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 🤣

I also get ovary pain when i ovulate. It swaps sides each month... Definitely a real thing. I hope you're ok OP. I've had months where it's particularly painful for a few days then stops, no idea why!

I don’t have periods any more but I get some discomfort in my left ovaries sometimes. More likely when it’s a full moon or I eat more UPF’s It’s not painful just a rumbling . I had ovarian cysts the size of golf balls removed 23 years ago so they have probably grown back. YANBU!

I have a 6cm one and a 12cm one
waiting time for the surgery is currently a year. It was also a year for gynae consult

Think I’d have gone to a&e & exagerrated? but i live quite close to hosp so it’s easier.
Yrs ago i discovered if I listened & waited for a (usually male) GP to run out of words & didn’t argue but just sat & waited… they had to fill the silence & send me higher up the ladder. Obvs I hate Drs & never normally go there so have only had to do twice in my 68yrs (once was for 18mth child).

I think the doctor needs to look at the NHS website which recognises ovulation pain. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ovulation-pain/
When you see Gynaecology ask their opinion on the comments from the GP, then decide what to do.

Genuine "guy question" here, does having a specific area of pain during ovulation or a period actually meant it's "a thing you're calling ovarian pain"?

This infuriates me!! I have had painful and heavy periods since I was 15, I’m talking I would be sick of pass out from the pain. Told it’s normal and it will get better after having kids (all male doctors btw) I even had a male gynaecologist tell me at 23 that it’s most likely some issue they won’t get the the bottom of and I’ll struggle to conceive…..I was diagnosed with Endometriosis DURING my section with my daughter at 34!! It took me nearly 20 years to get a diagnosis as they kept saying this was normal 😭😭😭

Not if you are on a cancer pathway, it would be weeks, at least for a scan/ruling it out. And even if it isn't cancer, torsion is an urgent situation and needs quick attention. My CA 125 was high, they couldn't rule cancer out for certain until they operated. I had to sign a form acknowledging that they may have to remove one ovary or both. Fortunately it was neither. It all happened in about six weeks. I can't understand why these GPs don't at least do a pregnancy test and a blood test.

Appalling! Did you feed back to the practice?

Had a CA125 which was fine so they’ve just left me as routine
despite oramorph not touching the pain sometimes and I end up sweating and faint with it on all fours rocking
last time I went to a&e they didn’t examine me after triage checks and just sent me home so I don’t tend to go now

I'm sorry to hear that. They seem very blase about it.

I felt ovarian pain when I was pregnant and turned out I did have a problem. Some women are very in tune with their bodies.

I had one tell me that my kidney stone was just period pain and that the blood turning my urine salmon pink was 'just because you're a woman.' Like I can't tell the difference between my vagina and my urethra. The kicker? This was a FEMALE A&E nurse approximately in her 50s.

I was told I had this by a (male) gynocologist when I was in high school, which was about a zillion years ago. I'm surprised they would say it's not recognized.

Given that your pain is on the right hand side and different to your usual ovulation pain I would want to have appendicitis ruled out. If it’s no better please go back to the GP/ call 111 or go to A+E, especially if you develop a temperature , increased heart rate or other symptoms of being unwell. Hope you get this sorted soon OP.

To be honest, female doctors are just as shit as their male counterparts, from experience. Patronising and disrespectful to your needs. 4 female doctors I saw about perimenopause refused to believe me and said it was all in my head and to pop pain killers for any pain or I could go on the pill to lift my moods. 5 year battle to be seen and heard and it was a male doctor that actually referred me for scans and assessment then onto to a women’s health nurse.

Ime female GPs are even worse just coming up a nightmare with one after a year and a half of pain and they still haven’t taken it seriously, persist with this don’t let them fuck you off you know your body advocate on behalf of yourself

Ah yes, the dreaded econsult. Trying to get through to my surgery on the phone is a nightmare so I have, in the past 6 months, done 2 econsults for two different issues. Both times I have had the reply 'Please phone the surgery to request an appointment!' Not helpful when I can't get through to the surgery and if I do, there are no appointments. So these two issues are still ongoing 🙄

Weirdly OP i have the same, and mine has been since Mon too!! Mine is always a bit after ovulation. I am in a diff scenario in that I've had 3 ectopics previously (Def not pregnant) and I am very familiar with all kinds of specific sensations. Nurses have commented before at my accuracy identifying where an ectopic is by feel... But honestly, it doesn't take ectopic pregnancies to know your body. At the end of Dec I was v stressed and experienced IBS in my lower bowel for the first time - not the same feeling, at all. I have an appointment to speak to a consultant after I was recommended an ultrasound. I hope your appointment is much more successful than the GP one, I'd be passing feedback on - I would suggest PALS but I don't know whether that's the correct avenue, hopefully someone has been able to help in the thread.

I had the same but I have pcos.. so deal with pain and discomfort often. However in November last year I had extreme on and off pain from my ovary. I called the gp got a call back they said same they don’t cause pain blah blah blah little do they know lucky them they don’t suffer. Well they said they needed to see me I went in at 4.30 pain was horrid at this time my temp was 39.9 .. the doctor said defo not ovary is appendix or sepsis called an ambulance they couldn’t come for 5 hours and she just said we would be closed. I could get to hospital I told her that before. She called ahead to get me on emergency unit they had no space so she sent me off with a letter to a&e. Lucky they saw me fast gave me morphine and antibiotics within 20 mins .. went for a ct scan and showed I had a 5cm by 7cm cyst stuck in my ovary which I knew from the start what it was. 4 hours later I was on a ward and being treated. Managed to serve an operation was treated with heavy medication for 5 days and let home. For my GP to call and say she isn’t sure why I was suffering as they don’t cause pain 😡😡

trust urself you know your body all u need is one doctor to listen and thankfully A&E was amazing and so helpful

good luck hope u feel batter soon x

Period pain and ovulation pain don't come from the same places. You ovulate from an ovary, you menstruate from the womb. Both types of pain can radiate outward. I have surgery scars from ectopic pregnancies and I get a significant amount of pain in that region when I have my period, but pain outside of the period (excepting cramps just before) can be from ovulation, or from cysts forming on the ovaries. Two different things. During ovulation an egg ripens and is ejected from a kind of cyst on the ovary, which is presumably what creates ovulation pain, but additional cysts can also grow, and get really large. They don't have eggs in them, they're just growing for fun or something. My guess is it's connected to the hormones that cause ovulation. Then there's endometriosis, which is where the cells that form the lining of the womb can escape outside it and grow in places they shouldn't. Because of normal changes during a woman's cycle, this can also cause additional pain at certain times. So it's not necessarily 'ovary' pain causing issues at the time of ovulation, but it's possible. Happy for anyone to chime in and correct anything I've misrepresented because this is off the top of my head.

I used to have ovarian pain every month, an ovarian cyst I was told but it was excruciating! I found Mefenamic acid 500mg tablets brilliant!

I was wondering that. It's not as if every woman experiences ovarian pain, I never did when I had ovaries.

At the surgery I go to I have had two econsults in the last three months and both times a receptionist has phoned me to say doctor wanted to see me. The last one the doctor said could I get there for 8.30 the next morning so he could see me before his appointments started. I thought that was well organised, shame they can't all do it.

That sounds really unsatisfactory OP. I agree male drs can be dismissive but I think women can too, not specifically women doctors but people i know. I've heard someone say labour pain doesn't even hurt that much, I'm a women and I know it hardly hurts at all.

Do get it checked out though. I used to get ovary pain and I had some months that were weirdly painful, thankfully nothing major but I did get it seen to