The thing about ovarian cancer that worries me most as a GP is that its symptoms masquerade as everyday niggles that most women brush off. This is exactly what we don’t want you to do.
I recently had a patient, Sarah*, sitting in my surgery, describing months of bloating she’d put down to ‘one of those things’. She’d also been urinating more often than she used to and blamed it on too much coffee, and she hadn’t been sleeping well. She had a busy life and often put others before herself. She didn’t want to make a fuss.
Ovarian cancer is difficult to pick up in the early stages. The symptoms of persistent bloating, feeling full quickly, peeing more than usual and pelvic pain could easily be your IBS playing up or put down to a urine infection. But if these symptoms are new and you’re over 50, you need to urgently see your GP to get checked.
If breast or ovarian cancer runs in the family, or if you’re carrying those BRCA gene mutations, you have a higher risk of ovarian cancer. While more common as we get older, it can still affect younger women as young as in their 40s.
If something doesn’t feel right, please get it checked.
Dr Naomi Bennett is a GP and women’s health specialist at Well Life GP Clinic, Oxted.
At Well Life GP Clinic, you’ll get same-day access to a GP who can offer blood tests (including CA-125, the ovarian cancer marker), and fast-track ultrasound referrals. Genetic testing can also be carried out that could spot these high-risk gene mutations.
*not the patient’s real name
