5 Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day to Help Prevent Ovarian Cancer

Here’s the thing: ovarian cancer doesn’t have to be silent. You just have to know what to listen for — and what to ask.

A Story That Could Be Yours

Christina was 58 and felt fine. Maybe a little more bloated than usual, and her pants were tighter, but she figured it was just getting older. She mentioned it to her sister over coffee. Her sister said, “Didn’t Aunt Rosa die of ovarian cancer?”

That question changed everything.

Maria called her doctor. A workup followed. What they found was early-stage ovarian cancer — caught before it had spread. Maria was lucky. Most women aren’t. Ovarian cancer is often called “the silent killer” because by the time most women notice something is wrong, the cancer has already advanced.

Maria was lucky. Extraordinarily lucky.

But here’s the thing: ovarian cancer doesn’t have to be silent. You just have to know what to listen for — and what to ask.

Why Most Women Aren’t Lucky

Here is what the numbers tell us, and they are sobering. This year, roughly 19,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. About 13,000 will die from it. That makes ovarian cancer the deadliest gynecologic cancer — more lethal than uterine and cervical cancer combined.

The reason is timing. Nearly 80% of ovarian cancers are found at an advanced stage, when the cancer has already spread beyond the ovary. At that point, the five-year survival rate drops to around 30%. But when it’s caught early — like Maria’s — that number jumps to over 90%.

The difference between those two numbers is the difference between life and death. And it often comes down to one thing: whether someone asked the right question at the right time.

The “Silent Killer” Myth

Ovarian cancer has long been called the “silent killer.” You’ve probably heard that phrase. It gets repeated in magazine articles, on health websites, even by doctors. The idea is that ovarian cancer gives no warning — that it sneaks up on you with no symptoms until it’s too late.

That’s not entirely true.

Research over the past two decades has shown that ovarian cancer does produce symptoms. The problem isn’t silence. The problem is that the symptoms — bloating, pelvic discomfort, changes in appetite, urinary urgency — sound like a dozen other things. They sound like irritable bowel syndrome. They sound like stress. They sound like getting older.

Women notice these changes. But they explain them away. And too often, so do their doctors.

What This Post Is About — And Why It Matters

There is no perfect screening test for ovarian cancer. No mammogram equivalent. No Pap smear. That reality frustrates patients and doctors alike, and it has fueled a massive wellness industry eager to sell you “ovarian health panels” and detox protocols that do absolutely nothing.

But the absence of a perfect screening test does not mean you are powerless. Far from it.

What follows are five questions — simple, practical, evidence-based — that every woman should be asking herself regularly. They cover genetics, symptoms, personal risk, medical options, and what screening can and can’t do. None of them require a medical degree to understand. All of them could save your life or the life of someone you love.

I’ve spent over 50 years in obstetrics and gynecology, including decades as a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. I’ve seen what happens when women have the right information at the right time — and what happens when they don’t. The gap between those two outcomes is what drives everything I write here at Obstetric Intelligence.

If you find this useful, subscribe so you don’t miss future posts. And share it with the women in your life. The question Maria’s sister asked over coffee cost nothing. It saved Maria’s life.

Let’s get into it.