Did anyone have period-like low back aching before diagnosis?

blueroses
blueroses Member Posts: 524
edited March 2014 in Ovarian Cancer #1
This is the big stress for me as I wait for the beginning of my diagnosis process to take place, this dull low back pain. It is always there, for the last month or so, but isn't super severe - just this dull overall low back pain that is just like the kind of pain you get before your period. Sometimes I want to put a heating pad on it, it aches so badly. But most of the time it isn't too bad - one day it's more obvious than others. Yesterday for the first time I got a bit of a more concentrated shot of pain in the area that came and went quickly and didn't return.

This constant aching pain is a reminder that this node in my right ovary is still there and growing as 2 CT scans about 6 months apart showed. My GP insists the node is tiny and wouldn't cause this kind of pain but something is telling me that it is what's causing the pain.

Has anyone experienced this type of symptom prior to diagnosis of ovarian cancer or other? Thanks for your help. Blessings, Blueroses.

Comments

  • froggy1
    froggy1 Member Posts: 205
    #2
    Back Pain
    Hello Blueroses,
    First of all let me say thanks for all your posts and the sharing you do, especially on the emotional support area. While I am not a frequent poster. I read a lot!
    As far as back pain, I don't mean to get you upset ot diagnose you, but I had very bad back pain about a year before my ovarian cancer diagnosis. It is complicated because I had back surgery for a herniated disc a few years before. I went to my back surgeon and had tests done, which showed no evidence of any more disc involvement. He sent me to a pain specialist. I was in very bad pain and they were ready to do an implant of a special device to control pain. This was VERY expensive, like $40,000-$50,000. I was not convinced this was the problem, so I tried to make it through the pain. The rest, as they say, is history. The real cause of the pain was the two large tumors on my ovaries and beyond, which were pressing on my back...
    Again, this may not be your problem, but for me it was one of those signs that nobody picked up on... Fondly, Froggy
  • Cindy54
    Cindy54 Member Posts: 452
    #3
    froggy1 said:

    Back Pain
    Hello Blueroses,
    First of all let me say thanks for all your posts and the sharing you do, especially on the emotional support area. While I am not a frequent poster. I read a lot!
    As far as back pain, I don't mean to get you upset ot diagnose you, but I had very bad back pain about a year before my ovarian cancer diagnosis. It is complicated because I had back surgery for a herniated disc a few years before. I went to my back surgeon and had tests done, which showed no evidence of any more disc involvement. He sent me to a pain specialist. I was in very bad pain and they were ready to do an implant of a special device to control pain. This was VERY expensive, like $40,000-$50,000. I was not convinced this was the problem, so I tried to make it through the pain. The rest, as they say, is history. The real cause of the pain was the two large tumors on my ovaries and beyond, which were pressing on my back...
    Again, this may not be your problem, but for me it was one of those signs that nobody picked up on... Fondly, Froggy

    Your Pain
    Blue, my Mom had persistent low back pain for years that they shrugged off as osteoporosis. Well the pain was from her ovary as it grew and pressed on the little nerve endings in there. Our lower backs have all sorts of little nerve ending that just one thing out of whack in that area, and it's pretty crowded there, can cause pain. I don't mean to imply that your pain is related to your little ovary nodule, but you are the one who knows your body best. And even if it is small it can still cause things to press on other things in there. i guess just knowing about that "o-nod", and that it is in where it should not be, would cause me to think the pain sure could be related to it. Keep us posted. Cindy
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #4
    froggy1 said:

    Back Pain
    Hello Blueroses,
    First of all let me say thanks for all your posts and the sharing you do, especially on the emotional support area. While I am not a frequent poster. I read a lot!
    As far as back pain, I don't mean to get you upset ot diagnose you, but I had very bad back pain about a year before my ovarian cancer diagnosis. It is complicated because I had back surgery for a herniated disc a few years before. I went to my back surgeon and had tests done, which showed no evidence of any more disc involvement. He sent me to a pain specialist. I was in very bad pain and they were ready to do an implant of a special device to control pain. This was VERY expensive, like $40,000-$50,000. I was not convinced this was the problem, so I tried to make it through the pain. The rest, as they say, is history. The real cause of the pain was the two large tumors on my ovaries and beyond, which were pressing on my back...
    Again, this may not be your problem, but for me it was one of those signs that nobody picked up on... Fondly, Froggy

    Hi there Froggy
    Thank you for your kind words regarding my postings, I really try to share because it makes some sense of all we go through - to help others who are experiencing the same or similar issues. No one really understands what cancer and beyond is like to survivors and so our sharing our opinions make it highly valuable to one another. I can't do much in the way of work so I am at home alot with side effects of treatments and I feel I am at least contributing something by posting. Cancer has been portrayed as this valiant battle and we are all heroes for going through it so we feel we always have to be 'brave' and put on a happy face and that is fine but there are the down days, the not so brave days and those are the ones that need airing and this site allows us to do that, as you well know.

    It's okay Froggy to tell me your story of the low back pain you had preceeding your diagnosis. I take it all in and realize that one person's story doesn't have to be mine as well - we are all very similar in our journey with cancer but yet we are also very much individuals too who respond differently to cancer and it's treatments so I keep that in mind always.

    I have a 'feeling' about this pain and every time I go against my feelings I get kicked in the head so I have learned to push for help, sometimes having to seek another opinion if I feel that the one I first got is not right. Still it's hard to be strong when you are fighting something brewing and already dealing with alot of physical issues, also as you probably well know. I am going to see the Gyno on July 10th for her take on the pelvic ultrasound and our next step but something is telling me to get a second opinion and go with another Gyno so that's my next 'fight' to do that.

    I haven't mentioned this before I don't think but I had a horrible attack of low back pain 5 years ago and it has become part of my disability - on constant morphine now. Every time a doc did a CT on the lower back they said that all they could see was a little 'arthritis' but I never really bought it totally. I mean I do have arthritis but they also mentioned a little 'blur' at the base of my back and no one really ever figured that out. This pain I have now, as I said before, is more like a post period pain/ache, it isn't what the sudden onset of pain 5 years ago is but somehow that 'blur' bugs me. My GP said the teenie node in my ovary couldn't be responsible for that pain, the achy one, but I'm not so sure. I will keep bringing this up with my docs til someone listens.

    Thanks again for your kind words and your sharing your story with me. I truly appreciate it.
    Blessings, Blueroses
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #5
    Cindy54 said:

    Your Pain
    Blue, my Mom had persistent low back pain for years that they shrugged off as osteoporosis. Well the pain was from her ovary as it grew and pressed on the little nerve endings in there. Our lower backs have all sorts of little nerve ending that just one thing out of whack in that area, and it's pretty crowded there, can cause pain. I don't mean to imply that your pain is related to your little ovary nodule, but you are the one who knows your body best. And even if it is small it can still cause things to press on other things in there. i guess just knowing about that "o-nod", and that it is in where it should not be, would cause me to think the pain sure could be related to it. Keep us posted. Cindy

    Hey Cindy
    Yup I feel the same way about the node. I just responded to froggy's message to me here too and I was going to type that very thing you just brought up but the post was already long - old windbag me eh? lol. Anywho, I was going to say what you did about the fact that even if the node is small if it's pressing on nerve endings - no matter how lightly or gently that can cause havoc with the back I'm sure. I just don't buy it's not related and why would this type of pain show up when the nodule has grown a bit? Hellllo. The thing that complicated things though was that earlier this year I had a first time kidney stone attack and that was preceeded by that same kind of ache. I thought maybe I was going to have another kidney stone attack but it didn't come. The stone never passed so the surgeon went into my bladder to get it not long ago but before the surgery they did a CT to make sure it was still there - that's when they found the node in the ovary. They never did find the stone in the bladder so I am thinking good thing they went in there because they wouldn't have found the node perhaps for a long time and by that time it might have grown even more. Everything for a reason eh?

    Anywho I'm with you, I really do thing the two are linked, pain in the back and the node and I'm going to push with that. Go with your gut is usually right.

    Take care Cindy and thanks for chiming in on the issue. I will keep you guys posted. Blessings, Blueroses.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #6
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #7
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    I'm so sorry Nancy
    If only hindsight came earlier eh? There are so many pains I am sure we have that are a sign of not only this kind of cancer but no doubt others but just too many explanations for pain so it's so often missed. Sometimes your gut will guide you but other times there are just too many variables to know early on.

    It's so hard to pinpoint so many illnesses and diseases early on and we aren't alone in realizing it, after all there are now tv shows that deal with people who went through doctor after doctore before finding out what their symptoms were a part of. I think it's called Mysterious Diagnosis - at the end the people give their advice on never giving up if you feel that something is just not right with a diagnosis so it isn't just us.

    I hope you are doing well, don't know much about your situation. Thanks for your input I truly appreciate it. Blessings, Blueroses.
  • lnyeholt
    lnyeholt Member Posts: 59
    #8
    blueroses said:

    I'm so sorry Nancy
    If only hindsight came earlier eh? There are so many pains I am sure we have that are a sign of not only this kind of cancer but no doubt others but just too many explanations for pain so it's so often missed. Sometimes your gut will guide you but other times there are just too many variables to know early on.

    It's so hard to pinpoint so many illnesses and diseases early on and we aren't alone in realizing it, after all there are now tv shows that deal with people who went through doctor after doctore before finding out what their symptoms were a part of. I think it's called Mysterious Diagnosis - at the end the people give their advice on never giving up if you feel that something is just not right with a diagnosis so it isn't just us.

    I hope you are doing well, don't know much about your situation. Thanks for your input I truly appreciate it. Blessings, Blueroses.

    Back Pain
    In retrospect, although I have suffered from lower back pain for many years, it intensified in the months prior to my diagnosis in March. I noticed sometime in January that when I stood up after working at my desk for a long period of time my back was incredibly painful but attributed it to the way I was sitting in the chair or perhaps sitting too long without getting up and taking a break. After surgery, the back pain I was experiencing diminished but I haven't returned to work yet, either! Plus, the reason I had the hysterectomy to begin with was due to symptoms such as lower back pain from fibroid tumors. So, maybe the paion was due to the ovarian cancer, maybe not.

    Is it possible for your doctor to perform laparoscopic investigative surgery so he can examine your enlarged ovary and put your mind to rest?
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #9
    lnyeholt said:

    Back Pain
    In retrospect, although I have suffered from lower back pain for many years, it intensified in the months prior to my diagnosis in March. I noticed sometime in January that when I stood up after working at my desk for a long period of time my back was incredibly painful but attributed it to the way I was sitting in the chair or perhaps sitting too long without getting up and taking a break. After surgery, the back pain I was experiencing diminished but I haven't returned to work yet, either! Plus, the reason I had the hysterectomy to begin with was due to symptoms such as lower back pain from fibroid tumors. So, maybe the paion was due to the ovarian cancer, maybe not.

    Is it possible for your doctor to perform laparoscopic investigative surgery so he can examine your enlarged ovary and put your mind to rest?

    Hi there Inyeholt
    Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it.

    Yes I am going to ask about investigative laparoscoptic surgery first but I am a little concerned about a mistake and they puncture my ovary or do other damage while they are rooting around in there. I noticed one person mentioned that because the doc ruptured the ovary, when it was diagnosed cancer then that meant automatic chemo since liquid had seeped out and I don't want to do chemo again. I don't know if that can happen during laparoscoptic surgery but I will bring all these questions up with my Gyno on my next visit which is at the end of this week YIKES.

    I had the pelvic ultrasound and my GP said the radiologist suggested 'wait and see' and redo the ultrasound in 3 months to see if the node grew but forget that cause I already know the node is growing as they saw it on two consecutive CT scans a few months apart. Still the node is tiny tiny so that is good and they don't see any others. Do benign nodes or cysts grow too?

    Anywho I am trying to take this in stride but I do know that anyway I go I am in for surgery one way or another for biopsy purposes. As long as they knock me out and wake me up I'm okay with surgery, had too many surgeries before to really care about that - it's the procedures you have to be awake for that freak me out.

    I will keep you posted. Thanks for your words of wisdom. Blessings, Blueroses
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #10
    blueroses said:

    I'm so sorry Nancy
    If only hindsight came earlier eh? There are so many pains I am sure we have that are a sign of not only this kind of cancer but no doubt others but just too many explanations for pain so it's so often missed. Sometimes your gut will guide you but other times there are just too many variables to know early on.

    It's so hard to pinpoint so many illnesses and diseases early on and we aren't alone in realizing it, after all there are now tv shows that deal with people who went through doctor after doctore before finding out what their symptoms were a part of. I think it's called Mysterious Diagnosis - at the end the people give their advice on never giving up if you feel that something is just not right with a diagnosis so it isn't just us.

    I hope you are doing well, don't know much about your situation. Thanks for your input I truly appreciate it. Blessings, Blueroses.

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • blueroses
    blueroses Member Posts: 524
    #11
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    I can understand that Nancy
    I don't know if you read some previous posts of mine from other areas on these boards but the discovery of this node in my right ovary happened during a CT scan for a surgery I was going to have the next day. I supposedly had a kidney stone stuck in my bladder and they had to go in to get it out but the CT scan not only showed the stone still in there but the radiologist spyed the node in the ovary and said it was also there on the scan done before this one but they MISSED IT. Sheeesh. They never did find the kidney stone in the bladder but this lead to the discovery of the node, everything for a reason eh?

    I am still holding out hope that this is just a cyst or benign node but anyway you look at it it has to come out for biopsy. It's a worry for sure.

    There are many cancers that are hard to diagnose as they produce symptoms like so many other things, it's a scarey thing indeed. Thanks for your posting. Blessings, Blueroses.

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