Gynecologist

This is a somewhat interesting phenomenon that will take more visits to your doctor to help explain. Your OB/GYN is likely a good place to start, as he or she will be best positioned to help sort out the hormonal element to your symptoms. Another option might be a neurologist or spine surgeon, either of which may be able to help with your symptoms at the level of your neck. An ear nose and throat surgeon may offer some other insight that could be helpful.

Which ever you choose, the approach to your problem will likely be different. Primary care and medical doctors are more likely to use lab work and your symptoms to help arrive at an answer, and may use medications empirically to see what helps to make you better. A surgeon, on the other hand, is more likely to listen to your symptoms, complete an exam, and recommend imaging and other anatomic studies that can help to determine what is causing your symptoms. The pain may have a component of something that changes on a monthly basis with your menstrual cycle. This could be a swelling, or even something as simple as a change in the blood flow.

Certainly the thought of carcinoid syndrome is something that crosses the mind in hearing about your symptoms. That is, however, a rather rare process that would be unusual for most people to have. In such a situation, it is good to describe your symptoms and your concerns to your doctor so that he or she can test for the possibility of something as serious or as rare as that condition. There are many other possible explanations, however, many of which are much more common.

It is not unusual for some people to have changes of flushing and some of the other feelings that you describe when they are in stressful or unusual situations. Some of this can sometimes be understood in context of the response that some people have to loud noises or fright, ie, they can faint. This reaction is one extreme on the spectrum of a vagal reaction that can occur in some. On a less extreme note, other can have some of the same symptoms you describe without having something as notable as a syncopal episode. There are often things that can be done to help.

To qualify as a screening test, the test has to be sensitive enough to pick up the disease in its early stages. It has to be specific, so other conditions do not trigger the test to be positive. It has to be cost efficient, so that trying to find the disease does not cost more than the treatment of the disease. Unfortunately, no such test is available for ovarian cancer currently. CA-125, an ovarian cancer antigen, was thought to be a possible screening tool. CA-125 is elevated in women with a known ovarian cancer, and is used to monitor progression or regression of the tumor. It is not sensitive enough to pick up ovarian cancer at Stage I disease, and can be positive in non-cancerous conditions like endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and fibroids.

Physicians treat patients by diagnosing them, or figuring out what is wrong. When Physicians diagnose a patient, they begin by asking questions about the patient’s symptoms such as fever, headache, or stomach ache. They may ask other questions about things like past illnesses or family members who have been sick. They will then examine the patient, often looking at different parts of the body and listening to the heart and lungs with a stethoscope.

Sometimes they may need to collect blood, use an x-ray machine, or use other tools to look for things they cannot see when examining the patient. Usually, when they have gathered enough information, a doctor can make a diagnosis and then prescribe a treatment. Often they prescribe drugs.

Abnormal bleeding can have many different causes, but you have provided some valuable information. First, we have to clarify where exactly the bleeding is coming from. While vaginal bleeding is perhaps the most likely, both the urinary tract and the GI tract can also be a source of bleeding. Either of those would have different causes and explanations, with infections and small sources of bleeding such as hemorrhoids being among the most common reasons for abnormal or untimely bleeding.

With regards to vaginal bleeding, there is a clue that is suggested by the fact that the blood is bright red in color. In general, this can reflect fresher blood that has not started to be broken down. It may also suggest blood that is coming from a source further down the vaginal tract, although that is not necessarily true. There are different conditions that can affect the vaginal or uterine lining and are common explanations for symptoms such as you describe. There are also tumors that can result in abnormal bleeding, and these tumors can be both benign and malignant.