If a girl suddenly feels pain on one side of her lower abdomen, don't ignore it! See a doctor immediately if you experience these 3 situations

Have you ever had this experience: one day between two menstrual periods, one side of the lower abdomen suddenly felt bloated and uncomfortable for no reason, and there might also be backache, back pain, or even a little bleeding. When you felt the pain for a day and worried that you might be sick, the next day you felt better as if nothing had happened.

If you have this problem, don't worry too much, it may be ovulation pain . However, if the pain is severe, the pain time is off, or there are other accompanying symptoms, do not ignore it and seek medical attention in time.

What is ovulation pain?

As the name implies, ovulation pain is the pain caused by ovulation. We have all learned about ovulation in biology class, and we know that the combination of sperm and egg is the origin of individual development, but do you know what the specific process of ovulation is like? There are often large and small bumps on the surface of normal ovaries, which are follicles at various stages of development. There is a theca outside the follicle, and inside there is a follicular cavity filled with follicular fluid, and a large number of granulosa cells are distributed. When the follicle matures, the follicular fluid will also become very full, and the tension of the follicular cavity will increase accordingly, and eventually burst on the surface of the ovary, "spraying" the follicular fluid and egg cells together.

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During this process, the enlarged follicles squeeze the ovaries, causing a distending pain. When the follicles rupture, they damage the surface of the ovaries, causing sharp or pulling pain. Ovulation is sometimes accompanied by a small amount of bleeding. The stimulation of the peritoneum by the follicular fluid and blood can cause dull pain and a feeling of heaviness in the lower abdomen that cannot be clearly located. These conditions together contribute to the formation of "ovulation pain".

What are the characteristics of ovulation pain?

Usually only one egg is released in each menstrual cycle, usually alternately by both ovaries. Therefore, the distending pain, sharp pain, pulling pain, etc. associated with follicle enlargement and rupture are often limited to one side.

That is to say, if you have pulling pain in the right lower abdomen during ovulation, it means that the right ovary is ovulating this time, and of course it may be on the left side next time. However, the ovaries do not always divide the work equally, so it is possible that the pain is on the same side for several consecutive months. This is different from the dull pain, dull pain, and heavy pain related to blood stimulation, which have no fixed location.

Ovulation pain may last only a few minutes to a few hours, or it may last a day or two, but generally no longer.

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After ovulation, the remaining part of the follicle will transform into the corpus luteum. The estrogen and progesterone secreted by the corpus luteum can promote the further growth and development of the endometrium, making it suitable for embryo implantation. If no fertilized egg is formed, the corpus luteum will lose its function 14 days after ovulation, and the endometrium will also shrink and slough due to the loss of hormonal support from the corpus luteum, and become menstrual discharge from the body. Therefore, ovulation pain must occur 14 days before the next menstrual period.

In addition to abdominal pain, ovulation pain is sometimes accompanied by backache and lower back pain. If the pain is severe, you may also feel nauseous and have a decreased appetite. After ovulation, estrogen levels will drop to a certain extent, sometimes causing a small amount of spotting in the endometrium.

How to deal with ovulation pain?

Ovulation pain is a normal physiological phenomenon, generally harmless and does not require special treatment.

However, ovulation pain can sometimes be particularly obvious. After diagnosis, you can take oral analgesics to relieve the discomfort. If you are troubled by ovulation pain for a long time, you can also consider using hormonal contraceptives (such as oral short-acting contraceptives, subcutaneous implants, intrauterine devices containing progesterone, etc.) to suppress ovulation.

It should be emphasized that whether you ignore ovulation pain or take active measures, the prerequisite is to determine that the cause of the pain is ovulation pain. If you are not sure, you need to seek help from a professional for evaluation.

If these 3 situations occur , please seek medical attention immediately!

If the pain occurs 14 days before the next menstrual period, the pain level is tolerable, there are no other discomfort symptoms, and it can be relieved on its own within two days without taking any measures, then it can be preliminarily diagnosed as ovulation pain.

However, ovulation pain can sometimes be particularly obvious. After diagnosis, you can take oral analgesics to relieve the discomfort. If you are troubled by ovulation pain for a long time, you can also consider using hormonal contraceptives (such as oral short-acting contraceptives, long-acting contraceptives, subcutaneous implants, etc.) to suppress ovulation under the doctor's advice.

If you experience any of the following, you need to seek medical attention immediately:

1. Severe pain

Regardless of whether it is ovulation pain or not, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible when the pain is severe, and you cannot take medicine on your own. Because severe pain may be caused by accidental severe ovulation pain, or it may be caused by diseases such as ectopic pregnancy, acute pelvic inflammation, appendicitis, ovarian cyst rupture, pedicle torsion, etc., but it just happened to occur at that time. So even if the pain occurs during ovulation, you should not take it lightly. If it is serious, you should go to the hospital in time.

2. Time deviation

If the abdominal pain does not occur during the ovulation period (no menstruation after 14 days), or the abdominal pain lasts for more than 2 days, you should also be alert to other diseases that cause abdominal pain. If the symptoms cannot be relieved on their own, it is best to go to the hospital for a check-up.

3. With accompanying symptoms

In addition to the common symptoms mentioned above, if there are other symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, anal distension, or the bleeding pattern is not dark spotting but bright heavy bleeding, it indicates that there is a high possibility of other diseases and needs to be taken seriously and treated promptly.

Planning and production

Author: Doctor Feidao Duanyu

Reviewer: Lan Yibing, deputy chief physician, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Planning丨Fu Sijia

Editor: Fu Sijia

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin