To think I should have waited to speak to the female doctor?

[purpletablet]

I’ve been experiencing pain in my right ovary since Monday. It’s not unusual for me to experience ovulation pain but it usually only lasts about a day. This time it has gotten gradually more intense and it woke me up during the night last night and was radiating into my back and down my leg.

I called the doctors this morning and explained to the receptionist and she said she didn’t have a female doctor available. I said that was fine and I was happy to speak to a male doctor.

He just called me there and after I explained my symptoms he told me that ovarian pain is not really a “recognised phenomena” and it’s much more likely that I’m suffering with bowel colic and that I should take some buscopan. I tried telling him that I get ovarian pain every month when I ovulate and I can tell the pain was coming from my ovary but he pretty much said he understands what I’m saying but I’m wrong 🙃

Thankfully I have a long awaited gynaecology appointment at the hospital next week but my goodness. Nothing like a man telling you your ovary pain doesn’t exist 🤣

She might not know what you mean. I'm a woman who has never experienced ovary pain. In fact I had to have my ovary and tube removed because I hadn't noticed a huge cyst and twisted fallopian tube until the cyst was so large I looked pregnant. Never felt a thing.

He could have assumed you're 38, English speaking and educated, so you'd know if you're pregnant.

Problematic, I know.

But you do have a lot of women (usually younger) that get annoyed at doctors asking them about pregnancy, or worse, just checking if they are pregnant.

I've had both women who swear they are pregnant and aren't, and some who didn't know until late in pregnancy. I was on shift for a labour where the woman didn't know until she arrived at A+E but didn't look after her.

In my experience, female doctors are as bad if not worse than male doctors.

GPs are generally rubbish with gynae issues. I have stage 4 endometriosis, diagnosed via laparoscopy by an expert so there really is no doubt about it. I have had several GPs tell me that it's unlikely I have endometriosis because my symptoms do not match the description they have read.

I have also seen female gynaecologists who don't believe me because they've never suffered with "period pain". Whereas my current gynaecologist (male) respects that I know my body better than he does and if I say I'm in pain then I am.

Women's health just isn't taken seriously.

You’ve just implied that the doctor shouldn’t need to ask if I’m pregnant since I should know if I am or not, and then went on to say you know women who went into labour and didn’t know they were pregnant.

Maybe best for doctors not to assume things and just ask.

I didn't say he was right or wrong, I said why he may not have asked.

I ask (but it's barely relevant in my field) and then follow with how do you know you're not? People either answer no sex, recent pregnancy test and/or regular periods.

When I came off the pill aged 29 I started getting ovulation pain. Regular as clockwork every month. Main symptoms were any time o moved it was agony and total rest was the only thing that worked and/or taking pain relief literally the second it started. If not, nothing touched the pain. Some months it would have me in tears. It always came on in the evening and would last a few hours. It got horrendous during perimenopause and thankfully went when I started HRT.

It absolutely IS a recognised phenomenon: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ovulation-pain/

I had severe pain for many years. It was endometriosis. I had pain spikes prior/during my period and later during ovulation. It took me twelve years to be diagnosed. Despite presenting at the Drs many times. I eventually had it diagnosed after I moved overseas.

It’s ridiculous that you are experiencing this negligence/lack of education/experience in 2025.

Write a complaint.

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/328/women-and-equalities-committee/news/204316/medical-misogyny-is-leaving-women-in-unnecessary-pain-and-undiagnosed-for-years/

Women should speak up clearly and most importantly actually be listened to.

I’m a doctor.

I’d say you have right iliac fossa pain - the anatomical region. You can’t be sure it’s from your ovary and that’s also where your appendix is! You can get appendicitis at any age. As a previous poster mentioned also need to consider ovarian torsion if pain is severe. Or ectopic pregnancy if not already take a test.

Call back, ask for a different doctor and ensure the notes uploaded on your NHS app reflect what was said.

Don’t be ridiculous. A doctor would be negligent to not consider pregnancy because the person speaks English and is educated. It’s their job to consider all possibilities.

My GP knows I’m married to a woman but she still has to check that there’s no chance I’m pregnant because I’m at an age where it is a possibility. So bizarre you think it would be acceptable, a positive even, for a GP just to assume that you know and would share something so they don’t need to consider something potentially life threatening like an eptopic pregnancy

Same here.

years of female GPs robbing off my gynae issues.

1 apt with a young male locum - told now one should live like that - referral made, adenomyosis diagnosed and hysterectomy.

I was also told the pain probably wasn’t my ovary directly but inflammation of nearby bowel etc due to ovulation.

Someone saying your pain may not be journey isn’t dismissive nor mansplaining. I don’tt understand why if your medical degree is superior to his you sought a GP consult in the first place. Or is it that a woman said it’s definitely your instruction believe the
more?

because it was my female’s GPs who told me my heavy periods were normal and the man who said they were far beyond even the worst of what he’s seen before.

I'm just saying why people don't ask and why some women dont like when they do.

Reminds me of when I spoke to a male GP in detail about what I suspected to be Peri menopause symptoms, as the GPsurgery said that I needed to do so, aswell as speaking to the official Menopause nurses.

The male GP completely dismissed all of my symptoms and said it wasn't likely that I was in Peri menopause, despite the fact I was the right age and had goodness knows how many symptoms.

A couple of days later, the actual menopause nurse called me and said, pretty much in these exact words ' I see Dr ...... called you and said xyz... well I think.. that what you are experiencing sounds EXACTLY like Peri menopause' and basically said that he didn't know what he was talking about!!

She proceeded to immediately make plans to get me on HRT, whereas the male GP wouldn't listen and dismissed what I was saying..!

No but women talk to women and may be more familiar with the wide range of symptoms a woman's body may produce/suffer from.. Also, they may have experienced some of them and are less likely to brush you off.

The knowledge and understanding of women's health is painfully slowly evolving. Fairly recently there were a spate of programs about menopause symptoms and how they weren't recognised. Those same symptoms I had 20+ years ago and the doctors were dismally slow to work out what was wrong.

To put it another way.

Patient with known bowel issues, and history of ovulation pain that follows a very consistent pattern.

Presents with new stomach pain, not characteristic of their normal ovulation pain. Bowel pain well recognised for being very variable. Extended ovulation pain not recognised (short lived is).

Recommends anti spasm medication patient is known to tolerate well.

Will either resolve the issue, or further narrow down potential causes. Whilst avoiding jumping to problematic painkillers. Which may have passed you by, but there’s a massive issue with dependency developed from prescribed use of.

I think doctors need to realize that their patients are aware of their bodies more intimately than they care to acknowledge. Just because the doctor wasn't aware of ovarian pain doesn't mean it's not very real.

I also get ovarian pain every month, some times it's worse than others, it can be anything from a dull cramp/period type pain to feeling like it's being ripped and it goes across abdomen, back and down my legs. My periods are akin to labour pains (ive had 2 kids) and heavy bleeding. I've been checked for ovarian cysts, and during the internal scan I was so tender was flinching but she couldn't find anything wrong, even said she didn't see any evidence of endo either. So, I'm just stuck like this? It's so frustrating. I agree that women's pain isn't taken seriously, for me it's been several years and I only had the scan after I mentioned pain when looking to book an appointment for the pill, nurse on the phone referred me immediately 🙃
Op i hope your gynaecologist gives you some good advice, will you update us here?

I always had ovulation pain. But if it had lasted longer than usual, been more intense or radiated down to my leg I would have wondered if this was different to my usual ovulation pain. Do take heed of the advice given to you by the dr who has commented.

Same, it's worse when you get a dismissive female doctor.

Was your medical degree better than the women GPs who dismissed your very real pain, or is it just that you knew your body better than they did?

It actually sounds like we’ve had similar experiences: both dealing with symptoms that were brushed off. That’s exactly why I find your comment puzzling. You said, “I don’t understand why if your medical degree is superior to his you sought a GP consult in the first place” but isn’t that the same thing you did? You knew something was wrong, you pushed, and eventually someone listened.

I’m not claiming to have a medical degree. Just that I know what’s normal for my body, and when something isn’t right. That should be enough for any doctor, male or female, to take seriously.

I am a (female) GP. Actually one of the reasons I became a doctor and specifically a GP, and even more specifically a GP with an interest in women's health, was the disregard shown to me by GPs both male and female as a teenager with dreadfully painful periods. I wanted to do better. I think I am, I hope my patients never feel like you do OP. My training was never anti-female, as some people suspect, though clearly all medical schools will be different.

The name for ovulation pain is Mittelschmerz. It is a recognised symptom with a name. Your GP was wrong. I wonder whether you have a corpus luteum cyst. This is when the corpus luteum, the body that normally releases the egg then fades away, persists for longer. It can be very painful, and can twist like any ovarian cyst can.
If the pain is very severe, ie not controlled by painkillers and you're still in agony, go to A&E where they will most likely refer you to gynae who can scan you. If pain is not so bad, then there's not much to be done. It will eventually go, if it corpus luteal cyst. If it's still there at your upcoming gynae appt, tell them and a routine scan may be arranged to look for a cyst.
Can't hurt to try buscopan though.

Whilst it does feel more irritating from a male doctor, I found the female GPs just as dismissive with my awful period pain. Turned out I had endometriosis and in the end it was a male gynae who took me seriously.

I get youre venting though, it isn't nice having pain dismissed. Hope you get more help at the gynaecology appointment!

Wait until you have had your gynae appointment before complaining (just in case his diagnosis was right)…

There has actually been research done on ovulation pain (I read up about it when trying for a baby) - but it found that actually most women were wrong about when they had ovulated/which ovary they had ovulated from. Let me see if I can find the paper again!