Sounds slightly barking .. but would you say to the doctor that you read something in a magazine and want it to be ruled out

[Twiglett]

if you had some niggling symptoms that have been going on a while (a year at least) and getting more frequent / longer

anyway I want to rule out ovarian cysts/cancer (thanks mother's copy of Good Housekeeping) and intestinal problems (thanks Google) .. before I continue to just try to amend diet / lifestyle

will it sound barking if I say this is what I'm worried about can I have the tests to rule them out so my brain doesn't play stupid psychosomatic tricks on me

.. I am the mad old lady of London it seems

there is a blood test you can have.
you can also get an ovarian scan (you'd probably have to go private)

I am on an Ovarian cancer study group and have a blood test annually, another group gets the scan. (probably Tamum could tell you more what it all means though )

If it's really worrying you I'd go for it.

A friend of mine recently took a magazine article to the doctors with her as it had convinced her that her ds has a rare syndrome. She read out the list of symptoms - they were all kind of vague - but she was worried and couldn't get it out of her head. The dr referred her on to put her mind at rest - and he's having tests at the moment. Looks like he doesn't have that syndrome, but does have something going on and may need growth hormones, so she did the right thing.

I hate feeling neurotic at the dr, do it all the time. Having it today as dd is having a penicillin reaction and i don't know how to judge how seriously to take it - but i do think gps are paid lots of money to do what they do, and part of that is to reassure - there's nothing worse than that niggling feeling that what if something is wrong. I'd say go and get reassured.

tbh I always think 'stuff it if they think I'm neurotic' I'd sooner have the peace of mind and have someone think I'm bats than spend time worrying unnecessarily

My guess is they'd want to do a scan if you want your mind put at rest. Unless there's a new and better blood test (over to you JT ) they wouldn't do a CA125 on its own, because of the false positive (and indeed false negative) rate. It's a useful adjunct to a scan or internal exam though.

I have a paranoia about breast lumps and my (nice) GP told me she'd rather see me every week to check them out than miss something.

See theyre not all arseholes, your GP might be pleased you are taking responsibility for your own health

At least you can't be the mad old lady of SW London, Twig, if asking for something specific to be ruled out is defining factor: that would be me. And GP, whilst possibly harbouring 'there's that mad old lady again' thoughts, has never outwardly raised an eyebrow and actually seems relieved that someone dares say it out loud rather than hint and hum and haw about their worries.

So far, I've had immediate offers of scans/bloods tests and peace of mind. Worth the es

Blimey, speaking of , that makes it sound as though I've gone psychosomatic cap in hand to GP a hundred times - honestly haven't, but having put my body through several mills of one sort or another over the years, I'm wary now.

I seriously would think that as this is such a hard one to pin down they're not nearly as likely to say SILLY to you as, say, you went in absolutely convinced that you had testicular cancer, which I once managed to convince myself I had on account of ahem a small vulval cyst

I can indeed see that going and asking about ovarian cancer is less embarrassing than asking them to rule out testicular cancer. "Yes madam. You're a laydeee".

I thought I'd share, to make Twig feel less bonkers by comparison. D'you think it's worked?

I would blooming hope so after a gesture like that

lol

If you want an article to clutch there's an article this week about ovarian cancer in this week's Hello magazine.

Okay, I lied - I did buy it. And paid over £3 for it as it's imported.

But when you live abroad it's v important to keep abreast of current affairs at home, yes?

ROFL at MI .. thanks you mad old bat

and at suedonim

no you wouldn't be mad. I have been before having seen something on city hospital the doctor took the mickey a little but i ended up with an urgent hospital appointment after he'd examined me.

mention it to him. I think more and more GP's are getting used to the fact that some people do actually read information online/in magazines and understand enough of it to formulate some opinions of their own.

Certainly when I called our Dr.s just over a week ago to say that DS1 had chickenpox and to get advice for me the Dr. that called me back sounded positively happy that I'd actually taken the initiative and got online and looked at some pictures of chickenpox to come to the conclusion that was what DS1's spots were.

saw gynae on monday and have scan on thursday

don't know whether to be relieved or rather perturbed that nobody so far has said 'what a silly woman, do go away'

feeling slightly anxious about it all

Well done for going to the dr. I'm sure it's just that they've realised you're a determined woman and that you have the Power of Mumsnet at your elbow, Twiglett, so nothing but the best for you. Good luck on Thursday.

Hope everything is OK.

Any news, Twiglett?

Twiggy one, come and update us!!

oo hello .. everything's totally fine

thank you for asking