Does really painful ovulation indicate a problem?

[fuschiagroan]

My ovulation is more painful than my period. The pain lasts about a day, maybe 2. When it happened last week I was actually having to catch my breath because of the stabbing pains in my hip, stomach and back (a lot of it is in the back - I have a retroverted uterus so think that is something to do with it). I don't remember it always being this painful, seems to have sneaked up in the past couple of months. Do you think it could be a problem?

I have it as well, at the mo. I feel pain in my stomach and anus. It's worst if I have sex when ovulating. I've seen gyneco quite a few times these last year for various reasons and she said some women just have it bad. I had internal scans and a smear. All clear.

Very annoying though. I was just coming back from the park with DD, and every step I took hurt.

To you both

Would urge you both to get these problems investigated properly.

Fushcia - a lot of women have a retroverted uterus and have no such problems with it. The cause of painful periods needs to be determined properly, would ask your GP to refer you to a gynaecologist for further evaluation. This is not a problem for a GP to try and treat. Am no expert of course and would again stress the need to seek medical advice but this could all be indicative of endometriosis.

winnybella - deep pain during sex can be very indicative of endometriosis being present. Endo is the second most common gynae problem seen in women after fibroids yet it remains very much in ignorance. Has gynae ever thought this is a possibility here?. I would not take your gynae's word for it when she states, "some women just have it bad". Do not accept this without question. I have had very painful periods from the get go; in my case the cause was endometriosis. It is NOT picked up on any internal scans or through blood tests. I would seek a second opinion as a matter of course.

www.endo.org.uk may be helpful.

thanks Attila - my periods are not actually particularly painful or heavy, less painful than most women's I would say. I have a coil as well. Just googled, and I don't really have any of the symptoms for it. Winny, yours sounds worse though. Attila, endometriosis sounds horrible, I hope you are getting better

Thanks Attila- my periods are not painful, though. And it's just during ovulation that I get pain after sex.

Can you have endo without painful periods?

I did have a scan once and she didn't see any endo, but you can only diagnose it through a key hole surgery, right?

Other than that, I guess I could have colposcopy to have a look at my cervix, but I as I said, I did have a few visits these last few months and the gyno didn't see anything plus my smear tests (last one a couple months ago) were clear.

Fuschia - are you me? I was about to post the exact same thing!

I have never felt it like this. I thought I had appendicitis or kidney stones.

I mean I had a few scans lately- all fine with ovaries, uterus etc. Supposedly .

[checks self] I don't think I'm you! It's annoying, isn't it? I don't think mine is as bad as yours though. Mine is what I would class as 'normal' pain, not 'wtf' pain. Maybe I have a high pain threshold, but how can you tell whether its high or low as you have never experienced someone else's pain.

[ponders philosophically]

Hang on , just thinking. I have my period now so I can't be ovulating at the same time. Although knowing my body I probably am.

Endo can only be diagnosed through a laparoscopy. It won't show up on scans though sometimes endometriomas (chocolate cysts) can.

Hope you manage to get the pain taken seriously :)

Just read up on it and I swear to God it seems like I've got a rectal endo. All the symptomps fit. Will go back to my doctor. But really, why no one is talking it seriously? Very annoying. I had a few doctors say: all is fine, women just have these pains etc.

Well no, if I can bent forward without my bum hurting, it is not normal .

bend

Apparently, mittelschmertz (ovulation pain) can be so severe as to be mistaken for appendicitis. Presumably not every month, though! I quite often get painful ovulation. Not agonising, though, just extremely uncomfortable - the only time it's been agonising before is when I tried having sex at the same time. It then felt like someone was branding my insides with a hot iron and was painful for some time afterwards, too. I also have a retroverted uterus. It's never given me back pain, though, although it does make emptying my bowels quite uncomfortable (tmi, perhaps...).

I also don't have remotely painful periods, never had trouble conceiving, etc - just painful ovulation.

As one of the theories on mittelschmertz is that you get a tiny bleed when the egg is released, which can irritate the surrounding tissue, I wonder if this is why it can cause similar symptoms to endometriosis?

I have a retroverted uterus, no endo, no cysts on the ovaries, no fibroids and I've passed out with ovulation pain.

My ovulation pain lasts two days or even longer if I'm stressed. I use a hot water bottle and some paracetamol.
I can tell which ovary has 'fired': something my Gynae was very sceptical of and quite rare .. I'm sure you fellow sufferers know which side is killing you??!! Maybe these gynaes don't know everything after all??

Atilla, I also have very heavy (unexplained) and painful periods and have been recommended a hysterectomy... not removal of my ovaries though.
The pain is very different.

Yes, that's souns similar to me and sex during ovulation. It's sort of like a searing pain inside and it radiates towards my bum. But- sorry, TMI- passing gas hurts and sitting is certain position- so it really feels like it's something to do with my bum, not just pain radiating from my ovaries or whatever.

But it's just during ovulation which makes me think it's endo as opposed to other bum problems like polyps, cancer etc.

winnybella

I remember having that sort of pain (wince emoticon) and I was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis.

Endometriosis can cause rectal problems as well; the deposits associated with endo can be cited in all sorts of places.

Would urge you to find a gynae who knows his stuff re endo (you need to find someone with a specialist interest in treating endo and with up to date knowledge). Insist to your GP that you are referred pronto; these problems can and do impact on quality of day to day life.

www.endo.org.uk could be helpful

zazen

Has this gynae ever suggested you have a laparoscopy or is she really not experienced enough to deal with what she may well see. You really need an experienced surgeon.

I would urge you to seek a second opinion before having anything as drastic as a hyst done.

If endometriosis is at the root of the problems you are experiencing (and fibroids can also cause heavy bleeding) then having a hyst may itself not mean the end of your troubles. If endo is there and the ovaries are not removed the hormones can continue to feed the endometriosis.

Again the website previously mentioned may well be helpful.

You will need to be persistant in order to get answers.

Good luck to you all. I have had endo since I started menstruation. I sincerely do not want others to suffer as I have had in terms of pain, time off work etc.

Hi, winnybela,

I have occasionally had the same pain sitting in certain positions whilst ovulating! It's a horrible, shooting pain if you get yourself into the wrong position. I certainly don't get it every month, just occasionally, and I think it's related to whether or not I need to empty my bowels, hence the connection with the bottom... I have always found that I feel a bit constipated while ovulating (am not genuinely constipated, it's just a sort of engorged, congested, uncomfortable feeling in the whole pelvic area which makes it somewhere between uncomfortable to painful to get anything out of there, even though what comes is normal consistency and I feel the need to go as often as usual!!!). Funnily enough, I get the opposite when I've got my period - a sensation that everything wants to come out more quickly and often!

As I don't have to go through this every month, just every few months, and it really is something that only lasts a couple of days at most, it doesn't particularly bother me. I guess if you get this every month, though, you would want certainly want to do something about it! It is possible, though, that it is still just ovulation - you have a lot of internal organs all crammed together in your pelvic region, so it makes sense to me that pain can refer from one area to the other quite easily. Better not just to assume this, though, if it's really affecting your quality of life.

Thanks Atilla - the gynae is a very well regarded and experienced surgeon. He's the best at sorting out heavy periods and was very very highly recommended by quite a few GPs and other women who have the same thing as me. He teaches in top gyne clinics - public and private. Basically if you have heavy periods in my country, you go to him, and his team.

I chose not to have the hysterectomy and he was very understanding, and told me to come back to him once I was 45 and we could go through options then.

I don't have endo, or fibroids, just heavy periods.

Sorry the gynae surgeon who recommended the hysterectomy is a different one to my ART (assisted reproductive technology) gynae guy!

Still have pain ovulating, and nothing to do with period pain...

I had awful pain on ovulation (am now pregnant, so its gone for now) and the GP dismissed it as hormonal and gave me some specific painkillers can't remember the name. I didn't take them as I wasn't sure how they would sit with TTC. When I fell pg, I had a scan at the FMC in London and they found an ovarian cyst. Not just hormonal! If it persists are pregnancy, I'm going to push to have it removed as the pain is awful. Perhaps this is what you have?

I was wondering if I anyone can help me ivr tried to research this but I can't find anything on it basically I think I've started ovulating an im getting shooting pains in my bottom 😆🤦‍♀️ it comes an goes ive never had it before but as I say I wasn't ovulating before so could this due to ovulating? Any comments back would be deeply deeply appreciated 💖 thankyou