OK guys… don’t say I didn’t warn ya! This is really something for women so read at your own risk!
I have a doctor’s appointment at 3:50 today because for the last 5 days I have had unbearable pains on the left side of my lower abdomen. It was especially bad Saturday night and Sunday night. Any ideas on what it could be from? I’m really paranoid about stuff like this… I keep thinking tubal pregnancy, cysts on the ovaries, uterine infection, cancer, etc., etc.
I’m hoping it’s just a problem caused by my birth control pills. For the last 6 months I’ve been bleeding every two weeks. I started bleeding last Tuesday (and am still going) and I wasn’t supposed to get my period until the 18th. I’ve also been getting leg cramps where my legs will just ache and it hurts to walk… I feel like my legs are going to give out and I’m gonna fall. They have switched my pills once already and this is the 3rd month I’ve been taking the 2nd kind and I’m still bleeding every two weeks. Either the pills aren’t the right kind for me or else there’s something really wrong!
Any thoughts ladies? I’m really nervous that they’re gonna give me some bad news today!
I AM NOT A DOCTOR.
That said, it sounds like my ovarian cyst. NOT A BIG PROBLEM, REPEAT>>>>not a big problem. I know they TREAT cysts with birth control pills, but maybe, if you get the wrong ones they can cause/worsen them. Usually the just go away on their own. They can do surgery if they have to, but it’s not terrible. In and out. You will probably not have to have surgery. Stopping/changing (again) the pills or time alone will most likely do the trick. Don’t panic.
Well, I’ve had ovarian cysts before and they are not fun. That sounds like the pain your having. However, having dealt with these cysts since the age of 17, I have never had leg pain or bleeding. I suppose you could have bleeding if the cysts were to rupture… however I’m thinking if that was the case you would be in such pain you sure wouldn’t be posting on here! Hmmm Well, I’m glad your seeing your Dr. Let us all know how you are!
Either I’m really constipated or else I have cysts on my ovaries. Apparently the colin lies in the same area as the ovaries and being constipated can put a lot of pressure on the ovary causing the pain I’m having. She did a pelvic exam on me and checked the cervix, uterus, bladder, and both ovaries. Everything is fine except for the left ovary! She suggested I take a couple of laxatives over the next couple of days and see if that helps! If I’m still in a lot of pain in a week or if the pain gets so bad I can’t take it, I’m supposed to call and they’ll do a sonogram on me to see if there’s anything there.
She switched my birth control pills. (FINALLY) I started taking the new kind today even though I still had 1 1/2 weeks of regular pills and 1 week of sugar pills left from they old brand of pills. She said the new pills should stop the bleeding and I may spot mid-cycle next month but it shouldn’t be nearly as bad as the last few months.
She also gave me some pain medicine called Lodine. They work pretty well… they dull the pain anyway.
I’m feeling a little bit better, still a little pain every now. Guess I’ll just wait it out and see what happens.
If you continue having problems with your birth control and bleeding, I’d suggest asking your Dr. about Depo-Prevera.
I have endometriosis, which means that my period used to be hell on earth. I’m talking puking-crying pain. Birth control pills made me nauseated, and didn’t help with the pain at all. It was horrible. I switched gynos (mine was telling me just to live with it), and my new gyno put me on Depo. I’ve never been happier. For the first couple of months, I had spotty bleeding, but after my body adjusted to it, the bleeding stopped completely. It might help you as well.
I had a bout with diverticulitis that had me so I couldn’t straighten up by the time I got around to seeing the doctor. The pain was also in the lower left part of the abdomen. A round of antibiotics and a diet change got me going again.
Rachelle, probably not expecting to hear from a guy on this one, but I’ll contribute.
This sounds like the identical symptoms that an ex-gf’s twin sister had. Long story short, she had just begun birth control, and attributed the discomfort and bleeding to the new perscription. It turned out to be an Ovarian cyst just as everyone else has suggested including your doctor. For some reason hers needed to be operated on rather abruptly. It was pretty stressful for the family, and the 20 yo girl, just as any invasive surgury is. She came through just fine, and without complication. Its a fairly common and routine procedure, so even if you need to go under the knife, try and stay calm about it.
But, at least you’re being smart about getting it checked out, I’ve read forums with girls who had these symptoms as teens and refused to have anything more accurate than a WAG made by some other misguided teen via MB. So, trust the doctor, sounds like they are handling it well.
As for Depo-Provera, I’ve heard both horror stories, and women who absolutely love it. Because it is in your system for 3 months at a time doctors typically want to try all the pill options first if you’ve shown a propensity for displaying side effects. Again, I think you need to research it yourself, and decide if your doctor is giving you all the best information and decide. Keep in mind that doctors are always being courted by pharmacutical companies, so they may not offer every perscription on a level playing field. As with anything, buyer beware.
I really don’t have anything to add except my hopes that it is all just constipation.
If it is a cyst, don’t panic. My sister has one and the doctors are just treating it with meds. My Mother had an operation - and it was just in one day, out the next (that was 13 years ago - I’m sure it’s an outpatient procedure by now).
Thanks for the advice and stories of similiar experiences. I’m still having a few pains today but nothing as bad as Sat., Sun., and Mon. Last night was the first good night’s sleep I’ve had in the last few days.
Today I notice that I’m more sore in the lymph nodes by my bikini area. (The area where your thighs join your hips/pelvis right by the groin… make sense??) Kind of a dull ache. The doctor told me that my lymph nodes felt a little swollen though so maybe that will go away too. I’ve also noticed it’s kind of uncomfortable to have sex. Last night was the first time this week because I felt so crappy Sunday and Monday night. It wasn’t painful, just uncomfortable. I hope that changes too… gotta have my lovin’!!
As for the depo provera shot… I don’t think I would get that. I have a friend who took that shot for 2 years and didn’t have her period at all during that time and it took her 2 years to get pregnant after she quit taking the shot. They ended up going to a fertility doctor and she had to take those injections for several months before she got pregnant. I think it was the shot that screwed up her reproductive system for awhile because she is the kind of person that can get pregnant at the drop of a hat. I think that once they find the right kind of pill for me I’ll be o.k. I just don’t trust the new kinds of birth control because they haven’t been around long enough to determine the long term side effects and I want more kids someday and don’t want to take any chances.
Anyways… if I’m not feeling 100% better by Monday I’m gonna call the doctor back and have the sonogram done. I’ll keep an update going if I find out something’s going on down there! Hopefully everything will be better by then though!
Glad to see I’m not the only man who can’t follow directions…
One thing that was a “red flag” (no pun intended) was the leg cramps. Aren’t woman on the Pill susecptible to blood clots? Leg cramps could be signs of thrombophlebitis (blood clots in the legs). But, since your Dr. didn’t say anything about that, I suppose you’re OK.
My legs aren’t really cramping though… it’s just a dull ache in the top of my thighs. But you are right… women on the pill have a chance of getting blood clots which can travel to the lungs and cause a sudden blocking of the vessel carrying blood to the lungs. The clots can also occur in the blood vessels of the eye and may cause blindness, double vision or impaired vision. The leg cramps associated with that should be sharp pains in the calf though. (this is what the pamphlets say anyway.)
Rachelle, ask your doctor about mittelschmerz. I had it once, several years ago, and the pain was friggin unbelievable (no bleeding, though that is apparently a common symptom). It is frequently misdiagnosed - I was first told I was constipated, then that I probably had PID (!!). There isn’t much they can do about it but give you painkillers, but all it really is is pain, not a sign of anything more serious.
I gained 50 I probably could have afforded to gain about 20-30 of those 50, but I gained 50 nonetheless, and that was in about a year.
The pills exacerbated my already terrible mood swings. At one point after getting one, I destroyed an entire collection of plastic snowglobes by throwing each one against my bedroom wall as hard as I could. Not fun.
I’d have periods that lasted for three weeks, and then go without for two and a half months.
Depo isn’t for everyone. Ask your doctor–they’ll probably tell you that since they had to fine-tune the birth control pills to help balance you out, it’s probably not for you. I know that when I quit Depo and went on the Pill, it took two prescriptions before I found a Pill that worked.
