Period pains and cervical cancer.

[jovesine1982]

Hi, I have cervical cancer stage 2A and have a radical hysterectomy booked next week.

The only sign I had was that my periods became horrifically painful. Having suffered from bad periods normally it took me a while to seek help. Whenever I spoke to GPs before I just got told it was part of being a woman. I'm glad one GP did take me seriously enough to take it further. I was unable to sleep during menstruation and struggled walking. Codeine didn't touch it.

I guess my question is how are women supposed to know when to say things are bad if they often aren't listened to properly? Maybe this is just my experience but it seems a lot of women put up with symptoms when they could be a warning sign.

Many thanks.

[Dr Amanda Tristram]

This is a really good question, but difficult to answer. NICE has produced guidelines for what doctors should do with symptoms that are suspicious of cancer. I have put a link to them below, section 1.7 refers to gynaecological cancers.
http://publications.nice.org.uk/referra ... cal-cancer

There are two difficulties with this: firstly painful periods are very common and cervical cancer is not always visible and secondly, as you say, how would women know to look at these guidelines to find out whether they should be concerned.

Some guidance was also produced specifically for women aged 20-24 years old. However it just covers post coital bleeding (bleeding after intercourse) and intermenstral bleeding (bleeding between periods) and it doesn't sound as though this would have applied to you. Again, I've put the link below for you.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsand ... /DH_113478

Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust is an excellent charity which provides web based support for women with cervical cancer and their families. There is a really good forum on which women share their experiences. Some women find this really helpful, particularly as cervical cancer is not common and often they will not know anyone who has been through similar experiences. The link is below.
www.jostrust.org.uk
I'm sorry not to be able to give you a better answer to your questions, but I hope this helps.