No meds; gastro troubles - could it be from cyst?

lisa922 · 12-13-2004, 01:41 AM

Ok - I'm going a little crazy here....for almost two years now I have noticed a connection between my cycle and really bad gastro troubles - upper abdominal pain/cramping, nauseas, bad bile or acid-type taste in my mouth. My gallbladder was removed in May 2003 after months of doctors "guessing" at what was going on. I have been saying all along that there is a connection with my cycle, but nobody will acknowledge it. Oddly enough, it is worst every other month when I feel pains on my left side. It would also be those months that my cycles would be different. In July 2003, gyn wanted to do lap for suspected endometriosis - I did have it and he lasered it. Just prior to surgery, an ultrasound showed a very small, irregular cyst on my left ovary, but when he did the surgery, he said the ovary looked fine - just had a large corpus luteum cyst on it. He said my uterus was twice as large as it should be and was unhealthy and needed to be removed. I asked lots of questions about the ovaries due to the troubles I was having and wondered if they should be removed and he said no. Well...the hyst was in Sept 2003, and since then I have continued to have gastro issues and was diagnosed with Celiac (gluten intolerance) in April. The problem is, now I have been gluten-free since then, yet STILL I have these crazy pains and bad gastro issues every other month. I would like to know if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Could this all be from PCOS? I know Celiac has been associated with early menopause, but I've never heard of gastro symptoms like I'm having being part of menopause. My estrogen levels are ok, FSH and LH are ok - don't even indicate PCOS - I have been given a clinical diagnosis of it. Could a small, irregular ovarian cyst hide behind a corpus luteum cyst and cause all this trouble??? I'm just so frustrated, I don't know what to do. The gyn doesn't listen to me, I've gone through my fair share of doctors since this began in early Feb 2003 and I don't know where to go next. I'm tempted to call the ultrasound place and see if they'll let me pay to have one done as a screening for myself. If this is just the way it is supposed to be and is a PCOS or Celiac side effect, then I'll have to deal with it, but I don't want to be overlooking something that could turn into something worse. Any advice or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

rhemaangel · 12-14-2004, 05:06 AM

Have your dr run a test to see if you have the h. pylori bacteria active. It's done by blood, breath or stool. Blood cultures are the more accurate method, but it takes a couple of weeks or more to get the results.

The breath test says "yes" or "no" but it can be done in the dr's office.

Anyway -- it's treatable and very common.

lisa922 · 12-14-2004, 08:27 AM

Hi, Sally -

Yes, I was tested for that in the very beginning when I had an endoscopy and had bad gastritis. That was negative.

Caelda · 12-14-2004, 04:16 PM

I have constant gastro problems. They all started about five years ago--all about the times when I started having problems and was going to the dr, but was never dx'd with PCOS until about a year ago. Anyway, my gastro problems--they label it as IBS-C. Whether or not it's actually something else, I do not know yet. (I go to a dr. again tomorrow). I've heard that PCOS can make one have intestinal issues, but I do not have anything to link for you. I'm pretty confident that the majority of my gastro problem is related to PCOS (and stress).

MsJill · 12-15-2004, 04:23 AM

It could also be recurrent endo - might be worth exploring that possibility with the gynae.