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Back/ Pelvic pain - all 'in my head'/Anxiety relat...

I am looking for some advice and perhaps reassurance. I have suffered from health anxiety...

I am looking for some advice and perhaps reassurance. I have suffered from health anxiety and panic disorder since childhood. I am 34, female and 119 lbs. Have had no prior health problems. The anxiety has been under control until the past six months. The anxiety has increased upon my mother in law's ovarian cancer diagnosis in December and she has recently passed away.

Starting almost 6 weeks ago, I noticed lower back pain while sitting at my desk at work. A week later, we had to take a road trip from Seattle to Wisconsin for my MIL's funeral. The 3-4 days in the car increased the back pain and I also started to notice pelvic pain (which felt like cramping and sharp pains on both ovaries). I tried ignore the sometimes intense pain for most of the week, but went to the ER because it became unbearable. There, they performed a pelvic exam, abdominal and transvaginal US and tested for UTI and other infection. Everything was normal, except for a small ovarian cyst which I was told could not be the cause of this pain.

When we returned home, I saw my gyn, who again said she felt this was not a gyn issue and to see my internist. My Dr. decided to make sure there were no internal issues causing the pain and I had an abdominal/pelvic CT scan performed. Again, the results were normal but there was still a 'normal' small ovarian cyst which there was no concern about.

I have seen the chiropractor a few times which has significantly improved my back pain. It has almost disappeared — but does bother me after sitting at my desk all day. The chiro adjustments also seem to help the pelvic pain BUT, the pelvic pain returns when I'm wearing non-loose fitting clothing (like tight jeans or pants). The pain feels like it's in my ovaries, again - it can be dull and achey with intermittent sharper pains. The dr's have no more answers for me. My chiro suggested the back pain could be radiating to the pelvic area as one reason for this.

Due to my health anxiety and panic disorder, I am fearing the worst (something like ovarian cancer), and that they have missed something. I'm not sure what can be missed with the tests' I've had, but when the pain returns I am sent into a panic.

My family and friends believe this is mostly 'all in my head' due to my health worries and anxiety. They feel that if I can stop focusing on the pain, it will disappear. I am seeing a therapist and take medication for anxiety — but the pain and the fear continue.

I have no family history of almost any diseases. No cancer, no heart disease. My uncle does have crohn's disease and apparently back pain is common in my family. Otherwise everyone is rather healthy and most family members live well into the 90's.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? Any ideas of other tests I should have or specialists I should see? Could this really just have been brought on by my mother in laws illness and death and my worry surrounding it?

Thanks for any responses/input.View Thread

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