Dopers with ladyparts! Tell me about your experiences with ovarian cyst(s). Apparently there’s only like a 5% chance they’ll be cancerous in general, but I’d like some personal-anecdote reassurance right about now. (If you don’t have ladyparts but you know someone with them, you can tell me about hers, if you like.)
Here are some general questions I’d prefer you to cover, but feel free to expand on them and/or drop any that don’t seem to apply or that you’d rather not share the answers to. I’m writing in the singular, but feel free to pluralize if that better reflects your indivudual case.
1.) How big was it?
2a.) How was it discovered?
2b.) Did you have any symptoms?
3.) How long did you have it for?
4.) Did it turn out to be dangerous?
5.) Was it treated in any way? If so, how?
[spoiler]For the record,
1.) About the size of a golfball (maximum width is about 5 cm).
2a.) Ultrasound to check the position of my new IUD.
2b.) Not really. Cramps seem to hit harder on the right than the left, but who knows how long that’s been going on for or if it’s related.
3.) No clue.
4.) Too soon to tell.
5.) Not yet.[/spoiler]
I had one found during a routine annual physical when I was about 31 years old that was grapefruit-sized. At first the doctor thought it was my uterus, out of position. I had absolutely no symptoms at all. Since it had obviously grown that big in less than a year, I had exploratory surgery which resulted in the removal of the ovary in question. It was on examination found to be a “borderline lesion,” which is actually a form of malignancy in something like stage zero, and could have eventually progressed to something really nasty. I took some chemotherapy for about a year, but it reduced my immune response and I got pneumonia twice, after which I discontinued that and had no recurrence. FWIW you can get along quite nicely with only one ovary.
The scary thing about ovarian cysts and tumors is that they very often can get fairly large and present absolutely no symptoms at all until they are too far gone. See Gilda Radner. My case was decades ago and surgery now would be done laparascopically and recovery time would be relatively short.
I’m glad yours was found while still small. My reading suggests that it is extremely likely that it will be benign, as that is usually the case.
I had one, discovered by ultrasound, a few years ago after I complained of abd. pain on the opposite side. Immediately had a CA-125 blood test, which was negative and eased my mind about cancer. Had laparoscopic removal of the ovary and the tube (because the tube was filled with water), and pathology found it to be a dermoid cyst, which consists of cells that never specialized and so become things like hair and skin and even teeth. Another way to see if you have one is to hold a bag of ice on your side over your ovary- if you hear teeth chattering, you know that’s what you have! Haha. We discovered mine scant weeks after I made fun of someone else for having one, because it is kind of creepy. But it’s better than cancer.
I have PCOS, which means I have a bunch of tiny ones in there. The only side effect I had was really irregular periods (sometimes I would have two normal ones and then six months would go by before my next one) and reeeeeeeeaaaally long ones. Once I started bc that went away.
No problem at all. However, please keep in mind that this was, ummmm <stops to subtract> about 30 years ago. Things have gotten MUCH better since then.
I had a previous slice across the lower abdomen from another surgery, so they cut pretty much horizontally over that. They wanted to be able to check both ovaries, so the incision was about 6 inches or so long. They removed the ovary with the borderline lesion and took a biopsy of the other one (which came back negative). I had what was standard recovery at the time: couple of days in the hospital, taking as much pain-killer as they would let me have. It took about 6 weeks before I felt normal. I remember distinctly after being home about a week being so proud because I had enough energy to walk all the way to the end of the driveway and back. I would tire very quickly.
You asked, so I’m telling you what it was like back then. It would be much, much better today. Now the most likely course of action would be laparoscopic surgery, which means way less trauma to the body and a much faster recovery time. Also today’s anaesthesia and pain management methods are worlds better than 30 years ago. Another thing that can help, and which I had done for a later elective surgery is autologous blood donation. About 4 - 6 weeks before the scheduled surgery I donated a quantity of my own blood to be saved for me. I was given this blood back after the surgery. It made a big difference in how I felt. Obviously this does not apply to emergency situations.
My daughter had her gall bladder removed about 2 years ago. It was done as same-day surgery and she was fine in about a week or so.
I am quite sure that your surgery, if it should become necessary, will be much more like my daughter’s: couple of tiny incisions for the laparascopic instruments, early return home, minimal pain and excellent pain management for what there is.
Adding another note about surgery in general since I’ve had several. Your medical care people will probaby tell you that it’s very important to get up and move around as much as you can, as soon as you can. Otherwise you risk pneumonia and other not-so-pleasant things. The best surgical recovery I had was when some friends hung around a lot and told me jokes. Sometimes laughter really is a great medicine.
1.) How big was it? Just like yours, about the size of a golfball.
2a.) How was it discovered? I had progressively worse stomach pain for about three months. I went from my primary care physician, to the gastroenterologist, to the gynecologist, who found the cyst using ultrasound followed by a CAT scan.
2b.) Did you have any symptoms? Yes, I had persistent pain, and when I had gone through a complete menstrual cycle without it disappearing, I went to the doctor.
3.) How long did you have it for? Around 4 months (this was how long it took going from doctor to doctor and test to test). When it was finally diagnosed, I was told that it was almost certainly benign (from blood tests, I believe), and that typical procedure was to wait around 3 months to see if it disappeared on its own. Since I had already been in pain for 3 months, I decided to have surgery immediately to remove it.
4.) Did it turn out to be dangerous? No, just a benign cyst.
5.) Was it treated in any way? If so, how? I had laparoscopic surgery to remove it. It was done in an outpatient facility under general anesthetic. I went home the same day, and felt pretty crappy for a few days, primarily from the anesthetic. I stayed off work for a week, but was actually active and living a fairly normal life for most of that time. I have three tiny, tiny scars, about 1/2 inch each, in and around my belly button. The only other residual effect was fascinating to me. I developed mittelschmerz, which is pain on ovulation. For about five years after the surgery, I knew to the minute when I was ovulating, because I could actually feel it – really sharp, severe cramps, that would come and go over maybe 15 minutes. Eventually that went away, but it was kind of fun while it lasted (I’d literally be standing at an ATM, and all of a sudden think, “Hey, I’m ovulating.”) Oh, I should mention that I signed a consent form before surgery that they could remove my ovary if necessary, but it wasn’t necessary and I still have both of them.
2a.) How was it discovered? Ultrasound during a pregnancy
2b.) Did you have any symptoms? Occasional pain prior to pregnancy
3.) How long did you have it for? I’m not sure - had it throughout most of my pregnancy (until they couldn’t see my ovaries b/c of the baby); didn’t have an ultrasound afterward, so I could still have it for all I know, though probably not
4.) Did it turn out to be dangerous?Nope
5.) Was it treated in any way? If so, how? No treatment, thoug it scared the heck out of my husband - he was convinced I’d need surgery to have it removed (he was there during the ultrasound when the cyst was found)
I’ve had a few. I don’t know how big they were–the doctor seemed so unconcerned that I was, too. I had pain in that area, and I don’t know how long I had them, but several years, I think. They showed up during transvaginal ultrasounds I had to explore why I had pain there. A few years ago the pain got worse, and I mentioned it to the doctor and she said it was probably just one of the cysts and that they would go away. One night I woke up with excruciating pain that brought tears to my eyes and made me sit on the edge of the bed, doubled over. After that, the pain was gone, so I think the painful one burst.
I’m always surprised when people have surgery on ovarian cysts, since my doctor said they’re common and harmless and need no treatment at all.
I seem to recall now that before I had my surgery they a ultrasound or some such thing and could tell from that that it might be the kind that either was or could become malignant.
Wow. I had one when I was 17, or at least that was what the doctor told me it was. I was having excruciating pain on one side (and had already had my appendix out, so knew it wasn’t that). Went to my GP (didn’t have an ob/gyn back then) and he said it was a cyst that had ruptured, nothing to worry about, these things happen. I’ve never had one since. That was, oh, 1973? 74? So no fancy ultrasounds!
1.) I had 3, 1 ~1cm and a 2cm
2a.) Discovered in a flurry of tests.
2b.) I had excrutiating (IV pain meds) abdominal pain, sudden onset
3.) They were removed about 3 months later
4.) Yes, but only because their existance convinced the doctors they’d found the source of my pain, they were wrong
5.) laproscopic surgery to remove - tiny scar in my belly button and one on the bikini line, 5ish days recovery, only complications were
a) discovery of a reaction to morphine (not allergy although that’s how they recommend I explain it on future admissions)
b) the fact that they were indeed not the source of the pain.
Source of the pain:
We never really figured it out, although the prime suspect is the adhesion of my uterus and bladder together via scar tissue that was caused when a surgical staple decided to go walkabout, left my fallopian tube, danced with my bladder and uterus and then took a nap somewhere around the gallbladder.
4 years and 3 surgeries later the pain is finally gone after the removal of:
scar tissue from both my uterus and bladder
another cyst
more scar tissue that grew back where they removed it the first time
fibroid removal
Oh the heck with it, take the whole damn uterus, more fibroids and since the uterus is gone, no more scar tissue.
1.) How big was it? Softball sized
2a.) How was it discovered? Ultrasound.
2b.) Did you have any symptoms? Minor abdominal pain, couldn’t lay on my stomach
3.) How long did you have it for? Do not know. Under three years - it wasn’t there when I was pregnant with TheKid.
4.) Did it turn out to be dangerous? Nope. Fibroid.
5.) Was it treated in any way? If so, how? Removed microscopically. Two itsy bitsy scars.
As a bonus- when they were doing the ultrasound the technologist scanned a little higher and said “Hmm, interesting”. She caught a bit of my right kidney in the scan, noted it appeared “off”. Surprise! I was diagnosed with polycycstic kidney disease that week, also.
Same here. I’ve had a couple of ultrasounds to investigate irregular periods, and they’ve found small cysts twice (one each time). The ultrasound tech and the doctor were both unconcerned. I remember it was more like a “well, you have a small cyst but it may be related to your cycle, if you’re not in any pain it’s not something to worry about”. No blood tests, no biopsies, nothing.
Ugh, sounds a lot like my mom’s hysterectomy. An incision that long through a bunch of muscles you use all the time = so not fun.
Excellent.
I’ve even been hearing that there are some medical professionals pushing even to get ICU patients up and moving ASAP.
German words are so much fun. (The pain itself, I’d imagine, not so much.)
It depends how big they are, what they’re pressing on, and what kind they are. Most of 'em are pretty harmless, but some of them are or can become malignant, and even benign ones sometimes end up causing bad enough symptoms that it’s worth it to remove them.
I’m always surprised when people are surprised…although now reading more replies, I guess the source of my problems and pain wasn’t necessarily the cysts themselves but endometriosis.
I’ve had 3 laparoscopies. 2 had faily simple recoveries; one took a bit longer, but I think that was more a reaction to the anesthesia.
I work with physicians, some of whom treat ovarian cysts. There are developments in the area of Interventional Radiology (IR) in treating some ovarian cysts that might be worth knowing about. I believe this is different vs. endoscopic, which is already less intrusive vs. normal surgery. With IR, you enter through a major artery like the femoral and use a catheter to reach the cyst and some combination of laser or other means to stop the blood supply and the cyst dies and is reabsorbed.
Not applicable in all situations, but may be worth looking into…
ETA: well, I just completely screwed that up - I am referring to uterine fibroids. :smack: sorry for the confusion - that’s what I get for not having lady parts.
