I don't know if this is a female problem or just a problem?

Do any of you go thru a deal where your stomach just swells up like you are 9 months pregnant and hurts?
No I haven't had surgery yet so its not to do with my hysterec. -yet anyway....I thought at first it might be a sign of constipation but its not...I can't figure out if I eat something that just makes me so bloated or what the deal is or if it has something to do with endometriosis? WHO KNOWS? just something else to deal with.

Hi.I went through that also but not quite as bad as 9 months. It always seemed to get larger as the day went on. I know some of it was from some foods I love but I was never was in pain , so I never was concerned enough to ask a doctor. I even had 3 different people come up to me ask ask me if I was pregnant.
Well, the last one who asked me was 3 days before my surgery and I was already worried about the day coming and I just couldn't take someone asking me that , so I said no , I am having a hysterectomy in 3 days. Boy , was she embarrassed and she apologized over and over. If you are worried about it , then be sure to ask your doctor about it just to ease your mind.
I am now 10 days post op and I still have the swelly belly some though but when it goes completely away , I don't think my post op tummy size will be as large as pre op size.
Best Wishes to you !! Terri

I get it too...and I don't know why. I can go from not being able to snap my jacket , one day , to having space to spare. Maybe I'll ask my doctor if I can remember.

Hi , yes i too suffer with this problem and have done for years, although i am not quite sure why it happens. I suffer with severe endo. and alot of it affects my bowel (i have only found this out a few weeks ago), so i assume it is down to this, although i also have fibroids so it could be to do with this area too. I am wondering whether after i have recovered from hyst., whether this will go.

I know how you girls feel!

Allison

It drives me crazy- I can get up in the morning and its fine but as the day goes on I get more and more bloated. It alot of times has nothing to do with what I eat because I can eat on the light side all day and it still happens.
I think it has to be something to do with endometriosis. I have had it for years but didn't know until 3 years ago.
Then I wonder once I have my TAH if down the road it will be better or not ( if this does have somehting to do with female problems)

thanks
runabout

Happy Friday!

I, too, suffer from abdominal bloating. Sometimes I laugh at myself because I get so bloated my stomach looks like a basketball! I also have pain in my lower left side with the bloating.. This seems to occur frequently around ovulation and lasts until my period starts. It is really aggravating trying to decide what to wear that will still be comfortable by 5 O'Clock.

After I had my gallbladder removed about 3 years ago, this subsided for a couple of months.

I think that I may have a lot of adhesions. I had surgery 2 times for an ectopic pregnancy and had my left tube removed. I also have had 2 c-sections and a tubal ligation.

The only medication that takes care of the pain are anti-spasmodics (like Librax). Sometimes anaprox works.

I wonder if a hysterectomy would take care of this?

It's comforting to know there are others out there!

Thanks, Diane

I also have this problem and I ask my gastro doctor about it. He said it was irritable bowel syndrome. I also took anti-spasmotics which helped with the pain but I still got bloated. I just had my TAH/BSO 2 weeks ago and they found out my ovary was embedded in my colon so I'm wondering if this is going to help me.

It sure would be nice not to change sizes by the hour

Good luck,
Karen

I had that variation in my belly circumference too! I had fibroids with lots of bleeding, etc. but the WORST symptom was that variation in how big my belly was from moment to moment! I don't know what it was but I thought it was water retention. Anyway I'm happy to report that after surgery, and after the swelly belly that happens with surgery, I don't have the bloating problem! My pants fit pretty consistently! YAY!

runabout,
I can't tell you this problem goes away with surgery, yet, but I'm hoping that's one of the positives of the procedure. I've had the problem for the past few years, finally reaching a point where I was wearing baggy, lose clothes to hide my belly - my sister was constantly harping at me for being so tiny but feeling the need to drown myself in huge, oversized clothes. No one could understand that I felt like everyone was staring at this huge belly of mine (my pants, dress, shirts, whatever, always had a nice big dirty spot right there at the end of the day - what a way to try to hide it!). I sometimes had to laugh that at the beginning of the day, one side of my belly would be bigger than the other side, but you could just kind of watch the other side grow during the course of the day. It was strange! When I started taking birth control pills to attempt to control the endometriosis last July, it seemd to really help for a while, but lately I notice that all the old symptoms are back - pain, severe bleeding, bleeding between periods - and worst of all - the belly is getting bigger again. Between the fibroids and endo, I've been miserable for years - I must say, I'm looking forward to being symptom free!!

The pain from recovery of a hysterectomy can't be worse than the pain I've endured over the last few years that left me literally biting myself because the percocet wasn't doing the trick and I thought if I bit hard enough to break the skin, maybe that would overload the other pain. Never worked, but I always had people interested in the bite marks on my arms and hands.

Good luck, girl, you'll find the answer and the solution. We all do eventually.