Clear TVUS. Should I get a CT scan? (Long post, sorry)

[jjsmama]

Hello,

I posted some months back because of pain I was having (RLQ abdominal pain, right lower back, right hip, thigh pain). I had a TVUS, but it came back as very normal. So I put all my worries aside for a while, but currently I'm experiencing more hip pain.

It used to be more intermittent. Nowadays, if I'm on my feet for more than 15 minutes or so, the pain in my right hip and the right side of my lower back is nearly intolerable. I get very stiff and can barely squat down to pick up a book from a low shelf, and I have to use a table or a higher shelf to help me stand back up again.

Once I sit down for a while it's okay again, except closer to my period, sitting down doesn't give me as much relief. I have very heavy periods, which used to be unusual for me, but I understand that's not unusual in perimenopause to get heavier periods than you used to. (I'm 44). I don't spot or bleed between them. No nausea, and my appetite is normal. I have been about 30 lbs overweight for about a year -- I put that on pretty quickly (grad school and stress overeating) but it doesn't fluctuate and isn't going up further as far as I know ... I am not an obsessive self-weigher & I don't even have a scale.

Anyway, I'm posting now at 3:30 in the morning because I woke up in the middle of the night thinking "Maybe that TVUS missed something, and I should have more tests done" - what do you all think? My doctor wrote me up for a CT scan as well, but I haven't gone in for it yet, because I'm allergic to the contrast agent they inject and getting a CT done is very complicated because of that. When the TVUS came back normal I figured I'd skip the CT scan. She also didn't order a CA125 because (as everyone keeps saying) they are not all that reliable for screening purposes.

Would you have a CT scan done if you were in my shoes? Should I insist on CA125? Do my symptoms sound at all like anything you'd associate with OVCA? (Well I might not be an obsessive self-weigher but I am an obsessive worrier.)

Thanks,
jjsmama

[rmarie]

It sounds like it could be a back problem.  If the US was normal, check with your family doctor, and get you back checked.  If that is negative go for the CT scan  good luck

[jjsmama]

Thanks - I appreciate your response. I have seen my regular doctor and she sent me to a physical therapist, but my insurance doesn't cover that unless it's post surgery. So I haven't been back to the doctor. I'll try what you suggest though.
jjsmama

[hatgal]

I totally understand your worry.  I am kinda in the same situation.  Back in December I had such excruciating hip/groin/thigh/lower right quadrant pain it sent me to the doctor - the urologist!  They thougth for sure it was a kidney stone and even reported that to me after the doc looked at the CT report.  So for 24 hours I waited for a stone to pass.  After the doc got the report back from radiology the next day, there was no stone at all.  The doc's office called me to say "all is clear in the urethra tube so no complications there."  I'm like, "uh, you said for sure it was a stone."  They acted like they never told me that (oh, God, I am very aggrevated with doctors!!!).  In any event, they went on to say, "but you better get that big ovarian cyst checked out on the right side...."  Oh, Lordy, was I screamin'!  I had that pain for several weeks and as that one was subsiding I went to the ER for severe pain on my left side - same pains.  The ER doc was sure it was diverticulitis; I said, "no way - it's an ovarian cyst."  He argued with me until I went again for a CT in the ER and it came back with a big old cyst!!  He further went on to say that he could not believe a cyst could cause that much discomfort, blah, blah, blah.  Well that one was blocking my bowel passage and I needed help to pass the bm, which they gave me in the ER.  That cyst also dissolved somewhere down the line.  But the thing is, these were and are not functional cysts - they are physiological cysts, meaning they are not the type formed within the normal cycle.

This past week I believe a cyst ruptured as I had ALOT of nausea, diarrhea, cramping, etc.  And then the blood broke through, but just once.  I almost passed out from the pain and have felt very sick all week.

Now, your concern regarding your hip/back/groin pain.  I have had lower back issues for a long time and went, yet again, for another MRI of my lower back a couple weeks ago.  My L4-5 disc has degenerated so bad (and kinda fast too) that it is now protruding into the spinal cord.  My main symptom is severe hip and groin pain; sometimes it travels down my leg and yesterday I actually had numbness in my toes.  But I also had this pain with the cyst back in December.

Sorry so long, but I'm just trying to relate my experience to you with the hip pain - you just never know what it is and you must follow through on all testing to either rule things out or find the reason.  Mine is basically a combination of both the back issues and sometimes when I get the cysts.

Hope my long boring story helps you make a decision; I've just been through sooooo much that I want to help others to try and make their decisions and also to support.  I still don't know what I'll do with the cyst issues as I continue to get them, bad periods almost every two weeks, adeno, etc., etc.

My very best to you............