I haven’t brought this up for awhile, but used to blog about it a lot. I’ve had on and off (mostly on) left ovary pain since about September 2009. Though September 2009 is when the pain started up pretty consistently, I do remember having the pain on and off from the time I quit taking the pill in early 2007. September 2009 is when the pain started being there pretty regularly. During my September 2009 IUI cycle (the 2nd IUI, and 4th month of clomid) I thought FOR SURE I had some big ol cyst there! When I went in for my baseline U/S my RE at the time did not see any cysts, later on in the month (right around ovulation) he checked again and didn’t see anything. We followed through with an IUI that cycle. The pain did not go away though, it was there for my October cycle too….I continued taking the clomid and had both my baseline and mid-cycle ultrasounds. I chose not to go through with an IUI that cycle because my uterine lining was super thin….and “things” didn’t feel right to me.
My RE told me to see my PCP about the pain because he didn’t think it was related to my reproductive system. About a week after I ovulated, I made an appointment to see my regular PCP, since the RE wasn’t giving me any help with the ovary pain and it had been there steadily for over 6 weeks. I had an ultrasound at that time with a regular tech (not fertility related) and they found 2 large cysts on my left ovary. Of course, I thought this whole thing was odd…had the cysts been there all along and the RE thought they were just follicles? We sat out during the November cycle.
By December, the pain had let up some and we were able to move forward with another cycle (this was my first cycle of letrozole, low dosage which I had no response to.) We then moved forward with two IUIs in January and February of 2010, with higher dosage letrozole. During the January cycle the pain came back. During the two cycles the RE never found any cysts though. I was stumped! My RE found a large cyst on my right ovary in spring of 2010, and thought maybe I was feeling the pain from that on my left side….I wasn’t totally buying that but they couldn’t figure out what the problem was. He again told me to see my PCP because he didn’t think it was related to my reproductive system. I made an appointment to see my PCP again….she thought maybe it was a strained muscle in my abdomen causing….I wasn’t buying that either (the pain was internal.) I had another U/S from a tech not related to fertility….she didn’t find anything.
Through the year of 2010, the pain was on and off (mostly on, but worse right around the start of my cycle and during ovulation.) I did acupuncture for 8 months in the hopes that that would help with the pain...my acupuncturist was fully aware of the left ovary pain. At the end of the summer 2010, we were getting ready to start IVF soon, so I wanted to see if the left ovary pain was anything to worry about since it was still there. I made an appointment to see another PCP, she thought maybe it was an Epidermoid Cyst, and scheduled a saline CT scan. Nothing was found.
In September 2010, I saw my new RE for the first time. During cycle day 7 of my cycle an ultrasound was performed, where 30+ antral follicles were found (with the left ovary having the typical PCOS pattern.) They suspected PCOS and then later on…blood tests confirmed this. I spoke to a nurse about the ovary pain when she called to get me on Metformin. She said the pain is probably caused from the ovary constantly being “swollen” due to so many follicles.
The pain actually went away right after my egg retrieval (which was about 5 weeks ago,) and just started coming back about a week or so ago. Sometimes the pain keeps me up at night because I can’t find a comfortable position where I’m not in pain. It is worse when I am laying down, and when I am standing I don’t have any pain. It is just the left side….and I am 99.9% sure it is the ovary.
Just curious if any other PCOS’ers out there have had any similar pains. I’ve never really gotten a straight answer from anyone as to what is causing the pain, and I just gave up trying to investigate the pain because no one seems to have answers. I’ve been told that PCOS doesn’t usually cause ovary pain…so I am confused. Does it or doesn’t it?
7 comments:
Hi! I took have PCOS and have significant pain over my right ovary. I have had it for years and the pain is pretty much always there. A few cycles ago, the did tell me that I now have two endometrioms on the right (big cysts filled with endometriosis) which are most likely the cause of the pain. They think they might have been there all along but much smaller and not detected on u/s as cysts. I find heat helps and I bought a u shaped pillow so I can support my body the right way for sleep. They can drain them but they will most likely come right back I am told. I am now prego and will hopefully stay that way but the pain is still there even now.
i have heard that ovary pain can be related to endometriosis, something they can partially tell via vaginal ultrasound and otherwise through laparscopy or something like that.
I also have lingering pain over my left ovary. It is not severe for me though, but I always feel it. It's like ovulation pain, and I've had it since I was diagnosed with PCOS.. ironically enough.
They don't 'see' anything there either, but maybe your ovary is big and full which can cause pain in that area - not the actually ovary that is hurting but the area inside around it.
I used to get cysts here and there that would just burst and i'd have cramping pain and SOMETIMES they'd see risidual fluid, and sometimes they'd see nothing but just explain that I probably had a cyst. whatever the pain was, they couldn't fully diagnose it. but since it wasn't severe, they never pursued it.
I hope yours gets figured out ... How bad is the pain for you?
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Hi there, I found your blog through Tee's... Just wanted to say that I have not been diagnosed with PCOS (have only been TTC 5 months now so no reason to get checked out yet), but ever since my miscarriage in 2008, I seem to get a lot of ovary pain on my right side. At first I thought it was a cyst that they found when I was pregnant, but a subsequent ultrasound couldn't see any cyst there at all.
The pain isn't every month and there doesn't seem to be any real trend for it - it's not always around ovulation (so can't be ov pain, although I used to think it was til I started monitoring cycles!). In fact, I spent 2 days this week in a lot of pain and the only way I managed to function at work was by taking nurofen but even then it was painful (but at least I could walk to the photocopier!!!). It was worse this month too, so much so that 2 days later the area is still tender, not crampy/sore but just sore iykwim?
Seeing this post has made me wonder whether I should look into PCOS or similar to see whether I have any of the symptoms. Since I've been monitoring, I have noticed that my cycles are all over the shop (39, 28, 38, 25 days so far).
So it's all a bit odd really...
Hi All- Thanks for the feedback on the left ovary pain. The pain really isn't that bad for me...it is more of an annoyance than anything. I've gone through so many ultrasounds (over, inside and saline,) and CT scans, it seems weird that nothing has been detected. I try to ignore the pain because it doesn't really effect my everyday life and I'm also sick of everyone telling me that there is nothing there and thinking I am a nut job.
Bella- PCOS may be worth looking into, especially since your cycles are not regular, my cycles are very much like yours (sometimes long, sometimes short.) Though, your pain sounds a lot worse than mine, so I wonder if it could be a bit of endometriosis or fibroids?
I have had the same issue for years. Left ovary pain. sometime dull and achy sometimes much more pronounced. I never heard I might have pcos until i had my first visit with my Re for ivf. So maybe we are in the same boat. But how would we know? The pain seems to have lessened quite a bit since I had my tubes removed...so i'm guessing it may have been related to that.
My PCOS pains aren't really focused on one side or the other and even then, they are dull and manageable. I hope you get some answers on this. I hate not knowing what's going on inside my guts. :-(
Hey, it's not normally as bad as it was this and has been this month - have been secretly hoping its my uterus stretching but I wonder how lucky I will really be... LOL
It's funny you should suggest endo because after I read this last night, I had a consultation with Dr La Google which told me that it's unlikely that I'd have PCOS, however the symptoms for endo looked closer to what I have. My mother developed endo too, but that wasn't until after 2 pregnancies and after she hit 50.
Thanks heaps :)
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