# Facts Requested: Ovarian Cysts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-requested-ovarian-cysts/149925>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 21, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-requested-ovarian-cysts/149925 "2003-01-21T02:51:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-requested-ovarian-cysts/149925/21 "2003-01-23T02:20:06Z")

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There’s also a difference between a non-MD suggesting a website and an MD suggesting a website.

QtM’s opinion, by sheer dint of his degree, carries more weight than that of a layman. I think any MD on the internet has to be more careful than a non-MD (who hopefully is using the disclaimer “BTW, I’m not an MD, please speak with a real doctor” or some such) in giving advice or even pointing to advice. It’s one thing to tell your doc “Hey, my friend steered me to this website” and another to say “Hey, this _doctor_ recommended a website”.

Much in the same way non-lawyers can speculate all they want on legal issues, but an actual lawyer has to be careful about doing so in any public forum for fear of his/her ramblings being taken as actual legal advice.

By the way - what IS “mittelschmertz”?

Yes, she’s almost 40, has had fully functional female plumbing for 3 decades, thinks she’s well informed about the innards, and now there’s this new term/word to learn… But since my plumbing has never \<knock on wood\> malfunctioned there’s all sorts of oddities and syndromes I’m probably blissfully ignorant of.

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-requested-ovarian-cysts/149925/22 "2003-01-23T02:21:42Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Broomstick \*  
> By the way - what IS “mittelschmertz”?

German word for a twinge of pain felt upon ovulation. Most women apparently don’t get this or don’t notice it.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-requested-ovarian-cysts/149925/23 "2003-01-23T14:16:23Z")

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mittelschmertz is also german for “middle pain”.

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facts-requested-ovarian-cysts/149925/24 "2003-01-23T15:18:58Z")

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Thanks for the clarification, I thought that was the translation but wasn’t certain. To be more precise, I should have instead typed, “German word used to describe a twinge of pain felt upon ovulation, or one ascribed to ovulation.” 🙂

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