Extreme cramping

[PazzyPaz]

I'm 6+3 today.

For the past two weeks, I've had the most extreme cramping.
It's not every day but its pretty often.

I went to the hospital last Sunday and they sent me for an early scan. Everything looked normal, baby was fine and in the right place.
So the dr's put it down to my bowels.

It's not my bowels.

The pain im getting is like period pains on steroids.
Its concentrated to my uterus, it has the same crampy feeling as period pains, only way more severe.
I get a really sharp pain either to the left or the right side (it switches), but either way I end up on the floor, on all fours, in agony, unable to move. It lasts around 20-30 minutes each time

On Tuesday it was so bad I was screaming in pain and my body started shaking from the pain. My housemate called an ambulance but they didn't come out because I'm not bleeding.

It wiped me out for the following day. On Saturday I had a similar thing, consistently, all night. Yesterday I felt so wiped and dazed, its like my head wasn't quite right.

I went back to the EPU and they put it down to my bowels again.

I'm feeling really invalidated by it and completely helpless. Pain management doesn't work because the pain is so intense.

Feeling really let down by the NHS and quite honestly, it's making me so miserable that I want to terminate the pregnancy.

Did they give you another scan?

screaming i agony? Any blood?

Nope, they didn't feel the need to scan me again.
No blood and yeah screaming in agony.

I've never screamed in my life in pain and I've had a pretty bad run of it.
I had some random kidney issue last year and was hospitalised for 5 days.

The pain from that was horrific but it didn't make me scream like this has.

I had really bad cramping throughout the first 9 weeks of my pregnancy (currently 25 weeks!) like constantly felt like my period was coming and was expecting blood every time I went to the toilet.

My SIL was the same - she actually didn't test until she was 10 days late because she kept saying 'no I'm not pregnant, periods definitely coming' specifically because of her cramps and she thought it was a bad period coming because it was so sore.

Do you have the capacity to go for an early private scan? Might be worth doing that - I got an internal one at 6 weeks and 4 days because I miscarried the month before and the cramps were freaking me out

I've already had an early scan.
The baby is fine and in the right place.

The cramps aren't like normal cramps, the pain is magnified so much more.

Im getting the regular cramping, which, although painful enough, I can deal with and manage with heat packs.

The extreme cramps are on a whole.other level entirely.

I can't move off the floor until they've gone and they wipe all my energy.
They make me sweat/shake/have heart palpitations.

I've never had anything like it.

Even as a teenager, period cramps were so severe, they used to knock me sick, but these are so much worse.

@PazzyPaz Sorry you're in so much pain and you feel let down. My thought when I read your post is that it could be ovarian torsion, where your ovary gets twisted. It's not easy to diagnose but extreme pain is one of the symptoms.

Can you talk to your GP about it and tell them about the severity of the pain?
Have you got a booking appointment with your midwife scheduled yet? Definitely describe what you're experiencing in as much detail as you can.
Or go to a&e/EPU and really insist for them to check you out properly (bloods, ultrasound of your uterus and surrounding organs). Explain to them how severe the pain is. They have a duty of care and if they again don't listen to you, say you want to see another doctor or you will file a complaint.
The NHS is incredibly stretched as we all know and sometimes at the moment we have to advocate that much harder for ourselves if something doesn't feel right.

OP if the pain is still happening please go to A&E. If, as another poster suggests, it is ovarian torsion, it's a medical emergency and needs to be sorted asap. It can happen during pregnancy and one of the symptoms is severe abdominal pain.

Best of luck. Please let us know how you get on and that you're OK.

I've already been to the EPU twice, they've done bloods twice. They keep telling me it's bowel issues.

My housemate called an ambulance but because I'm not bleeding, they didn't deem me an emergency, despite the fact I was literally screaming in pain.

The NHS is failing me miserably.

My gp is stuck between a rock and a hard place because he can only prescribe codeine/naproxen to help.

I honestly feel really miserable.

@PazzyPaz even if it is your bowels it shouldn't make you scream in pain.

Please contact your hospital's PALS service:

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/hospitals/what-is-pals-patient-advice-and-liaison-service/

They've helped friends of mine in the past when their health problems weren't being taken seriously.

Uti? Can make uterus contract and be very painful. Defo go back to a and e and insist they get to the root of the problem. A different doctor might have better ideas

How are you today @PazzyPaz?