Severe Abdominal Swelling Plus Pain

Hi, I'm new here.  I'm just feeling a little worried at the moment as I've been experiencing severe swelling in my stomach.  I'm not exactly skinny but my stomach goes hard and looks like I'm almost 8 months pregnant.  I'm experiencing tenderness on my lower left side, right at the bottom on my tailbone hurts and I've been suffereing from horrible fatigue in the last month that has gotten progressively worse.  I saw a gyno last week because my pap smear came back with high grade abnormalities (prob CIN3 she said) and I'm going to have the op to remove the cells in a week or so.  She has recommended an ultrasound for me to check my ovaries but I'm just not feeling right.  This afternoon I almost went up to the emergency room because the bloating in my stomach felt so bad, it's like my stomach is going to burst.

 

On 10/20/2007 brisgirl wrote:

Hi, I'm new here.  I'm just feeling a little worried at the moment as I've been experiencing severe swelling in my stomach.  I'm not exactly skinny but my stomach goes hard and looks like I'm almost 8 months pregnant.  I'm experiencing tenderness on my lower left side, right at the bottom on my tailbone hurts and I've been suffereing from horrible fatigue in the last month that has gotten progressively worse.  I saw a gyno last week because my pap smear came back with high grade abnormalities (prob CIN3 she said) and I'm going to have the op to remove the cells in a week or so.  She has recommended an ultrasound for me to check my ovaries but I'm just not feeling right.  This afternoon I almost went up to the emergency room because the bloating in my stomach felt so bad, it's like my stomach is going to burst.

I'm no doctor, but I had a lot of the symptoms you mention.  I too looked like I was 8 months pregnant in Jan of this year, and was very tired alot of the time,  I started with an ultrasound, and that led to a cat scan.  I had to go into emergency to have the fluid in my abdomen tapped, I was having a lot of trouble breathing..they took off 6 litres of fluid.  Needless to say, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you should go for the ultrasound asap, and also ask for a blood test called CA125, mine was 242 in the beginning the normal is 0-35. don't wait for your doctor, insist on getting some results as soon as you can, the earlier the better.

Good luck to you. 

Your symptoms certainly do sound like those of ovarian cancer. The bloating, especially, is a major symptom. I don't mean to scare you, but time is of the essence in getting this diagnosed. You need to see your doctor urgently and you should IMMEDIATELY GET: a pelvic ultrasound, plus a transvaginal ultrasound, and possibly a  cat scan, which could indicate whether there are cancerous masses or cancerous fluid (ascites) in your abdomen. That is what usually causes such bloating.  A CA-125 test can check for the presence of a protein in your blood that is often elevated in women who have ovarian cancer. But you must get these tests done RIGHT AWAY! If you are that bloated you could already have advanced ovarian cancer. I am sorry if these words frighten you, but don't put up with a gynecologist that is slow to respond - your life depends on an immediate diagnosis of your condition. These tests need to happen right away. If your test results show that cancer is suspected, then make sure you see a gynecologic oncologist, a specialist who has the unique skill to handle this type of surgery. If your regular gyn does the surgery, your survival outcome may not be nearly as good. At the very least your gyn should have a gyn onc on standby during such surgery. Please be very assertive with your doctor and if you do not get immediate attention on this, DO go to an emergency room or another doctor who will address these concerns quickly. Please act quickly. God bless.

Hello,

 I would like to first tell you please go and see a gyno/oncologist. They have more experience in dealing with conditions, such as ovarian cancer and others. I hope that is not what the case is, but seeing one of those type of specialists will lead you in the right direction.

 But before you do that, please demand a ct scan. This can determine what is going on. I am not trying to scare you, but my mother had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer by the ct scan. She had a tumor on her ovaries and they also determind that it had spread.

Also, she had the fluid drained from her stomach (it is called a perinsintesis, sp). She felt more relieved when they removed the fluid and they also tested the fluid as well. Unfortunately, the fluid had elevated markers for cancer.

She did have the fluid drained from her stomach more than 7 times. the fluid kept building up. But I have also heard that they can do surgery if you are a good candidate and that will help with fluid building up.

I am not trying to scare you by all means, but my mother had similar symptoms as you do. She had the bloating, she felt full and could not eat anything, and was very tired as well.

It is so important that you get tested for this now and please demand a ct scan. Have you taken the C-125 test? It is not what a lot of doctors like to rely on, because the test can come back normal and then later on you can find out you have something like cancer. The C-125 test is for ovarian and the 199- test tests for pancreatic.

I wish you the best of luck and if you have any questions, please email me back. Hang in there and my prayers are with you.

Pretty much what the others have told so far is right, but the problem with ovarian cancer and the apparent fluid build up that is going on, means that it might also be Peritoneal. As I'm a bit late, and it's been a couple of months since this post, you may already know what I'm about to tell you.   this cancer is similar to, grouped with, and treated like ovarian, but it is more than that.  After going through this same thing with my mother this year, I can tell you that an alternative/all encompassing treatment program is probably the only way to treat Peritoneal cancer at this point, as it is rare, and little is known about it.  If it isn't a moot point by now, reply to me, and I'll be glad to share my knowledge with you.  

Annie