Symptoms of ovarian cancer and screening

[itchyandscratchy]

Did anyone see this in the news this morning about success rates after screening?

Heard some of the interviews from women who'd had ovarian cancer and they'd spoken of the only symptoms being bloatedness and occasional pain that 'didn't feel right'. One woman only felt the pain when her dog jumped on her lap and it really hurt. Turned out after investigations that she had cancer.

But the GP on Breakfast also said that screening in this way was unlikely as numbers of ovarian cancer were still relatively low (in screening 1000 women only 4 would be likely to have cancer) and thus not cost effective. Which stinks really...

But really what got me worried was that any of us could quite easily imagine we had ovarian cancer from time to time, due to the bloatedness and occasional pain. I get this quite often - should I be worried and asking for further investigations ro do we just assume it's part and parcel of being a woman? Should any of us?

Hmmmm... it's a tough line between safe gaurding your health and becoming paraniod and wasting GP's time.

I would say, that if you have genuine worries, go to your GP... go with your instincts.

i think you have to have persistant bloatedness that dosen't seem to go, rather than the normal bloating that most women get

My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer by complete chance as a result of visit to the hospital for a routine test for something else.

She had chemotherapy and I was told she would likely die. She lived by some miracle and we had DS1 and DS2.

All women should have the test done regularly. It is normally only diagnosed when it alrady too late. It is called the CA125 antigen blood test - not 100% accurate but it pretty good and its quick. Follow up every five years with an ultrasound and I do not think that is too high a price to pay.