# ovarian cysts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036 "2007-06-14T20:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/1 "2007-06-14T20:04:00Z")
(Mr Sam and kiddo are out swimming, and friends are all working or away, so forgive me bringing my whining here). I have the telltale signs of an ovarian cyst that’s about to burst (right shoulder pain, pain around the left ovary that is way worse when I walk). I’ve had them many times before (I’m prone to them, and I can’t take birth control pills). But since having my daughter I find them much harder to take. She’s only 4, so it’s hard for her to spend a week or more without seeing much of mommy. I try to spend as much time with her as I can; last time I maybe managed an hour a day. And then there’s work. Obviously I’m not getting any done, and Mr Sam isn’t working so he can look after kiddo. Before kiddo, it only really affected me. With painkillers and a stack of movies, I would be better before I knew it. But now, I feel stressed, and I feel guilty, and that makes the pain worse, and it’s a bit of a vicious circle. It’s hard being a mommy. Feel free to share tips or horror stories or tell me to snap out of it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/2 "2007-06-14T20:06:12Z")
Snap out of it. Don’t you know the pain is all in your head? Seriously, I’ve never suffered from ovarian cysts. Isn’t there anything the OB/GYN can do for you? It sounds very debilitating. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/3 "2007-06-14T20:51:03Z")
Has your doctor suggested surgery? I’m sorry you have to go through this more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/4 "2007-06-14T21:09:19Z")
Sorry to hear this. Sending healing thoughts your way. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/5 "2007-06-14T21:35:40Z")
I have no knowledge of ovarian cysts, but if theyr’e anything like sebaceous cysts, then you have my complete sympathies ☹ ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/6 "2007-06-14T23:59:58Z")
I had multiple ovarian cysts rupture. The pain was breathtaking and lasted for a long while. Pain in the shoulder and around the area doesn’t begin to cover it. I had completely natural childbirth twice and would gladly do that again before I’d go through another cyst. But there isn’t really anything much TO do about it, if you can’t take take birth control pills and don’t want surgery. Pain management was about all I was ever able to do. After having a cyst rupture during a long planned and anticipated trip, pretty much ruining it for my whole family, I decided to hell with it and had a hysterectomy. Best decision on my life. I was only 41 and I can’t believe I let myself live with that kind of pain for so long. You have my deepest sympathy and I hope you talk to your doctor about other options. Maybe there are some now that weren’t around 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/7 "2007-06-15T00:23:46Z")
Wow - that isn’t what happened to me. Well, the doctors _think_ it was an ovarian cyst, once they ruled out gallstones. I was just moving around, fixing breakfast when I had a sharp pain in my abdomen - bad enough to cause me to vomit and get within “vision greying” distance of passing out. I was pretty sure my appendix had ruptured. I didn’t have any pain in advance (well, maybe I did, but I wasn’t associating it with anything other than being bad to my body) and the pain lasted only a couple of hours. I felt wimpy all day, but no problems after that. Maybe it was a baby cyst? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/8 "2007-06-15T03:07:20Z")
**wonder9** I think I found childbirth more painful, but of course it didn’t last as long. Surgery isn’t an option yet since we’re not 100% sure we’re done having kids. If this continues, though, I won’t be giving us 5 years to make a final decision. My Dr gave me spironolactone to try, which might prevent more, but I’ve only been on it for a little while now. **Fetchund** It could have been a smaller cyst. IME the pain is usually proportional to size. I’ve had some that lasted for a couple of days; the worst I had was more like 3 weeks. I think it really depends on the amount of fluid released and therefore how long it takes to be absorbed. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ovarian-cysts/408036/9 "2007-06-16T18:05:45Z")
Different pain for different people, I guess. I had an ovarian cyst rupture (I’m pretty sure it ruptured), and there was no “pain increase on walking around” because I couldn’t walk, period. It happened in the middle of the night, and I crawled to the bathroom, not sure whether to pass out or vomit, and after a while of lying on the bathroom floor, I crawled back to bed and went to sleep (or passed out, more likely). My last thought was that I was sure I was going to wake up dead - I didn’t think I would see morning. The next morning the pain was much better, so I went to the hospital and got all checked out, and ended up having laparoscopic surgery to shell the cysts about six months later, when the pain just wouldn’t go away. I’ve thought about a hysterectomy and partial oophorectomy, too - if I have one good ovary, leave that one, but take the rest of this painful, crampy mess out.