Bloating is something many of us experience, and we tend to treat it as an inconvenient side effect of eating too much. But according to new research carried out by Target Ovarian Cancer, 50% of women who suffer regular bloating are dismissing this key symptom of ovarian cancer as normal, and fail to seek medical advice as a result.
This, the charity warns, could be life threatening if it did turn out to be cancer.
Target Ovarian Cancer’s research revealed that rather than heading to their GP, women are more likely to try eating probiotic yoghurts or amending their diets in a bid to stop bloating.
‘A probiotic yoghurt should not be preventing a woman from visiting the GP promptly if something is worrying her,’ the charity’s chief executive Annwen Jones said.
‘Women should not be risking their lives because of the enduring awareness gap around the symptoms of ovarian cancer. If women know ovarian cancer symptoms such as persistent bloating and are able to link them to ovarian cancer early on, lives will be saved.’
Take the case of 33-year-old Fiona who recalled persistent bloating as one of the symptoms she experienced ahead of her ovarian cancer diagnosis. And just as this new research indicates, she admitted dismissing it as anything of concern to begin with.
“When I first got the IBS symptoms, I wasn’t too concerned. I went to the doctor, cut down on gluten, cut out wheat, came off dairy and tried lots of different options to try to tackle it,” she said.
It was only months later, when nothing she tried made any difference and her symptoms worsened, that she sought advice from a doctor and received a diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
Along with regular bloating, there are a number of other ovarian cancer symptoms that might equally be presumed as minor and nothing to worry about, but it’s important to be aware of them. Three key ones are:
- Needing to urinate more frequently
- Feeling full quickly and/or loss of appetite
- Pelvic or abdominal pain (your tummy and below)
If you’re suffering from any of the above, put your mind at ease and visit your GP. It might well be nothing, but there’s always a small chance it could be something more serious, in which case you’ll be so much better off having addressed it early.
