Cervix question

Ok, I know this sounds weird, but I can "splain"!

I've noticed, courtesy of my cats jumping on my abdomen while I'm in bed, that the area where my uterus may be seems more tender some times.  I stumbled across an article online about fertility and the position of one's cervix--it is higher when you're ovulating, etc.  I'm not trying to become pregnant, etc., but it made me wonder if that's why mine feels different a few days a month.  They recommend that one manually, ahem, FEEL for the cervix, but no way am I going to do that! The thought makes my flesh crawl!  I wonder if one can feel this change EXTERNALLY?  (I don't think I'm ovulating, though. My little "friend" has not visited me since early July.)

How old are you? roughly, if it's a sensitive question

Have you had the HPV vaccine?

When was your last pap smear?

Just some precautions you should check on.

If you have ever been sexually active, you should get the HPV vaccine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccine The HPV virus is necessary for almost all cases of cervical cancer.

Which I'm not saying you have!!! not at all. But you should get a Pap smear, get the HPV vaccine, and see your gynecologist for a general check-up if your cervix is tender and your periods are irregular. I'm assuming that not having once since July is irregular for you.

I think the best thing to do is to take advice from a doctor, not people on a forum

But I would imagine that if you only feel the tenderness at certain times of the month, it could be a cyclical thing.

I'm married, and well over age 26.

The tenderness comes 2-3 days a month, then goes away. I'm inclined to think it's normal; my fibroid also gets tender, then goes away. All of this happens before my cycle; however, I haven't had that for 5 months, but I did get these symptoms a week or so ago. (I think I sometimes get "phantom periods"--cramps, etc. but no flow. I've been missing them occasionally the past 6 years. Otherwise, I feel fine; in fact, since I've missed 5 in a row, I feel so much better.  I'm severely anemic, so I think not getting the flow part is helping my iron levels.)  I'm just wondering if the tenderness is ovulation, since I read that website.  I kind of sensed my uterus felt a bit higher up; but I didn't know that it could do that, until now.  I knew one could experience other symptoms, but never knew about that one--the uterus is an amazing organ,isn't it?  It's also amazing how little I know about my body!

Well, I'm not really asking for medical advice, but I'm curious about what I read on the website, and wondered if anyone knew, or had experienced it.  I do plan to go to the doctor regarding the 5-month hiatus thing, just to be sure it's what I think it is.

I deff think you should get it checked.  Maybe note it on your calendar when it happens.  That should really help you get an idea of if it is part of your cycle.  Also good to share with your doc. 

As part of our birth control routine I always keep track of my cervix.  Its really no big deal....just check in the shower.  It's your body.   But I've never felt the tenderness from outside.  Your bladder is in front of your cervix too. 

Are you sure it's not mittelschmerz aka ovulation pain? It sounds like it could be to me. 

could be endometriosis i was just diagnosed with that, and my uterus would always seem to be tender from ovulation till af..not having your period can help the pain as it needs estrogen to feed off of and if your perimenopausal then your hormones are on the decline.

With the missing periods and you being young...I would guess PCOS. But thats something to go to a dr about especially if your missing periods and there is no current medical diagnosis for it.

I know while we were trying to conceive I checked my cervix also and its really not as gross as it sounds...the description is ten times worse than the actuality of it. But one thing I can tell you...unless your pregnant your uterus will be under your pubic bone not higher. Its not until your roughly 9 or 10 weeks pregnant that you can begin to feel even the top of your uterus over your pubic bone.

The best thing you can do for yourself between the tenderness your experiancing and the missing periods is to go to a doctor and get a routine check up and get some answers...guessing at that stuff can possibly lead to some trouble down the road. It is a lot better to get a straight up answer.

MoochNNoodles said:

I deff think you should get it checked.  Maybe note it on your calendar when it happens.  That should really help you get an idea of if it is part of your cycle.  Also good to share with your doc. 

As part of our birth control routine I always keep track of my cervix.  Its really no big deal....just check in the shower.  It's your body.

  But I've never felt the tenderness from outside.  Your bladder is in front of your cervix too. 

Click to expand...

How do you check that in the shower???

zohdee said:

How do you check that in the shower???

Click to expand...

How to answer family friendly....  One leg on the side of the tub.  It's deffinitely lower and you can tell when it's "open."  We tried to conceive our DD for quite a while before I learned to do that.  It was much easier the 2nd time around here because I was already tracking things and aware of my body like that. 
 

speakhandsforme said:

If you have ever been sexually active, you should get the HPV vaccine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccine The HPV virus is necessary for almost all cases of cervical cancer.
Which I'm not saying you have!!! not at all. But you should get a Pap smear, get the HPV vaccine, and see your gynecologist for a general check-up if your cervix is tender and your periods are irregular. I'm assuming that not having once since July is irregular for you.

Click to expand...

Approximately 9/10 of adult women already have the HPV. It's the type of the virus which determines whether it's 'the good kind' or 'the bad kind'. If you've ever had sex, it is very likely you already have the HPV and thus the vaccination is not valid (and it doesn't work for all of the virus types). Unfortunately I have one of the worst possible versions of the virus and have been through some not so nice medical procedures because of it (it's in the worst state before you can actually call it cancer now..'carcinoma in situ' was what they called it). Before they found out the virus type (which is 18) I was part of a vaccination test/research where they were going to see if there is any use for the vaccination for those who already have HPV. I didn't get the vaccination as they needed to operate me as soon as they found out which virus type I had. Normally the vaccination is given to young girls who have not yet had sex (so they don't have the virus yet).

I didn't have/don't have any pain or odd feelings because of this, cervix doesn't have much nerves in it so it can't feel much pain, so I would say it's something else.