Bartholin Cyst Abscess...I'm at my wits end!

Posted , 14 users are following.

Here it goes..I'm 23 years old and this is a first for me..I have spent days worth of sitting on my couch reading all the wonderful information you all have been posting! Today is Wednesday, and I first noticed this on Thursday. No big deal, I was a little irritated, completely normal thing for me..I have had multiple UTI's, which one even turned into a Kidney infection. Wasn't even a lump yet just red. So went on with my business went to work and so fourth. Next thing I know It's becoming somewhat painful to walk. I get home and notice a bump very far under my skin, but not where all the pictures show it should be located..just a bit lower. I start my research for self diagnosis ha ha. Bartholin cyst was the only thing that made any sense to me. So there I began the process of Sitz baths, warm compress, sitting and laying with heating pad only to have it get worse and far more swollen. So a few days pass can't get a solid sleep up every few hours even with sleeping pills! Finally Sunday at 5:00 A.M. I had ENOUGH! I woke my fiance crying in a towel shaking, I don't think I have ever experienced a pain so bad in my life. We drive to the ER for the doctor to see me a whole 5 minutes, but didn't get discharged for three hours!! She told me people were coming in with gun shot wounds, so yes it is more of an emergency, but I got completely pushed to the side. She explained she couldn't do anything because it did not come to a head yet. That is when I was diagnosed with a bartholin cyst abscess. She gave me a shot of antibiotic and prescribed me 100 mg of doxycycline! Nothing for the pain sad...These pills make it impossible for me to eat anything, which is weird considering I could eat all day everyday! I keep doing the same process til Tuesday. Well I am suppose to have a visit thursday to the local family planning to switch my birth control, so I decide to call and talk to the nurse.. this is were I go crazy! I normally poop about twice a day! since Friday it has only been once and I'm so nauseous from being constipated at this point the nurse recommends I go back to the doctors pronto. Im currently uninsured due to my father switching jobs, and my enrollment at my job isnt til February! I call cleveland clinic and they squeeze me in twenty minutes later! The doctor is baffled and decides She needs to send me to a gyno! They make an appointment immediately at another hospital, and I have to drive twenty minutes away! I am in complete pain, and have no idea what to expect I have read all of these horror stories nonstop and all I can think about is this horrible cyst coming back one day sad We get to the gyno an I'm shaking as he is checking out my abscess. He tells me it is so deep that it would be inhumane for him to lance it there. That I would have such pain I would never go to another gyno again! This is when he prescribes me the strongest percorcet available! It is no joke, but that with my antibiotics will I ever poop again sad he informas me if it does not improve in two days I am to call him and he will do the procedure in the hospital and put me under so I do not have to deal with anymore pain. I was very pleased with this doctor. Tomorrow, I call, and tomorrow I will have to go in because this bartholin cyst abscess is not going anywhere except making my life miserable. I am depressed, I have been missing work, and I can not afford seeing as how my fiance is currently unemployed! God bless him he has been completely understanding and taken care of me so well! I work at Target and they are not to keen on people missing work so I had a breakdown talking to my bosses about how much time I'll need off seeing as how I can't walk, sit, barely lay down!! I am currently off til next Tuesday, and If i need more I was advised I'l need to fill out FMLA...I don't even know what to do anymore! This has made my life come to a complete halt and Im terrified of this reoccurring! Please tell me there is someone out there who is also experiencing this terrible pooping epidemic! sad and thank you all for your stories they have helped me get through this more than anything!

1 like, 15 replies

15 Replies

  • Posted

    I have had a similar experience with my bowel movements. Between the Percoset and the Doxycicline that is more than likely the reason your bowels are not functioning properly. I hope this helps!!!!!!
  • Posted

    thank you sad.. so a little update went and had a I&D Friday 10/18 and my doctor said it was the biggest abscess he has ever drained. Go big or go home right body? well I felt fine for about a day and then I started feeling some pressure again. Went for my check up today 10/22 Tuesday and guess what!! It's still here, don't know if its a new one don't know if it's coming back, but he changed my antibiotic to cepero and I have a follow up friday. If it does not improve by Friday he told me he would have to send me back to the hospital. He has no idea what is going on which is leaving me even more depressed. I don't know what to do.. I've barely left my couch in 12 days and now I have to wait even longer..is there anything I can do to help? I was doing sitz baths and compress before the surgery. After he told me to take showers and not baths, but I feel like there should be more that I can do sad I'm still taking the percocets and I'm still having pain when I have bowel movements. I;m either in pain without the pills or I'm constipated with them..I'm always nauseous, but I'm making sure to stay hydrated... I just don't know what to do anymore sad
  • Posted

    Lactulose is what you need, you can buy it at the chemist smile
  • Posted

    thank you!!

    • Posted

      I am so sorry for what u are going through I have a BC not painful now but I am just waiting for that moment every day I live in fear always touching do see if is bigger just had my 2 son and I am always depress crying all the time thinking why me !!! I am scheduled for surgery next month but I am not sure if I want to go through that reading all the negative about chronic pain all the time I have a wonderful husband but what if he gets tired of all this I am so depress
  • Posted

    It takes a few days to work properly (follow the instructions on the bottle) but a good slug (it tastes like sugar syrup) will provide some bottom lubrication in the short term cheesygrin
  • Posted

    my name is Alexis and I'm thirteen and I have a cyst in the exact same spot you do, so I was kinda of confused when i couldn't find any results of what my cyst would be called. I already had my first one about a month ago and it popped when I started my period. I was so relieved i thought it would all be over. But about a day ago, I started feeling a discomfort when I sat down, and oh boy I knew what I was in for. Now its getting bigger and it woke me up! I can't even sleep so now I'm sitting here on the toilet typing this at 2:44 in the morning and I have school in four hours so this is no good. I really need a response of how to get through this. I really wish that I could be able to skip school because it's hard for me to walk, but I've already exceeded my limit of 10 days. I told my teachers so they would know if anything happens, but I'm scared something bad is gonna happen to my cyst. My mom said she would take me to the Clinic after she got Medicaid filled out, but I don't want a guy looking at my vagina... I would much rather go to a O/GYN. Please help.
  • Posted

    Hey ashley im going through some similar pain as u and im.so scared... i dont know wat to do anymore.. do u mind telling me how u finally overcome this terrifying problem?
    • Posted

      Hey Lauren! Have not been on this forum in so long, but hopefully if you are still reading I'll fill you in! I've dealt with the same reoccurring issue for over three years now. It was never a bartholin cyst, more of a perineal cyst! So after that surgeon he to reopen it, t never healed and I got recommended to another surgeon who then he me pack the wound three times a day for over a month. I had to take fmla, and then a few months later when I returned to work I was okay for a little bit. About a year later the area they had done the incision began healing poorly, and I continued to get cysts that kept draining from my unhealing wound. Now I have recently noticed whenever the cyst grows it had begun draining in a completely different area when I apply pressure to anywhere in the area. Can't get into a doctor to actually handle this correctly they just keep referring me to someone else. So sadly, for a few years I've just learned to deal with it. Thought the tunneling was turning into a fistula, but she told me it wasn't sad in other words I've learned to deal with it, but I know it's not heatlthy, just don't know what else to try! Hope everything worked out for you!
  • Posted

    Every time I feel an abscess coming I do this very simple steps and trust me! Trust me! when I say INSTANT RELIEF! I've had bartholin abscess reoccurrence since 8 years ago. I've had it maybe 15 times. I've tried everything except surgery. I just did these steps literally 10 minutes ago because I felt an abscess coming and when I checked my vagina I was right my right labia was starting to swell up.

    All you need is q-tips or cotton swabs, and a mirror. (I use the magnifying mirror it's easier to see) Sit on the toilet, place the mirror in front of your vagina so you can see. Find your bartholin duct/opening... Using your index and middle finger spread the labia - I don't know if it's the same for everyone but my bartholin opening is just right beside my clitoris. It's a very small hole. Position the q-tip/swab on the swollen gland then press to squeeze the puss out. Keep doing it until the gland is empty. The relief ahhhh if I had known this procedure 8 years ago (I discovered it by accident -(tried everything out of desperation) omg all those suffering from pain and not being able to walk and sit. Please try these steps please I'm swear by this.

    • Posted

      There will only be a hole if the cyst has come to head. I've dealt with Bartholin Cysts for about 12 years. I've only seen a doctor once for it and was only given a antibiotic which did not help. I've gotten desperate before where I've popped the cyst with a needle to drain it, instant relief from the awful pain. Prids drawing salve helps drain it as well.

  • Posted

    Hello Ashley. I have had these for twenty years. Sit in epson salt sitz bath for 10 minutes a couple times a day till it pops and gives you relief. How ever there is a procedure that a gynecologist need to do when it flairs up go to Emedicine.medscape.com/article/80260. It shows you step by step procedure that a good gynecologist should do. Try to find you one that will do this. Hope this helps. Barbara44181

  • Posted

    Hi Ashley,

    I now have a lump at the right lower portion- seems like it is more on the inside. My obgyn told me warm baths and try to make it 'come up to a head'

    Well I don't see an opening to this thing anywhere. Did you have an obvious opening? Antibiotics and baths as well as compresses have not helped. After

    Reading your experience, I am thinking this lump is much deeper.

  • Posted

    Hi

    I was at my wits end too. I had cyst recurrance for years ss. I found an obgyn who would do the gland removal. This is the only procedure which the cyst will never come back any more. I was soooo ready tend this problem. It was tough pain after surgery, but it's been a year cyst free. I didn't want to deal with recurring cysts all my life.

    • Posted

      Please can you give me info on the gland removal surgery?  I am currently on my 8th abscess in 2 years. I have had them landed and drained and given antibiotics to see if it will burst on it's own.... I can't handle these anymore they are ruining my life!!! I have been offered the gland removal surgery but also told that I might not stop bleeding during this surgery! I need help I don't know what to do 

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