hello ovary (or: why i hate ovulating)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_last_serenade_/]

does anyone else get horrific ovulations pains on one side? mine seem to be on my right side only, and last 2-4 hours one day a month (or perhaps that's just how long it takes the painkillers to work?), if i have them. it seems to extend down through my digestive system, since it's worse when i go to the bathroom and if there is any sudden pressure change to my butt (ie: when i stand up or sit down, i nearly fall over from the pain). they're bad enough that they wake me/keep me up at night.

history: i first had this pain at 13, 2 weeks before i started my first period. it was bad enough that my parents took me to the ER to check for appendicitis. at 16, i went on birth control and was blissfully ovulation free until i was 24, at which time i got a mirena IUD and kept it for a little under a year. since removing my IUD in june, the terrible ovulation pains have returned.

some months i don't have any pain at all, i suppose i'm ovulating from my left side when this happens. any suggestions? i drink raspberry tea on a fairly frequent basis. in a perfect world, i'd draw a hot bath and lay around with a heating pad on my tummy all day, but unfortunately i have a 9-5 job, so on days like today, i just had to suck it up and come to work. this is way, way worse than my periods, which yield a day of mild-medium cramping easily resolved by a few ibuprofen. my ovulations are getting to the point that they're intolerable. can i get my right ovary removed? i refuse to go back on the pill (migraines and mood swings), so that's not really an option. :(

Comments

[dindin.livejournal.com]

Did you try more than one brand of pill? Did they all give you the same side effects? Why did you have your IUD removed?

I'm afraid you're going to be hard pressed to find a doctor to remove an otherwise healthy ovary until all other options have been exhausted. Surgery is and should be a last resort.

Hormones are probably going to be a first line of defense, but perhaps you can get a stronger painkiller to take as needed. I assume your gynecologist is aware of your history of painful ovulation? Did s/he suggest an alternative when s/he removed your IUD? I've been trying to resolve some hormonal breast tenderness and my doctor (rightly) was hesitant to remove my IUD until we'd investigated everything else and she was convinced that was the culprit (which we're not.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_last_serenade_/]

i did try 3 different types of pills during my 8 year pill tenure. i got my IUD removed because of constant bleeding and cramping the entire time i had it. it made me sad and i really didn't want to get it removed, but the doctor recommended it after several bacterial infections caused by pH disturbances due to the bleeding. :( we tried a couple different things to try and stop the bleeding while i had my IUD, including a week of estrogen prescription which immediately caused migraines. a bit more investigation and discussion with the gyno led us both to the conclusion that i have an estrogen sensitivity. so in theory PoPs would work, but i was loving life without the pill (my husband has a vasectomy). i'll talk to my doctor about it next time i'm there. =/

you have a mirena too? i had breast tenderness when i had my mirena...i don't remember it being intolerable, but i definitely remember it as a side effect! i just assumed it was because my body was in some weird hormonal limbo with regards to my cycle...i was always more bothered by the bleeding than anything.

[dindin.livejournal.com]

*nods* Sorry to hear you've had a difficult time of it. I went through something similar before my Mirena. The breast tenderness popped up almost a year in, and it's a bit unusual, so we're ruling things out before giving up on the IUD. :)

Being on several mainentance medications, I can appreciate the feeling of wanting to not have to take one, but it may be a option. If the ovulation pain is very limited (one day a month), a prescription stregnth painkiller might be an option to explore...treating just the symptoms you have only when you have them. Good luck!

[seedless-grapes.livejournal.com]

hi! I'm in nursing school and just finishing up my course on pregnancy and the female reproductive tract. In school, we talked about something that sounded a lot like what you are experiencing.

This pain is in the middle of your cycle? One sided pain upon ovulation (should be around the 14th day of you cycle,) is referred to as "mittelschmerz". It's german for "middle pain." A lot of women get it in varying degrees of severity. It's normal and I'm sorry to hear that yours is so bad!

It seems strange that it only hurts for you when you menstruate from your left ovary. You might want to mention that to your doctor, who could possibly run tests to make sure that there isn't any other underlying problem causing the pain.

If you have a pretty regular cycle, I would suggest starting ibuprofen the day before you usually get the pain. As pain is easier to treat before it gets too severe.

Good luck!

[seedless-grapes.livejournal.com]

*ovulate from left ovary, not menstruate. sorry!

[eclipsedeyes.livejournal.com]

I used to have exactly the same problem, and it is just the one on the left side. I just recently came off the pill for the first time in around 6 years, so I really hope it doesn't come back. I too have had to be rushed to emergency services/out of hours doctors on occasion when it is really bad! They never told me definitively what was wrong. And it is worse if I'm gassy or whatever. Sometimes it can last all day and can keep me up at night as well. I had an ultrasound on my ovaries once and they said they could see "fluid" around my left one which might be a sign of ovarian cysts/polycystic ovaries.