Ovarian Cancer - What you need to know
Hiya
For those of you who might not know, I have recently had a scare regarding ovarian cancer. I had an MRI on Wednesday and I have been given the all clear (:dance:) but I wanted to share some information about ovarian cancer with you all. Mainly because ovarian cancer has been "overtaken" by breast cancer in terms of marketing. But the horrible truth is that ovarian cancer is much more insidious and the prognosis much less promising than most sorts of cancer.
Each year about 1100 Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Not many, but each year about 800 women die of ovarian cancer. It is known as the "silent killer" because overwhelmingly, more often than not, you dont know you have it until it is too late to successfully treat it.
I dont want to alarm anyone with this post but I do want you all to know what to look for. IMO everyone should know the symptoms of ovarian cancer.
According to Ovarian Cancer Australia, symptoms may include:
- Abdominal bloating
- Unexplained pelvic pain
- Feeling full/difficulty eating
- Weight gain
- Increased urgency to urinate
- Change in bowel movements
- Fatigue
When these symptoms are new for you and persist for more than two weeks see your GP immediately!
If you have a family history of ovarian cancer, you can request a blood test to check your CA125 levels. This stands for Cancer Antigen 125 which is a tumour marker for ovarian cancer. While it can be elevated by other factors, and also not always pick up ovarian cancer in its early stages, it can be extremely useful in determining whether further testing and investigation is warranted.
I hope this is of help to you all.
Stay healthy x
n2l