Need advice/insight on my journey thus far: Symptoms & Tests

[BethLid]

Hi, ladies, I am a newbie here but I need advice from people that I trust most -- NO, not doctors but rather you who have been in the trenches! :)  I am a 54 yr old post-menopausal woman and within the past few weeks have experienced a rather sudden onset of early satiety, nausea (no vomiting), abdominal pain and urinary frequency. I've also found myself having breathlessness, but not sure if that's just lack of exercise or not. The abdominal pain is in the upper stomach area and is a very definitive "kicked in the gut" type feeling  It is pretty uncomfortable when I eat although I do still have a normal appetite. It almost feels like food (or even water!) just hits my stomach and sits there. I've also had some lower abdominal pain that I would describe as similar to menstrual cramps or "twinges" in the ovaries. So, I had a pelvic and a transvaginal ultrasound yesterday because of course I am TERRIFIED and convinced I am dying of cancer, but when the doctor called this afternoon he said the report was called in and indicated that there were "fibroids" present but that they were unable to see my ovaries?? He said that in general this usually a good sign because, if there were tumors on the ovaries, they would likely have shown up.  Just wondering what you all think of that and also aren't "fibroids" in the uterus? I would like to know how they could identify them as "fibroids" vs. actual tumors simply from an ultrasound?  Any advice on this -- thoughts and where to go from here?  Thanks!

[old_before_my_time]

I'm not sure what specifically tells them they're fibroids versus something else. However, fibroids are extremely common so they see lots of them! And they typically don't require any treatment. It's fairly common to not be able to visualize ovaries on u/s especially after menopause because they shrink. Ovaries are small as it is, about the size of walnuts, and even smaller after menopause.

It's possible your pain could be non-gyn related such as gallbladder of intestinal.

Hope you can get some answers and relief. Keep us posted.