For the last week or two I’ve had on and off type pain and it bothers me every day and is sometimes very sharp. I heard that most cysts go away by themselves (mine got smaller) but I’m concerned about ovarian cancer and there’s a huge cancer history in my family but so far no ovarian cancer and my hysterectomy was not for cancer. I read that some benign cysts will require treatment in that they do not go away by themselves, and in quite rare cases, others may be cancerous. I was diagnosed with ovarian cysts about five or six years after my (TVH/kept both ovaries) total vaginal hysterectomy. I didn’t have symptoms of ovarian cysts when they were first diagnosed and the doctor ordered the ultrasound and kept an eye on the cysts with updated ultrasounds.The last ultrasound about three years ago showed the cysts got small enough and I didn’t need further ultrasounds.

1. Anyone have advice on dealing with the pain and would heat help if surgery isn’t indicated?

2. If it’s not gas or appendicitis I’m experiencing does anyone know what can be done for them besides taking out the ovary?

One doctor I didn’t like or agree with recommended I get my ovaries removed because of the history of cysts and I didn’t see him for that problem and he refused to help me with why I went in there and think he was just trying to get more money (the wait was over 3 hours in his office).Three other doctors agreed to not take out my ovaries including my surgeon if it wasn’t cancerous as it could prevent me from going into surgical menopause.

3. I’ve never had symptoms of menopause but does anyone know if estrogen if needed again would help prevent the cysts from getting bigger if present again or would it just feed ovarian cysts?
I was put on the estrogen patch 5 years later because my blood work showed I was low on estrogen and I didn’t have any symptoms of menopause. I was taken off the estrogen patch after it was thought that the narcotic pain meds I was taking for disc injury and muscle spasms could have caused the abnormality of the amount of estrogen in my system. Thanks in advance.

Our daughter, almost 24, has had some bleeding on and off for over a month. She takes Seasonique (3 month birth control) to control the symptoms of her endometriosis (diagnosed by laproscopy 4 years ago). She has taken it for almost 3 years and has been very pleased with the reduction in the amount of pain from the endometriosis.

Suddenly in January, pain on her left side increased greatly and the on and off bleeding began. She had an appointment with her OB/GYN who said it may have been due to the endometriosis. She managed to deal with the pain up until last week when, during the night, she has some take-your-breath-away pain on her left side which went on for a couple hours. 2 days later, she felt a "pop" on her left side and had a gush of heavy bleeding for 2 hours. The pain increased throughout the day until she eventually went to the emergency room as it was after hours at her OB/GYN and they couldn’t do anything to immediately see her. They weren’t able to do to an ultrasound at the ER (small town hospital) but scheduled one for 2 days later. The dr. who did an internal exam said the left side felt "full".

On Tuesday she had the ultrasound and everything in her ovaries and uterus looked normal. She saw her OB/GYN again today and she says it could have been a cyst that ruptured, or it could be a flare-up of endometriosis. The pain is sometimes sharp, and the rest of the time she says it feels like there is a curling iron burning inside, on the left side. Her dr. would like to give her a Lupron shot, if it is endometriosis, to throw her into menopause. This seems like an unwise thing to do if it was a ruptured cyst since Lupron won’t help with that and it’s not even clear if it really helps reduced endometriosis pain.

If you have had an ovarian cyst rupture, what were the symptoms before, during and after? How bad was the pain and how long did the pain last afterwards? If you have endometriosis, have you tried Lupron? Did it help?