First, ovarian cysts: I am shocked at how common they really are. In my chats with other moms in the online community of Cafe Mom, I have discovered that a good majority of moms have dealt with them at one point in their lives. I haven't done much research yet on how common they are, but I do know that PCOS (aka poly-cyctic ovarian syndrome) just seems too common. As taken from the Mayo Clinic's website http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ovarian-cysts/DS00129/DSECTION=symptoms
The symptoms of ovarian cysts, if present, may include:
- Menstrual irregularities
- Pelvic pain — a constant or intermittent dull ache that may radiate to your lower back and thighs
- Pelvic pain shortly before your period begins or just before it ends
- Pelvic pain during intercourse (dyspareunia)
- Pain during bowel movements or pressure on your bowels
- Nausea, vomiting or breast tenderness similar to that experienced during pregnancy
- Fullness or heaviness in your abdomen
- Pressure on your rectum or bladder that causes a need to urinate more frequently or difficulty emptying your bladder completely
Well, I have had pelvic pain constant on my right side ever since I was pregnant with my last child- since 2008 when he was born. It's been on and off with the intensity, but it's been constant. Lately however, I've noticed that it's more painful about the time I should get my period. I also have experienced the pressure on my bladder and need to urinate frequently and the fullness/bloating. Now I should mention that I also am on the 5 year Mirena IUD, so there was a concern that it may be embedded. When I finally went to the gyno, she didn't think that was the case, but based on my pain symptoms and the length of time I have been experiencing them, she highly suspected that I have ovarian cysts and recommended that I go get an ultrasound to confirm. And of course, due to me, at the time, not having a job I couldn't afford to go and pay out of pocket $200+ for the ultrasound. So, now that I have a job and mediocre insurance, I hope to be able to go and get that ultrasound... although I may have to go see another gyno to have him/her refer me.
As for the second item- kidney stones. Oh boy... I have heard many many stories about people and the pain they have gone through with having them. Here is what I found from the Mayo Clinic's site on the symptoms http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/kidney-stones/DS00282/DSECTION=symptoms
A kidney stone may not cause symptoms until it moves around within your kidney or passes into your ureter — the tube connecting the kidney and bladder. At that point, these signs and symptoms may occur:
- Severe pain in the side and back, below the ribs
- Pain that spreads to the lower abdomen and groin
- Pain that comes in waves and fluctuates in intensity
- Pain on urination
- Pink, red or brown urine
- Cloudy or foul-smelling urine
- Nausea and vomiting
- Persistent urge to urinate
- Urinating more often than usual
- Fever and chills if an infection is present
Pain caused by a kidney stone may change — for instance, shifting to a different location or increasing in intensity — as the stone moves through your urinary tract.
Ok... so this is what I am experiencing: severe pain in my lower back, enough that there are times I can hardly move. The pain is mainly in my lower back right now. The pain does come in waves and fluctuates in intensity, but mostly stays as a dull ache all day otherwise. I have had foul-smelling urine (sorry if that is TMI, but I have to address everything). The persistent urge to urinate I can't pinpoint as a symptom though because it's also a symptom of the ovarian cysts, as is the frequent urination. Then again, I do drink a lot of water sometimes...
SO hopefully I can get to see a doctor this next week or two at the latest. I am worried and don't want to have to deal with anymore health problems. I have enough as it is alongside the depression that keeps coming in waves and being alone. :o( IF you have any symptoms or have experience ovarian cysts or kidney stones, PLEASE leave a comment with what you went through and how you dealt with it! Let's try and help other people who are going through the same insecurity as I am!
I have just had surgery to repair many pelvic issues with similar symptoms. My third one actually. I had an ultrasound that showed none of the things they found by going in laparascopically with a camera.
ReplyDeleteThe first time, I had emergency surgery to remove a golf ball size ovarian cyst that almost burst. This was when they diagnosed me with also having Endometriosis, which can also cause many of these symptoms above.
The second time they went in to repair Endometriosis and found that it had caused large holes to form under both of my ovaries, so they had to cauterize the tissue in addition to using a laser to cauterize the endometriosis that was growing on my bladder, intestines and uterus.
Apparently this was not all taken care of properly, because there were areas that were unsafe to use a laser around with clusters of blood vessels, so I continued to suffer in excruciating pain during my cycle.
4 years ago, I went to a Doctor that was willing to do surgery, but told me he didn't believe he would find anything wrong. Needless to say, I backed out of that and never saw him again.
This past year, I was having possibly the worst symptoms I had ever had and a different insurance company. I asked my primary care doctor to refer me to an OBGYN that specialized in surgical excision/removal of Endometriosis, which I had researched extensively for the past few years. I knew there were not many doctors that did this besides one Dr. Redwine, in Bend, that did not take insurance. I told myself I was going to wait for a doctor that was skilled in doing this, as I did not want to make things worse.
He did a VERY thorough exam and read my past medical reports and concluded that I was definitely having a relapse of Endometriosis that was not completely fixed because they did not remove it by cutting it away by excision, they only burned the top layer with the laser. He was familiar and skilled in the procedure Dr. Redwine pwrformed. He also found I had pelvic floor dysfunction and referred me to my second round of physical therapy.
We did an ultrasound, but they found nothing, as he suspected would be the case. Then scheduled the surgery.
During the surgery they used the Davinci Robot and excised a large ovarian cyst from my left side, removed Endometriosis from my left tube that was double in size due to the Endometriosis. Repaired a large hole that had reformed under the left ovary and detatched part of my lower intestine that the Endometriosis had attached to my abdominal wall, and excised other small areas that had Endometriosis, as well.
All of my pain started by radiating from my left ovary side, so this all made a lot more sense. I had only been saying this to my doctor for 7 years!!!!
The surgery took approximately 2 1/2 hours and I have been recovering for the past 2 weeks. I am hoping this will have done the job and that things will become much better as I continue to heal and start physical therapy for the spasmodic muscles that have been protecting the damaged area for so long.
Just goes to show you that you need to trust that you know yourself much better than most doctors that see you for 15 minutes once or twice a year. Keep searching until you find someone you are comfortable with and do your own research!!! They don't know or have the time to research everything! You have to advocate for you! It is worth it! You are worth it!
So, nearly a year later- how have you been in regards to pain? Have you had any further problems in those areas?
DeleteThis is what most women are afraid of the ovarian cysts. My mom got this and it's really hard for her to overcome this and been with so many treatments. Sometimes she wants to stop and not to continue but we had hopes that she can surpass it and it was a wonderful feeling that she surpass all.
ReplyDeleteSo we need to be aware and careful. We need to learn what we don't know about ovarian cysts.
Hey, I am suffering from both at the same time. Kidney stones and an ovarian cyst. I have already lost an ovary because of an ovarian cyst that doctors did not look after properly, by not doing the right check ups even though I insisted on getting ultrasounds every month. Now I have a cyst although this time it seems to be a functional cyst and it should disappear, my last one was a dermoid cyst.
ReplyDeleteI do not get how doctors do not understand my worry... I still have two kidneys (and to be honest the stones are tiny 3mm or less) but only one ovary left, the cyst is 35x24mm at the moment. Anyway, I will keep an eye and fortunately the gyno has already requested approval for a CT scan in a months time.
Having said all that I have always had polycystic ovaries and I have had an implant (Implaton) for the last 5 years and only started having periods in the last 3 to 4 months.
Doctors, for the most part, only worry about the financial side of things... Good luck with the CT scan- praying that you don't have to loose your other ovary!
DeleteGreat resource fro gathering information about Kidney Stones and for the ovarian cyst . I like the idea as well as the top tags but I've only scraped the surface. Thanks for the great stuff!
ReplyDeleteI first had symptoms when i was 17 and was told that i had PCOS (thin people type PCOS) and was officially diagnosed at 22 ans now i am 35. I have always had regular periods and unless on birth control pills were they irregular at times and I had a hard time getting pregnant because of the absent periods. I was always told by doctors that I would have a hard time conceiving so I would only go on the pill periodically which i did for more than 4 years, not for protection against getting pregnant, but just to get a period (since I was told it's not healthy to have less than 4 or so periods a year). Last time I went on a 3 month birth control pill and then stopped again because the medicine was not curing my pcos nor making me get pregnant. I went in search for a cure and ended up with so many drugs, medicine and even soaps that didn't work. I actually thought at a point that i was cursed that there is no cure for it, i was prepared to live like that till i read a testimony of a patient who suffered from pcos whose case was even worse than mine and how she was cured completely, I was amazed and at thesame time anxious and curious so i had to contact the doctor with the contact details that she left on the note. The doctor gave me so much hope and confidence with her kind words of encouragement to believe in myself and i was lifted because no one has ever given me hope like that before. I ordered the medicine, took it for 8 weeks and to my complete surprise, all the facial hairs, weight gain and all disappeared within 4 weeks and I ended up getting pregnant within a few weeks of completing the treatment! I was in shock. I think the main reasons it happened was that I never gave up and was ready to try alternative treatment so my body was back to normal. Before now i never enjoyed sex because it was very painful but now i do and my husband is the best thing that ever happened to me.. I hope this inspires some of you because I never in a million years would have thought that I would get pregnant and was getting frustrated and now our baby is due next month! Here is her contact aletedwin@gmail.com if you are experiencing a similar case.
ReplyDeleteI am experiencing a similar situation. What medications did you take?
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ReplyDeleteThis disease is very common for women in our day. So people are more concerned about health in order to avoid such diseases.
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