The unpleasant sensations that occur in a woman in the middle of the menstrual cycle during ovulation are called ovulatory syndrome in medicine. And it does not happen with every woman. Severe pain during ovulation is called painful ovulation, and it can have many causes.
Ovulation, according to information from medical reference books, does not have specific symptomatic signs and is painless for most women.
Slight ovulation pain, according to statistics, is characteristic of about 15% of women. During the period of release of a mature egg from a burst follicle, such women experience pulling, as with menstruation, pain in the lower abdomen, small tingling sensations in the uterus.
More pronounced painful ovulation systematically suffer up to 5-7% of women. Their release of the egg is accompanied by pain in the right or left side (in most cases it depends on whether the follicle on which ovary was perforated - left or right). A sharp pain is usually not observed on the day of ovulation, but there may be exceptions.
What's happening?
After establishing 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. There may be an increased libido, vaginal discharge intensifies, and the breasts may slightly increase. This is the action of hormones, because the ovulation process itself is regulated by the ratio of estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone and LH (luteinizing hormone). When the concentration of estrogen and LH reaches its peak values, the follicle that has grown in the first half of the cycle on the ovary bursts and releases the oocyte, ready for fertilization.
The causes of ovulatory pain are not well understood by doctors and scientists, because the processes occurring in the female body are microscopic, cellular. However, facts are stubborn things, and doctors do not deny the existence of painful ovulation.
In the ovulatory syndrome itself, when the lower abdomen hurts once a cycle for 1-2 days, pulls the lower back, there is usually nothing wrong. In the vast majority of women, this is due to some completely natural physiological reasons. However, there are about 20% of women who have monthly, regularly recurring severe pain on the day of ovulation - a signal of the pathological state of the reproductive system.
Causes
The ovulation process is associated with rupture of the follicle. If it is large, tense, then the pain occurs due to partial irritation of the surface of the ovary. The nerve endings of any woman catch the rupture of the follicle during ovulation, but not everyone feels pain, but only those who have an individual feature since childhood - a low pain threshold, intolerance to even minor pain.
In this case, it is very important to be able to distinguish painful ovulation from possible other pains that have nothing to do with the release of a mature egg. This can be done by accurately determining the day of ovulation - home ovulation test systems, a method for measuring basal temperature, as well as a visit to a doctor and an ultrasound of the ovaries will help.
It can hurt both on the left and on the right, but in one cycle only on one side - on the one where the egg has matured. It is impossible to predict whether the side will change in the next cycle, this process cannot be controlled. On the day of ovulation, some women experience dizziness (light), bouts of nausea (short-term). Body temperature usually remains stable at normal values.
Its increase is a signal of a possible inflammatory process, which is not directly related to ovulation.
The follicle membrane has a network of small blood vessels. If its integrity is violated on the day of the release of the egg, these vessels burst, a small amount of blood flows into the abdominal space and can irritate it, also causing pain, as the nerve endings of the abdominal cavity react to the presence of foreign fluid.
It should be understood that the question of whether painful ovulation is pathological in a particular woman is decided on an individual basis. If a lady has a low pain threshold, then such ovulation may be a normal option.
Pain during ovulation in women with a normal pain threshold may be associated with such reasons.
Endometriosis - proliferation of endometrial cells outside the uterus. These cells are hormone-sensitive, they react to a change in the ratio of the concentration of estrogen and LH, and starting to increase, they cause discomfort in the area where they are located.
Adhesions - the presence of adhesions after operations on the abdominal cavity, gynecological operations often makes the egg release process painful, but the adhesions almost never manifest themselves with dizziness and nausea.
Hormonal imbalance - Usually, not only painful ovulation, but also other abnormalities in the course of the female cycle - irregularity, scanty or abundant menstruation, short or prolonged menstrual periods, speaks of “disorder” in the endocrine sphere. After giving birth during the year, such "jumps" of hormones are quite acceptable as a variant of the norm, especially if a woman is breastfeeding, but after the end of the lactation period, if the cycle is not established, treatment is prescribed.
Follicular cysts - they are formed from follicles that could not burst for some reason, and can be present on a woman's gonads for a long time.
Uterine fibroids and other neoplasms - they also have pain syndrome associated with the sensitivity of tumor tissues to hormonal ovulation "accompaniment".
It is also important how long the pain lasts. If it accompanies only the period of ovulation, then it lasts about an hour. It is also permissible to preserve the pain syndrome and throughout the entire period of egg viability - up to 24-36 hours. If pain persists for 48 hours or more, you should contact your gynecologist with complaints.
Examination of the state of the reproductive system, as well as the delivery of tests for hormonal disorders, a woman should undergo if she ovulates for at least the last three cycles accompanied by nausea, increased weakness, fever, diarrhea, dizziness attacks, severe pain until loss of consciousness.
In case of severe pain localized on the right side, you need to call an ambulance - unfortunately, problems such as appendicitis, rupture of a follicular cyst, an acute inflammatory process in the organs of the reproductive system, and ovarian apoplexy are not excluded.
It is possible to assert with high accuracy that pain during ovulation is pathological and requires treatment if a woman has a broken cycle, menstruation is abundant, painful, if there is pain during sexual intercourse, if there is no sexual desire.
Important! There is another physiological cause of painful ovulation - age. In women in the premenopausal period, the appearance of unpleasant sensations on the days of ovulation means that fertility is fading away, soon menstruation will become irregular, infrequent, and then stop completely. The ovarian reserve has been exhausted.
Other symptoms
Back pain during ovulation, it is not always the processes of the release of the egg that are based on. Often, the lower back hurts at the peak of estrogen concentration in kidney disease, in some bowel diseases. This is 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 say they feel headaches and they associate this with the weather, and with an increase in pressure, and with other reasons. In fact, the reasons lie again in the ratio of hormones - before ovulation, a peak concentration of estrogens is observed in the body, but immediately after the follicle ruptures, 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 slight vasospasm. The vessels of the brain, which supply blood and oxygen to its structures, are especially affected. It is their narrowing that causes headache attacks.
How to deal with pain?
The big mistake of women, who experience all the hardships of painful ovulation syndrome, is that they swallow painkillers in batches. It is this reason that sometimes additionally violates ovulatory mechanisms, which can manifest itself as the absence of the desired pregnancy. Those planning to conceive, even with painful ovulation, are not recommended to drink painkillers.
First, you need to ask your gynecologist how natural such pains are for you. This should be done on the 6th day of the cycle, when the next menstruation ends. On this day, folliculometry (ultrasound of the ovaries) will be informative, a little later the doctor will prescribe tests for the hormonal profile and other tests that will make it possible to judge the state of health of the lady.
If the pain is caused by some kind of pathology, a painful condition, it is important to receive the treatment that will be aimed at eliminating the existing problems. Here, treatment depends on the diagnosis - hormonal agents, antibacterial therapy, anti-inflammatory drugs may be recommended. Sometimes you can't do without surgery.
If the doctor does not find pathological reasons at the heart of the ovulation syndrome, then to relieve unpleasant symptoms during ovulation, if a woman does not plan in this cycle of conception, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, for example, Ibuprofen, Tamipul and Solpadein are also often prescribed.
If a woman plans to conceive, then she will have to be content with the reception antispasmodics, for example, "No-Shpy" or "Papaverine" in the form of tablets or rectal suppositories.
A woman with pain syndrome during ovulation is allowed to take heat applications, heating pads, take a hot bath, but only after the doctor confirms that she does not have an inflammatory process, the threat of rupture of the cyst.
At the time of painful symptoms, it is recommended to minimize physical activity, cancel going to workout, gym, jogging and swimming, and if there is an opportunity to take a day off or day off, you should use it.
For the causes of ovulation pain and how to relieve them, see the following video.
