cramping with no ovaries, cervix, or uterus?

Posted by Strong Enough 2011 @strongenough2011, Jun 27, 2012

I have had a hysterectomy almost 3 years ago due to constant female problems.....mainly my ovaries having cysts and rupturing.

Within the last month, my stomach has constantly been bloated everyday, and I am cramping alot. ( I know that this feels exactly like it would if I had my ovaries and a cyst on it)...I am nausous often.

Went to my family dr 2 weeks ago and he did some blood work and checked my kidneys....kidneys were fine...blood work showed a wbc of 3.5 and a platlet count of 128, not to mention my absolute neutrophil count as 1474. All of it is on the low side.

Could this be female related? I have always heard that ovarin cancer can cause swelling of the stomach....but i don't have any ovaries....

any suggestions please?

thanks
Strong Enough

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I have this off/on achy pain in the back of my left thigh. Four years ago I had a total hysterectomy for endometriosis, and I do have celiac disease. I did not know if it was related to any one of those or not. I have had sciatica but that was 2 years ago, and that is well now. It seems most noticeable at work, which is a semi-sedentary job (I do deliver important paperwork, but not everyday). My chair at home does not seem to aggravate it. Was wondering what it was.

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@airey2

As I said awhile back, I have had off/on vaginal bleeding, some cramping since the total hysterectomy for endometriosis. The bleeding always lasts 1 day at most, usually just a few hours. So by the time i arrive at the dr, the bleeding has stopped. My primary care dr. finally told me to come in without an appt. So last week, it happened again (after 2 months of nothing). This time the dr could see that it was coming from the scar where the hysterectomy was closed up (vaginal cuff area0. There was a little of breakthrough endometriosis and will need to be cauterized/removed.

I've been told by several drs, plus I've read that endometriosis goes away after menopause, but after 4 yrs of surgical menopause, it doesn't seem like it is going away. Is this true, that endometriosis goes away after menopause? Also do you know how the breakthrough will be cauterized/removed? Will they cut me open? Will it require a local or general anesthesia or no anesthesia?

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Hi, @airey2 - glad you have gotten some answers on the vaginal bleeding and some cramping since your total hysterectomy for endometriosis. You mentioned you would be having a procedure to cauterize/remove some breakthrough endometriosis around your scar. Have you now had this done? If so, how did it go?

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@miyaedwards

So my mother some time ago (possibly months or about a year I'd say) got her ovaries removed.
She has been experiencing lower abdomen pain, much similar to cramps.
She is an older lady who is going through menopause, she gets a hormone pellet that releases mainly testosterone.
She had PCOS, but thats somewhat irrelevant to the lack of ovaries.
She currently takes progesterone.
The pain occurred sometime this week (Roughly more than 4 days ago).
She isn't experiencing nausea.
We're not sure whats going on and she has consulted her OBGYN.
If anyone has experinced this or can make some suggestions, it'd be greatly appreciated.

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I came here looking for answers about the same thing. I have no uterus nor ovaries now but I did keep my cervix. I had continued monthly bleeding after the hysterectomy so my doctor did a second surgery to remove my ovaries and some wayward endometrial tissue. I thought that the ovaries would take any monthly cycle with them. But every month I bloat, cramp, crave chocolate, and then after a couple days it passes but the bloating goes down more slowly these days unless I take a “water pill”. I’m fine the rest of the time but this still keeps happening in a cyclical pattern. Do our other glands signal the stupid endometriosis to keep kicking our butts once a month?

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I have endometriosis also and I found out that endo. is feed by estrogen, and it will even produce its own supply. I was determined to 'starve' the endo. of its food source. Through trial and error, I found that food helps or worsens it. No doctor has ever told me that diet can affect endometriosis.
I was already gluten free for Celiac Disease and one day was eating gluten free bread with flaxseed. I got very sick and couldn't understand why, since it was gluten free. I researched flax and at least 6 different websites said that flax topped the list of having a lot of natural estrogen (plant source estrogen) that our bodies can use. Those same articles also listed soy and gluten as 2nd and 3rd highest sources, respectively. But other sources of natural estrogen, not as high as flax, soy, or gluten, but enough to bother me was in mustard (the turmeric). I also found out that fresh strawberries bothered me, but strawberry jelly did not. I asked my Primary doctor, and she told me to cook all my fruits and veggies because they will all contain natural estrogen in varying amounts. Cooking them will kill it. Also chocolate, coffee and anything that contains caffine will cause inflammation and make the pain worse. Sugar also is an inflammatory food. So yes, food does matter. While diet may not help everyone, and I won't guarantee that it would help you, it did help me.
Start a journal of everything you do and see if you can find common ground.
Stress also will worsen pain.

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@airey2

I have endometriosis also and I found out that endo. is feed by estrogen, and it will even produce its own supply. I was determined to 'starve' the endo. of its food source. Through trial and error, I found that food helps or worsens it. No doctor has ever told me that diet can affect endometriosis.
I was already gluten free for Celiac Disease and one day was eating gluten free bread with flaxseed. I got very sick and couldn't understand why, since it was gluten free. I researched flax and at least 6 different websites said that flax topped the list of having a lot of natural estrogen (plant source estrogen) that our bodies can use. Those same articles also listed soy and gluten as 2nd and 3rd highest sources, respectively. But other sources of natural estrogen, not as high as flax, soy, or gluten, but enough to bother me was in mustard (the turmeric). I also found out that fresh strawberries bothered me, but strawberry jelly did not. I asked my Primary doctor, and she told me to cook all my fruits and veggies because they will all contain natural estrogen in varying amounts. Cooking them will kill it. Also chocolate, coffee and anything that contains caffine will cause inflammation and make the pain worse. Sugar also is an inflammatory food. So yes, food does matter. While diet may not help everyone, and I won't guarantee that it would help you, it did help me.
Start a journal of everything you do and see if you can find common ground.
Stress also will worsen pain.

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@airey2 Thank YOU for what you shared, I did not know about FLAX and ESTROGEN. For sure we all are wired differently. Because of hot flashes I have to result to Premarin, no oral, the cream will bypass the liver. At my age I should not be flashing, EVERYTHING has been removed, was left with one Ovary and eventually it had to go also...Non-synthetic Vitamin E helps most of the time.
Stress is worse than many people think..
You shared some valuable information.

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@pattitoo

@airey2 Thank YOU for what you shared, I did not know about FLAX and ESTROGEN. For sure we all are wired differently. Because of hot flashes I have to result to Premarin, no oral, the cream will bypass the liver. At my age I should not be flashing, EVERYTHING has been removed, was left with one Ovary and eventually it had to go also...Non-synthetic Vitamin E helps most of the time.
Stress is worse than many people think..
You shared some valuable information.

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@airey2 I still get hot flashes and found Black Cohash helps it's an herb

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Hi, @cmd03 - wondering what type of dietary questions you may have (e.g., for patients with a certain disease, general health, those who weight train)? We may be able to refer you to an appropriate thread on Connect.

Also wondering, in light of this thread on cramping with no ovaries, cervix, or uterus, if you may have experienced this situation?

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I'm 66 and had a total hysterectomy three years ago for uterine cancer (stage 1) and all was fine until I experienced pain in my abdomen a year ago. Turns out I had a port site metastasis from the laproscopic surgery for the cancer. (Yes, in treating me for cancer, they dropped a few cancer cells on the way out.) No worries - it was fixable with more surgery to remove the small tumor from my abdomen wall followed by plastic surgery to rebuild the abdomen wall. Btw, I was not really considered a candidate for any of these things. No cancer history, no problems with my period, I'm at ideal weight and exercise and eat well. But I have not had children and was taking bio-identical hormones for years so perhaps those factors contributed.

Now, a year later, I'm suddenly having mild chronic pelvic pain like menstral cramps and bloating...also I'm a little moody. Exercise and moving a lot helps. Is this the result of these two surgeries? Should I be concerned or is this "normal" after so much disruption to my midsection?

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I know that at the moment, endometriosis can only be diagnosed through surgery. But surgery is expensive and carries high risks for many people. Many women cannot afford surgery or may be high risk and don't want to take the chance of serious complications.
Isn't there some other way that endometriosis can be found and diagnosed accurately? I hear of many tests where a dye is injected and it shows up damage to soft tissue. (for example: when I was a kid, I injured my knee. A dye was injected into my knee to see if I had torn cartilage, which I did not)
Can something similar be done for endo?
I am not a nurse or scientist, but I do suffer from endometriosis. I suffered with it for 20+ years because drs either did not know or didn't care. Finally it was severe enough to have formed a cyst, but meanwhile it had spread all over my abdomen. I feel if there had been a test where dye could be injected, it would've been caught sooner and done less damage. The test(s) while still expensive, would be less than surgery and less invasive.
Is there such a method in the works for endo?

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@kanaazpereira

Welcome to Connect, @epohyag43,

While we wait for other members to share their insights, I thought you might wish to view these recent journal studies about chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) after hysterectomy:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5553861/
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/67c2/addf675c46905c1a40df4bd97a4c896012ea.pdf

@epohyag43, may I ask what symptoms you're experiencing, that could be related to Crohn's disease?

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I for one, occasionally experience what feels like menstrual cramps, mostly in right side. Had complete hysterectomy in 2008, and have had issues for past 3 to 4 years of very greasy, sloppy stools, after taking many antibiotics for repeated UTIs. Taking some fat digestion tablets for some time now, which seems to at least keep my bowel issues (mostly) in the morning, usually 3-5 dumps within about an hour or hour & 1/2. Then done with it until either just before bed, or again in the morning. Have been maintaining weight at about 130 to 135 for these past few years. Also now taking D-Mannose for the UTIs, which usually helps, but when I do get them is always the same bacteira (ecoli). Just wondering mostly about the feeling of menstrual cramps, what that might be from. I am 71 years of age.

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