[onedayatatime]

when i had my gall bladder removed my surgen told me he thought i was 3-4 months pregnant,he said maybe fibroids,but i read that ovarian cancer is sometimes misdiagnosed as ibs c which i have been told i have,symptoms ovarian cancer are bloating,heartburn,gas,constipation,pelvic pain i have all this anyone heard of this before?

 

[Tiss]

I have heard of this before. Have you had an ultrasound of your ovaries?

 

[onedayatatime]

i get one in 2 weeks

 

[Kathleen M.]

They compared IBSers and Ovarian Cancer people (and bloating can be caused by a number of reproductive issues) and one thing is very different about the bloating.IBS bloating tends to be much more likely to come and go or get worse during the day.OC bloating usually starts pretty suddenly and is more severe and never lets up and causes a lot of distension (where IBSers often feel bloated even when the inches around don't change by much.)One of the problems with ovarian cancer is that it often doesn't cause may obvious symptoms until it has been growing for a pretty long time. IBS, on the other hand, always causes obvious and obnoxious symptoms.

 

[onedayatatime]

my stomach has been almost constantly bloated for about 3 years,some days my measurement can grow 2 inches the doctor always said ibs.

 

[Kathleen M.]

3 years of completely unchanging always the same size bloating (or only gets bigger over weeks and months) and you woul probably be dead already. End stage ovarian cancer doesn't usually take years to kill you when there is zero treatment.That you go up and down 2 inches a day is more consistent with IBS. IBS tends to vary more than OC which once it is bad enough to make you blow up tends to keep you that way the same all the time or if it changes it only gets worse and worse.It isn't bad to get the ovaries checked out, but usually with OC you are talking more than 2 inches and it doesn't go down each day and goes up by the same two inches. you might go up 2 inches a week or a month but it never goes back down.

 

[peaches41]

I've had Stage III Ovarian cancer, and believe me you get huge, and it doesn't ever go down. If you had had ovarian cancer for three years you would now be dead.

 

[JeanH]

When I was first diagnosed with IBS, I too thought the Dr.s might have missedsomething. I asked for a CA-125 blood test which tests for ovarian cancer.Thankfully, it came back negative and was a load of my mind. This conditiontakes a toll both physically and mentally.

 

[onedayatatime]

maybe not even cancer but i have read that female problems cysts,fibroids,ect can cause ibs like symptoms

 

[Kathleen M.]

The reproductive tract can interact with the GI tract, they are close together so symptoms can be seen from one to the other.However, not all IBS symptoms are female reproductive problems, they can actually be GI problem and can actually be IBS.

It makes sense to keep up with the regular female check ups, but don't get too anxious that each IBS symptom must mean something much worse or something else is going on.The constant worry and anxiety and getting test after test to see what else must be the source of the symptoms rather than the most common explanation can make IBS a lot worse than it would be otherwise.It would be great if each disease had completely separate and unique symptoms but a lot of symptoms overlap. However most of the "everything else it could possibly be" have non-IBS symptoms that with any sort of regular physical and female check up will be found or that you would notice. It is rare to have IBS symptoms and nothing but IBS symptoms and have it be something completely different and unrelated.