilitating pain whilst someone else can have it advance but have minor pain). Less advanced endometriosis can only be diagnosed through a laparoscopy because you can’t really see it on a scan. More advanced endometriosis which is deep infiltrating can be seen on a MRI. And even then, you need a radiographer (or whatever they’re called!) experienced in endometriosis to be able to identify it. I’ve obviously read a lot about it since I was diagnosed!

I very randomly had a couple of extremely painful periods which was highly unusual for me so I saw a gynaecologist. He did an ultrasound that showed a large endometrioma on my ovary (it’s a cyst filled with old blood and something that can be seen on an ultrasound). It’s the side where my ovulation pain was always quite noticeable and at this point, my youngest 12 months old so it would have been there during all my pregnancy scans.

An endometrioma is a sign of more advanced disease so he sent me for a MRI which showed my ovaries were stuck to my uterus and my uterus was stuck to my bowel with some adhesions on my bladder and other parts of my bowel too. After I had my first, it was always very slightly uncomfortable to pee, but so so slight I never thought twice of it. The ultrasound I had with the gynaecologist who found the cyst didn’t see any of that, because it wouldn’t come up on an ultrasound but it was advanced enough to show on a MRI.

So it’s taken me by complete surprise that I have so severe endometriosis when I was pretty much symptom free (apart from ovulation pain!) and was able to conceive twice. From what I’ve seen online, my experience with endometriosis is not unusual.

Not saying you have it, but I wouldn’t rule it out because they didn’t see it on an ultrasound as it wouldn’t show on an ultrasound. Women’s health is an area that doesn’t get enough focus and too often doctors dismiss women’s pain as normal when really it isn’t!

(Just to add that I had a few MRIs over the years to look at my liver for another reason and that too didn’t show anything, because the MRI was looking at my liver and not at my uterus and surrounding areas, so a MRI for your back pain may not have been looking at the right place and as I said, a MRI is only useful when the disease is at an advanced stage).

Yep. I have stage 4 endometriosis, which I had no idea I had as I had no symptoms until last year (with hindsight, I had symptoms here and there over the years, such as the bad pain). I also have two small children, and have had various other scans over the years.

So I was genuinely taken aback when I was diagnosed to find out I have it so badly and it’s never come up before. I asked why none of it has come up on any of my ultrasounds. Each of the doctors I spoke to said generally, pregnancy ultrasounds, and other scans I had for other reasons, were only looking for what they were looking for. Unless there was something obviously sinister, they wouldn’t be focused on commenting on any ovarian cysts, or that in my case, my ovarian are glued to my uterus. None of that was ever picked up until I had the mri to investigate the endometriosis further.

@MixedBananas No as the dominant follicle is only on one ovary , although there is something called super ovulation in which you can ovulate from both sides in same month but its not common . I think it might only affect 10 / 100 woman at one point in their life. I had ovulation pain alternate beteeen ovaries quite a few months. I did have a scan during one of those months at the fertility clinic and the consultant said alternating pain isnt unusual and can just be hormonal or it can be fluid crossing over or just to do with the nerves

Yep I get horrific pain some months where I can’t even stand. Then it goes as fast as it came. Some months nothing at all

For years I would get ovulation pain on one side only. The pain varied from a mild cramps some months to very notable pain. Turns out I have a large chocolate cyst on there.

Not at all saying you could be the same, but we need to get better at not dismissing pain as normal for women and ensure there is nothing else going on.

Typically you only ovulate from one ovary each month (otherwise the probability of twins would be much higher than it is) and typically it swaps sides from month to month.

Sometimes only one side tends to hurt and you can't feel the other!

Yes its normal. It doesnt always occur on the side of ovulation