Ovarian cyst - experiences please

[Truthseeker456]

Posting here for traffic.

I have a 8 cm ( could have grown ) demoid cyst on my ovary. Waiting for op. About 4 weeks ago , it began with pain when taking sharp intakes of breath. It then resulted in me doubling over with pain that pain killers wouldn't touch. Also extreme sickness I say pain more of a period pain x 2000. I have had a couple of these really bad episodes since. It hasn't twisted I have had that checked. In between these episodes , I feel very unwell : sick , sometime headaches and just generally shit. I am really hoping this is all to do with the cyst, but what are other peoples experiences ? They don't think it is cancerous and have had blood tests

I had similar when I was younger, about 14 I think? I was offered hormonal contraceptives to try and reduce it without surgery and it worked, took a while to work though. Now I don't have any long term side effects but any time I feel a particularly bad period pain I do get nervous!
I hope yours is better soon x

Yes, sounds like the 7cm cyst I had. It was a benign endometrioma. I ended up having my ovaries removed as part of a hysterectomy, not specifically because of that cyst but because the endo had damaged them beyond reasonable repair. The type of pain, feeling sick etc. is just what I had. I would often wake at 4am with it and be doubled over; I used to take way beyond the recommended dose of painkillers just to take the edge off it. I do hope you can get it sorted out, OP . Be persistent.

I also had a similar sized dermoid cyst except it was all tucked away and never actually caused me any pain or issues. It was discovered at my 20 week scan with DC1. I had it removed a few months later, ovary and fallopian tube included. It wasn't cancerous and I have never had any other issues since. Sorry yours is causing so much pain! Hopefully once you get your op that will be the end of it.

I have joined just to comment on this. I had the same on my left ovary, found in July 2021. It was found at 5cm, taken out in November 2021 at 14cm. Not cancerous, no idea why it grew so quickly.
In terms of pain relief, I was on oramorph (made me sleep constantly) before going onto tramadol (made me throw up constantly), and then finally reletrans patches. The pain was unreal - nothing touched the sides and I'm so sorry that you are going through this. I lived alone and couldn't drive, so was relying on friends to take me out for food shopping and get me out of the house.
In terms of what I did, I made weekly meetings with the drs (telephone because no one would see me in person due to COVID), and pushed and pushed to go to hospital for surgery. I also called the hospital a week after my appointment with them where they confirmed I would be having surgery, and they booked me in then and there for a week and a half later.
Surgery-wise, I went in in the morning, surgery was at 2pm. I was scheduled for a male surgeon, who wanted to remove my left ovary - the right one also had 'normal' cysts, but ended up with a female surgeon who said she would try to save it. I had keyhole surgery, two holes, one on each side of my abdomen, and stitches in my bellybutton. Recovery was fine, and the relief of not being in pain anymore meant I was up and shuffling the next day. I took maybe 6 paracetamol over two weeks - the difference in pain was amazing. It took a few days before I could get up out of bed or off the sofa on my own or without rolling, and I was almost back to normal a few weeks later. They also expand you stomach with gas when you go for surgery so be prepared for pregnant belly when you waddle out of hospital! And get some sanitary towels for the first few days as well.
The only other thing to note was that I went through some sort of second puberty about a week after surgery! I went from washing my hair once a week to it being stuck to my scalp with grease after 24 hours, I was smelly, my Lasered off armpit and leg hair all grew back, and I was spotty. It all calmed down after a few weeks though.

Happy to answer any questions!

I had a 20cm cyst and it felt like carry a brick around inside me, constant ache and pain and always needing to wee, they took it out and the ovary had to come out aswell. Hopefully you will get a date for the op soon and will feel much better after.

I found out i had a 9cm dermoid cyst on my left ovary when i was pregnant and they saw it on my first scan (private one at about 8 weeks). The cyst had septations and they werent sure if it was malignant or not at that point so I had 2 MRI scans on it throughout my pregnancy. Ended up having a c section as they removed the cyst and overy at the same time as baby. It grew slightly throughout my pregnancy....
Do you have a date for your op? Im sure you'll be fine, they are v common.

I had similar. Turns out I had a silent misscarrige a month prior and the cells from the misscarrige caused the cyst. It passed naturally after 8 weeks and I was scanned again and it was gone.

I hope your ok OP x

Thank you all so much for your replies. It sounds like everyone has different experiences and what I am feeling is due to the cyst. I was just doubting whether it is the cyst, so reassuring that others have had the same experiences. Its just that the symptoms are so random , sickness , pains everywhere etc ! A few weeks ago , I was in and out of hospital. Out of the three doctors who saw me , two said the pain couldn't possibly be caused by the cyst , you only get pain when it twists ? !! One of the doctors believed me and offered me emergency surgery but I very stupidly turned it down ( he explained that they can be more rough when its an emergency ). When I went back again , the doctor said no way could I have emergency surgery as I wasn't in constant pain ( they have people with life threatening conditions who need it etc ) . I was then told I have to wait 9 months for surgery due to backlog of cancer patients which I of course understand, however just felt like I wasn't believed by most if the medical staff I saw. Fortunately by parents have been able to arrange me to go private ( I'm nearly 40 ! ) as they could see the pain it was causing and impacting in my work and I have a 2 year old to look after.

Ooh, I've stumbled on the cysterhood! I had an ovarian cyst (dermoid) removed when I was nine. The ovary had to come out too.

I was told it was the size of a grapefruit. ("Why do surgeons always measure growths in units of fruit ?", my GP later said.)

The pain/nausea was as you describe, OP. It evolved suddenly from low-level symptoms that were never investigated to utterly severe . I was rushed into A&E and diagnosed with appendicitis! They decided to operate immediately.

When they opened me up they realised it wasn't appendicitis and just cut further along my abdomen to get to the right spot. The result is that I have a six inch scar -- and no idea whether I still have my appendix or not!

This was in about 1972, though. I suspect it is all a bit more civilised now.

I was in hospital for about a week and it was a few weeks after that before I recovered properly.

I feel your pain 😔 I had a 10cm endometrioma (sometimes nicknamed the chocolate cyst) which had ruptured. Notbreally sure what I can say to help except I understand.. mine took a few months to get diagnosed. In the early stages I had a lot of right shoulder pain which was weird referred pain but the people I spoke to weren't bright enough to see this. The actual op was no problem, although I had quite a lot of morphine on coming round..then I couldn't stand up straight for a few days, but fine after that. I went on holiday 3 weeks later.

I had an almost 6kg ovarian cyst that was painless and only discovered by chance during a routine health check. I thought I was just getting middle aged spread. Unfortunately it turned out to be stage 1a ovarian cancer but that wasn’t known until I had what’s called debulkng staging surgery where you’re basically filleted like a fish and have all of your reproductive organs removed along with your appendix and omentum.

Strangely enough I occasionally now have discomfort like a stitch in my lower right hand side roughly where I think my appendix would have been. But there’s nothing there. It’s all very strange v

I have had two ovarian cysts, at separate times. The pain is the worst pain I've ever experienced so really sorry you're currently going through this.

The first one was 9cm, which they removed through keyhole surgery. The second one however caused ovarian torsion, which is by far the most excruciating pain I've ever been in, including nausea and generally feeling unwell. Oramorph didn't even touch sides, it was absolutely awful. That one I had emergency surgery for, after 3 days in hospital before they diagnosed it. They removed the cyst along with my ovary and Fallopian tube on that side, as blood flow had been restricted and damaged both beyond saving.

Hopefully you'll have surgery without too much delay as surgery truly was needed, especially the second. The relief from the pain was immediate, once you come round. To the point that I didn't even need any pain killers afterwards as the pain after surgery was bearable compared to the pain I was in before.

Wishing you all the best and really hope you're out of pain soon.

i went to the emergency doctor with excruciating pain, they sent me to A&E who diagnosed ovarian cysts (quite a few) and i was operated on within the hour.
Not in UK though so suggested treatments might be different.

I had a cyst removed in 2016 roughly 8cm wide but it was more of a solid mass it had to be cut up to be removed and my left ovary was removed as well as it had engulfed it. The pain I got when I was on my cycle was unbearable. It felt like someone rung out a sponge of its moisture. It would feel so tight and painful. I would dread PMT as I knew the pain would be awful and I would feel so poorly. I had a laparoscopy as well to check the other ovary was ok.

OP, keep pushing to get to the surgery. I know it seems daunting but the difference for me was like night and day.
Mine was initially found after I had been weeing blood for a few weeks and had back pain. My sister (10 years older) had had the exact same and was diagnosed with a cancerous ovarian tumor. When I went to the drs (again, on the phone) I had 4 pregnancy tests (had not had any sort of sex for over 18 months, and was single, and there had been a pandemic), was tested for UTIs 4 times (again, not a UTI), and was told comforting information when I started passing clots (I don't have periods due to the implant) such as:

• have you tried a long walk?
• have you tried a hot bath?
• lady pain (I shit you not, that was the wording) doesn't happen in your back like that
• are you sure it isn't a period?
• try daily longer walks

In the end, I went to out of hours (the Dr said they could only give me paracetamol and I was on week 2 of throwing up from pain), thinking I had kidney stones.
They then sent me for 13 hours in A&E, where I was told my a 19 year old trainee that I was covered in tumors after he looked at my scan photos, and that my other ovary had a big cyst. Also, through the shock of me trying to process this, I asked if I would be able to have children, to which he said, 'erm..probably not. But we are going to discharge you now so book an appointment with your Dr'.
You can imagine the state of me driving home.
Anyway, idiot couldn't read a scan, it was just 1 tumor, and the drs from my surgery suddenly took me a bit more seriously when I called that afternoon.

I had a twisting dermoid cyst when I was 19 - intense pain and sickness, mine too was apparently the size of a grapefruit…given the size and the fact that dermoids behave differently to other cysts I had to have a laparotomy, painful but recovered fully in 2 weeks.
another dermoid was found 7 years ago, doctor took watch and wait approach as I was reluctant to have more surgery (had a c section in the meantime)
had that little fucker removed at same time as my last c section 2 years ago - surgeon told me it was ‘full of hair’
They are gross and weird little things but best to get them removed to avoid torsion risk….

If you really REALLY want to freak yourselves out, do a google image search on dermoid ovarian cysts. Some of them even have eyes. EYES! I'm not even joking.

I too had a grapefruit sized dermoid, had it removed along with the ovary. The doctor, unprompted, told me it was full of hair. I was fascinated, so said 'what about teeth?' and he had the audacity to look at me in a slightly horrified way. He was the one that mentioned hair!

I had some pain with it though nowhere near as severe as you describe OP. I'd imagine it's different for everyone though depending on position. Glad to hear you're managing to get it operated on quicker than 9 months, they seem to grow quickly - mine went from 4cm to 15cm in about 4 months.

@eyebright22 I too have heard they have teeth I thought that was one of the more common things..
@DilemmaParrot what a bunch of idiots they were! Think I would have complained!
@Random789 they do not have eyes 😭😭😭😭😭

I have just found out I have an ovarian cyst and a polyp in the womb. The symptoms started after I had a miscarriage. When I went to hospital with the miscarriage the dr just said your not pregnant any more you have a water infection. The the pain all started. Everytime I went drs it was you have a water infection. The last time I went to drs he examined me. Sent me for a scan and made me do a urine test ( to the hospital). The results said I had red and white blood cells in my urine which I think was the cyst or the polyp. The scan revealed both cyst and polyp in the womb and now I am waiting for the gynecologist to give me an appointment.
How long did it take for the hospital to book appointment ?

Thank you