Why can the lower abdomen hurt during ovulation?
Unpleasant sensations that occur in women in the middle of the menstrual cycle during ovulation, in medicine are called ovulatory syndrome. And it happens far from every woman. Pronounced pain during ovulation is called painful ovulation, and it can have a lot of reasons.
Ovulation, according to information from medical reference books, does not have specific symptomatic signs, and most women do it painlessly.
A small ovulation pain, according to statistics, is typical of about 15% of women. In the period of the release of a mature egg from a bursting follicle, such women experience pulling pains in the lower abdomen, small tingling in the uterus, as during menstruation.
More severe painful ovulation regularly affects up to 5-7% of women. They release the egg is accompanied by pain in the right or left side (in most cases it depends on the follicle on which ovary was perforated - left or right). Sharp pain usually on the day of ovulation is not observed, but there may be exceptions.
What's happening?
After the establishment of a regular menstrual cycle (by the age of 18–20), women usually begin to gradually notice that in the middle of the cycle, their condition changes somewhat. Increased libido may occur, vaginal discharge increases, and the breast may slightly increase. This action of hormones, because the process of ovulation itself is regulated by the ratio of estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone and LH (luteinizing hormone). When the concentration of estrogen and LH reaches peak values, the follicle on the ovary that has grown in the first half of the cycle bursts and releases the oocyte, ready for fertilization.
The causes of ovulatory pain are not too clear to doctors and scientists, because the processes occurring in the female body are microscopic, cellular. However, the facts are a stubborn thing, and the doctors do not deny the existence of a painful ovulation.
In the ovulatory syndrome itself, when the lower abdomen hurts once every cycle for 1-2 days, the lower back pulls, there is usually nothing terrible. In the overwhelming majority of women, this is due to some quite natural physiological reasons. However, there are about 20% of women who have monthly, regularly recurring severe pains on the day of ovulation - a signal of the pathological condition of the reproductive system.
The reasons
The process of ovulation is associated with rupture of the follicle. If it is large, intense, then the pain occurs due to partial irritation of the surface of the ovary. The nerve endings of any woman pick up the follicle rupture during ovulation, but not everyone feels pain, but only those who have an individual peculiarity since childhood - a low pain threshold, intolerance to even minor pain.
It is very important to be able to distinguish painful ovulation from other possible pains that are not related to the release of a mature egg. This can be done by accurately determining the day of ovulation - home ovulation test systems will help, the method of measuring basal temperature, as well as a visit to the doctor and an ultrasound of the ovaries.
It can be sick both on the left and on the right, but in one cycle only from one side - the one where the egg cell has matured. It is impossible to predict whether the side will change in the next cycle, this process cannot be controlled. Some women on the day of ovulation experience dizziness (mild), bouts of nausea (short). Body temperature usually remains stable at normal values.
Its increase is a signal of a possible inflammatory process, which is not directly interconnected with ovulation.
The follicle shell has a network of small blood vessels. When its integrity is violated on the day of the egg's release, these vessels burst, a small amount of blood enters the abdominal space and can irritate it, also causing pain, so the nerve endings of the abdominal cavity react to the presence of foreign fluid.
It should be understood that the question of whether the painful ovulation is pathological in a particular woman is decided individually. If a lady has a low pain threshold, then such ovulation can be a variant of the norm.
Pain during ovulation in women with a normal pain threshold may be associated with such causes.
Endometriosis - the growth of endometrial cells outside the uterus. These cells are hormone-sensitive, they react to changes in the ratio of the concentration of estrogen and LH, and as they begin to increase, they cause discomfort in the area where they are located.
Spikes - the presence of adhesions after operations on the abdominal cavity, gynecological operations often makes the process of the release of an egg painful, but with dizziness and nausea, the adhesive disease is almost never manifested.
Hormonal imbalance - Usually not only painful ovulation, but also other deviations in the course of the female cycle - irregularity, scanty or heavy periods, short or prolonged menstrual period, usually speaks of “disorder” in the endocrine sphere. After childbirth during the year, such “jumps” of hormones are quite allowed as a variant of the norm, especially if the woman is breastfeeding, but after the end of the lactation period, if the cycle is not set, treatment is prescribed.
Follicular cysts - they are formed from follicles, which could not burst for some reason, and may be present on the sex glands of a woman for quite a long time.
Uterine fibroids and other neoplasms - with them, pain syndrome is also associated with the sensitivity of tumor tissues to the hormonal ovulation “accompaniment”.
It is also important how long the pain continues. If it accompanies only the period of ovulation, then it lasts about an hour. It is also permissible to maintain pain syndrome and throughout the entire period of the viability of the egg - up to 24-36 hours. If pain is present for 48 hours or more, you should contact a gynecologist with complaints.
A woman should undergo examination of the reproductive system, as well as testing for hormonal disorders, if she has ovulated for at least the last three cycles, accompanied by nausea, increased weakness, fever, diarrhea, bouts of dizziness, severe pain before losing consciousness.
With severe pain, located in the right side, you need to call an ambulance - unfortunately, problems such as appendicitis, rupture of a follicular cyst, acute inflammation in the reproductive organs, and ovarian apoplexy are not excluded.
It is highly accurate to say that pains during ovulation are pathological and need to be prescribed treatment if the woman’s cycle is broken, menstruation is abundant, painful, if there are pains during sexual acts, if there is no sexual desire.
Important! There is another physiological cause of painful ovulation - age. In women in the pre-menopausal period, the appearance of unpleasant sensations in the days of ovulation means that fertility fades away, soon menstruation will become irregular, infrequent, and then stop altogether. Ovarian reserve exhausted.
Other symptoms
Low back pain during the period of ovulation, it is not always in their basis that the processes of release of the egg. Often the back pain hurts at the peak of the estrogen concentration in renal pathology, in certain bowel diseases. This happens due to the fact that the nerve nodes in the lumbar region pass from several nearby organs at once. And one of them, the patient, may well send and distribute a pain signal to the lumbar region.
Many women who experience painful ovulation syndrome claim to feel headaches and connect it with the weather, and with the increase in pressure, and for other reasons. In fact, the reasons lie again in the ratio of hormones - before ovulation in the body there is a peak concentration of estrogen, but immediately after the rupture of the follicle, their support begins to decline. This hormone should be replaced by progesterone accompanying the second part of the menstrual cycle.
A sharp decrease in estrogen causes a small vasospasm. Particularly affected vessels of the brain, which supply blood and oxygen to its structure. It is their narrowing and causes headaches.
How to cope with pain?
The big mistake of women experiencing all the painful ovulation syndrome is that they swallow pain pills in batches. It is this reason that sometimes additionally violates the ovulatory mechanisms, which can manifest itself as the absence of the onset of the desired pregnancy. It is not recommended to drink painkillers for planning conception even with painful ovulation.
First you need to ask the gynecologist how much such pain is natural for you. This should be done on day 6 of the cycle, when the next menstruation is complete. On this day, there will be an informative folliculometry (ultrasound of the ovaries), a little later the doctor will prescribe hormone profile tests and other tests that will make it possible to judge the health status of the woman.
If the pain is caused by a pathology, a painful condition, it is important to get the treatment that will be aimed at eliminating existing problems. Here, the treatment depends on the diagnosis - they can recommend hormonal drugs, antibacterial therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs. Sometimes not to do without surgery.
If the doctor does not find pathological causes at the basis of ovulation syndrome, then nonsteroidal therapy can be recommended to relieve the unpleasant symptoms during the ovulation period, if a woman does not plan on this conception cycle. anti-inflammatory drugs for example, Ibuprofen is also often prescribed Tamipul and Solpadein.
If a woman plans to conceive, then she will have to be content with taking antispasmodics, for example, "No-Shpy" or "Papaverina" in the form of tablets or rectal suppositories.
A woman with pain during ovulation is allowed to take thermal applications, heating pads, take a hot bath, but only after the doctor confirms that she does not have an inflammatory process, the threat of a cyst rupture.
For the time of painful symptoms, it is recommended to minimize physical activity, to cancel the training session, to the gym, jogging and swimming, and if there is an opportunity to take a day off or time off, you should use it.
See the next video for the causes of ovulation pain and how to alleviate it.
