Intense Pain

So the last week or two I have noticed some severe pain. If you go about 2 inches below your bellow button and over to right next to the left hip bone. That's exactly where it is. And it's not a dull pain like cramps, it feels like someone is shoving an ice pick into that exact spot. The radius of the pain is probably less than a cm. If I am sitting straight up I don't notice it but just a minute ago I went to go stretch back and once I got straight it was a stabbing pain. Then I bent over again and it stopped. Normally I don't pay attention to these pains but this new epilepsy med I'm on can mess with hormonal birth control. I do have a history of ruptured ovarian cysts but I know what those feel like and they hurt no matter what position I'm in. Does this sound serious to anyone?

It doesn't sound good. I would contact your doctor and see what s/he has to say about it. I hope it resolves soon and you feel better.

Since you have a history with ruptured cysts, you should request an ultrasound of the ovary. Are your bowels working normal? Is it ovulation time - some women get pain when they're ovulating. I hope you find out what's causing this pain and hope you feel better soon.

I start my period in about 4-5 days so it shouldn't be ovulation. I'm at my yearly exam time but the only problem is that it's the end of the semester so I don't even have a spare second let alone an hour or two. And I haven't gotten one here yet so I have to find out who is covered under my plan. My bowel movements have been normal. I did take a pregnancy test to see if maybe it was an ectopic but I wasn't even sure that those would always come back positive if it was in my fallopian tubes. I'll call my family doctor's nurse and see what she thinks. Most likely she will tell me to come in but we'll see. Thanks for the input.

Turns out it was a twisted cyst. Mine have always ruptured and I have never had one twisted but not rupture before. Last night I got the bleeding that comes along with it and the pain has stopped. I hope this isn't a consistent thing that comes along with this epilepsy medication. Thanks for being concerned, ladies.

I'm happy you're not having pain and know what was causing it (((salukigirl)). Did you ask the doctor what causes cysts or twisted cysts?

Well I had been going to the obgyn for a couple years complaining of terrible pain and went through a couple different kinds of birth control. Eventually they did a blood test which showed I have elevated levels of testosterone from my body overcompensating for the estrogen in birth control. The elevated levels of testosterone were keeping me from ovulating causing the eggs to become cysts which would then rupture. So they did a hysterosonogram which showed over a dozen cysts per ovary and one polyp in my uterine lining. After that they put me on the lowest dosage of progesterone so my body would produce so much testosterone and would ovulate normally.

So I asked my neurologist and he said that this specific epilepsy med causes hormonal birth control to be interrupted and not as effective. So he said I probably have to go to my obgyn again and reevaluate my birth control. This all started when I was about 17 and I have been cyst free for almost 3 years now but it looks like I have to start going thru the motions again.

Thanks again Lynn for asking. Feels good to have people care

It sounds like everything is going to be okay. I'm glad you were able to figure out what was wrong. I hope that you are able to figure out your birth control again.

Glad you got it all sorted out, and i hope it doesnt happen again!! This is pretty much Exactly where i get my pains, but unfortunately i have no idea what mine is.

Good luck with everything !!

addi - have you gotten an ultrasound done? If not, I would suggest one. That is how they found that I had some form of obstruction and then did a hysterosonogram to see them more clearly.

Also, these can also describe ovulation pains. Especially if they occur only on one side every month. Have you kept track of when these pains happen in relation to when you get your period? Typically you ovulate in the middle of your cycle which comes out to be about a week or so after you STOP your period. Does this sound like your pains? If so, I might count that as ovulating. Some women are just more sensitive when it comes to those things.