Ovarian pain - Deal with it or see someone?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been experiencing ovarian pain mid-cycle on and off for a couple years. It would be naggingly painful for a few hours but then go away within a day. I mentioned it to my gyno in November and she said yeah it’s ovulation, no big deal. I should mention I have PCOS, and also there’s zero cancer in my family.

Two months ago, the pain was in my left instead of my right where it usually is. I did a heating pad at night and it helped a lot. This month, the pain was annoying enough to make it hard for me to walk the dogs, and when I got back from my walk I went to bed for 4 hours. I had bloating and gas. The pain lessened, but every time my bladder gets full I feel it. Every time I eliminate I have a dull ache in my pelvis. If I lay down and press on my left lower abdomen, it is very painful. This morning when I woke up I couldn’t stand up straight until I peed (it’s been a week since the pain while walking).

I don’t have a fever or chills or vomiting. Just this niggling pain.

Ok so I’ve checked with Dr. Google, and ovulation pain is no big deal and there’s nothing they can do. Cyst rupturing is a little more serious but not too serious if you’re not running a fever. I was preparing to let this go if it was a day or two, but now it’s been a week. Granted, way less pain but…something’s up.

Normally I’d just go to my gyno but with covid things are weird. And with healthcare things are weird (those pesky deductibles!) I don’t want to start the ball on months of appointments and tests where there’s nothing anyone can or wants to do.

I guess I want to know from other Dopers if you’ve (or someone you know) experienced long-lasting ovarian pain and if it ended up being a big nothing, or if following up was fruitful.

2

I used to have that. It’s called mittleschmerz. It wasn’t as bad as what you’re describing, though. I think if it’s really from ovulation and is severe, they put you on birth control to stop the ovulation. But especially since it’s switched sides, I’d get it checked out to ensure it’s not something else, like endometriosis, or that endometriosis isn’t a contributing factor to the pain.

Best of luck! It sounds miserable.

3

Another voice for “get it checked out”, OOP/deductibles be damned. Lots of things it could be, most of which something can be done about fairly easily and the rest are things you want to know about sooner rather than later. Stoicism is overrated in this instance.

4

Abdominal pain can be caused by a lot of things, and you might not have the right diagnosis for this particular bout, even if it was the right diagnosis for previous pain. Talk to a doctor.

5

Get it checked out, especially because you DO have PCOS.

6

It is common to have that pain when you ovulate - I get it - but if it’s new, and it’s getting worse, then it’s definitely worth getting it checked out. If it is cancer - it probably isn’t, I’m not trying to worry you - then early treatment makes such a big difference that it’s better to do that than die due to feeling awkward.