My Ovarian Cyst, Torsion and Surgery Story
Posted , 37 users are following.
This is going to be a long one I'm afraid. Hopefully my story can help others!
First of all I will start of with this...I was 21 at the time of my first cyst and a fit and active person.
I'm only 22 now so this has all happened in a short amount of time!
Whilst on holiday in July 2012 I started experiencing some strange stomach cramps. They were sort of like a cross between a period pain and the feeling you get when you need to go to the loo with a stomach bug! Not pleasant. They were happening a couple of times a day but I didn't really think much of them!
These seemed to pass when I returned home and I had 2 weeks pain free! One evening I felt a strange, minor pain in my lower right abdo area. I wasn't sure what it was but it didn't feel like something I had felt before. It was only painful whilst I was moving but fine if I layed down still. After aroiund 3 days of this pain I went to my GP who thought maybe I had a case of a rumbling appendix and told me to return if the pain hadn't gone within 24 hours.
For about 5 days after this I had zero pain at all and thought it had gone away. I would then say about mid week I started feeling the same pain again only this time it was painful to touch but would still come and go. I visited my GP again and he recommended I go home with painkillers and return to A&E if it became significantly worse. I went to work the next day feeling fine however mid day I started to feel much sharper pains and began vomiting. I left work and went straight to my GP who did a urine dipstick which showed high levels of white blood cells so I was sent straight across to the hospital to be admitted.
I was in hospital for 3 days before a diagnosis! I saw 3 different doctors who did the same thing over and over...felt my tummy and asked the same questions. Eventually they gave me an ultrasound and found what they thought was a 6cm cyst on my right ovary. The sonographer told me it was 'borderline needing something to be done about it'. Whilst I was in hospital my pain increased big time. It was impossible for me to walk without horrible sharp pains and I felt very sick. I was on morphine and codeine for the pain although neither seemed to help!
I was moved on to the Gynae ward where a consultant finally came to see me. He told me in actual fact my cyst was about 8 cm and was bleeding. He said it had twisted (a torsion) and was cutting off the blood supply to my ovary. He told me I would be in for an emergency laparotomy the next day to have it removed. He explained that he couldn't be sure until he opened me up wether my ovary would be intact enough for him to repair it or wether it would have to be removed.
Let me tell you I was not prepared at all for what was happening. I went in to surgery the next day and was under for around 4 hours. When I woke up I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced. I had a catheter in and also a tube which was called a drain which was going in to my stomach and was stitched in. The drain was there to take away any extra blood loss from the repair on my ovary (which they managed to save) I was told I should lose no more than 150mls blood. This was at 11pm. By 3am my night nurse was getting worried as my pulse and temperature were still high and by this point I had lost 600 mls of blood. My surgeon was called and he came and told me if I lost more than 700 I would be going back into theatre to have my ovary removed.
I was very out of it on morphine and not really understanding what was going on but luckily I lost exactly 700mls and no more. The next few days were a blur. My Hb level had gone from 14.2 to 5 and I was very weak. I was on iron supplements and was having blood taken 3 times a day. I ended up having a transfusion. The recovery was the hardest part. Trying to walk with a 15cm wound and a catheter and the pain from gas OUCH! Anyway I healed properly after around 10 weeks but as I have a physically demanding job I was off work for 4 1/2 months!
I was then pain and cyst free until the following summer...to the exact date. When I was re admitted with similar symptoms and diagnosed with a 4cm ruptured cyst which had to be removed. This time by keyhole surgery so a much faster recovery (2 weeks).
I am now 6 months on and have a 3rd ruptured cyst. Waiting to hear about what they want to do! I really hope this answers questions for some of you and please ask them I'm willing to answer!!
2 likes, 42 replies
elizabeth63463 LaurenZetta
Posted
Melmariac LaurenZetta
Posted
Facts: I'm 25 and I live with my parents, because my mom is legally blind and has a lot of other health issues.
Ever since I hit puberty I've had heavy and painful periods. Every month I would get sick to my stomach and very sharp pains, sometimes I had it for 6 weeks at a time. They doctors always told my mom and I that I was just irregular. They would just tell me to use something warm and take a ibuprofen. By the time I was in high school it had gotten worse and on top of it I looked as if I was pregnant. I was having small stomach pains sometimes worse. Never told anyone figured I was just over weight and if I lost weight it would get better. By the time I had graduated I looked as if I was 8 months pregnant. No matter what I did I could not lose weight. I gave up on telling the doctors about my periods and all the problems I was going through I just pushed through the pain and kept everything to myself. In med February of this year I got really sick worse then I had ever felt before. At first I thought it was just constipation. Then I started getting cold but just sweating and hot. Around 1 in the morning I woke my mom up. I had no color and I started throwing up with major pain around my lower abdominal. My sister and mom took me straight to the Er around 3 in the morning and told the nurse they thought it was kidney stones. They both had had them and figured that was what I was going through. Needless to say they put me in right away. They kept asking me if I was pregnant or any chance of being pregnant I kept telling them no. They still ended up doing a test. It ended up negative (which I already knew it was) so they decided to do a scan. They doctor came back in a few minutes after looking shocked at what they found. He told me that what they found what nothing what they expected. That I had a cyst a size of a basketball that was taking over my inside and had pushed my stomach up (which is why I wasn't eating much but yet gaining so much weight) they ended up doing an emergency surgery taking out 6 litters of fluid my left fallopian tube and ovary. The doctor came in and told me that when they took the fluid out everything stayed black so they took my whole left side out. When I went back to get my stitches out. They doctor told me my tube had twisted and they didn't have answers because everyone who's had this happen which wasn't a lot of them, had an infection which I did not. They said I may have been born with it already twisted and over time the fluid just kept building up and my symptoms just kept getting worse. Because it just kept getting bigger.
papiya36075 LaurenZetta
Posted
I'm also 22 recently got new job and bcz of the new place where I'm located in ,I had first urine infection followed by ovarion cyst on my right ovary . after suffering tremendous pain in my lower abdomen while walking,I consulted a gaeno, she made me go through MRI and it's found to be 5cm cyst on right ovary. She gave me medication for 1 week for getting my periods. As soon as medication course was over ,my ovarion cyst got ruptured and got divided into two because of which I suffered from loose motion and fever for 3 days continuously. Now ,recently I got my periods . I wanted to know whether I can get fine after this ? Or still surgery might happen ?
phyllism LaurenZetta
Posted
alexis42393 LaurenZetta
Posted
My names alexis. I just got told i have a cyst on my right ovary, he said between 3 and 4 centimeters long, im freaking out. Im 19 never been pregnant cant take birth control & my periods have always been bad.. So idk if this is going to be a repeat thing orrr.. Were your periods bad during your experience? The pain i have is shooting down my leg and it hurts to the point i cant move it. It feels like a muscle spasium almost it just tenses up and hurt/stings all the way down to my right knee cap. I have to wait to get surgery for a month.. What do you recommend i do in the mean time? He gave me pain meds but this pain isnt going away at all. I can barely sleep at night. I cant lay on my stomach which is the only way ive ever slept!! Help!!
adelissa LaurenZetta
Posted
This sounds so familiar to my experience. They did have to take my ovary and I also had the blood transfusion etc. I literally could not pull myself out of bed before the surgery the pain was so intense. However after the surgery I felt so much better. I hadn't realized how close to death I had been due to blood loss. My hematocrit was 22. Went home a week later all happy and a few days later I got the call that they found cancer. next week had a radical hysterectomy, chemo and radiation followed and 5 years later I am still alive to tell the tale
alexis37193 LaurenZetta
Posted
Mine happened around the same time. March of 2012. Ithe was exactly 1 month after my 19th bday. In high school I always had a lot of gas, didn't think much of it and later on in would get these really sharp pains and thought they were just cramps. One night the pains were really bad and I ended up going to an urgent care where the Dr. Didn't know anything. I was literally laying in the back seat on the way there crying and hugging my pillow I had brought with me. So my mom was p*ssed and had them print out my discharge papers. They ended up giving me this shot in my butt to help with the pain. So as my brother was pushing me out to the parking lot in the wheelchair I yelled for him to grab me the bucket and started throwing up! So after I calmed down we went to an ER. They needed a urine sample but it hurt so much I couldn't use the bathroom. They finally got me a bed and questioned my whole day and then they decided to do anot ultrasound sound and CT Scan. They ended up finding both my ovaries had tumors attached that were the size of small mangos, and my left fallopian tube was twisted.(the excruciating pain I was having)
I was yelling so loud they thought I was going into labor and kept asking if I was pregnant and even though I kept telling them no, they insisted I give them a urine sample even though I couldn't pee! So it was all bad. So anyways, the doctor came back and told me and my mom that I needed an emergency surgery and that her surgical team was on their way. I was freaking out cause I never had surgery ever and they had me signing all these papers like who would be responsible if something should happen to me type stuff. On top of that I was slightly in pain as they had given me pain killers and they were finally kicking in. So I ended up getting surgery and when I woke up they told me they saved my right ovary but couldn't save the left so they removed the left one and left fallopian tube as well. Bummer, so my chances of having a baby were less now.
Then in 2014, of course I go to get a check up and another tumor grew on my only ovary (the right one)
This time I went to a different doctor who told me he saw hemorrhaging and he wanted to do the surgery through my belly button. We did that surgery where he found it had abother tumor so I had to go back about a month later and long story short, he couldn't remove the tumor without removing some of the ovary. So now I have a tiny piece of my right ovary which only produces about 3 eggs when I ovulate and I gained a bunch of weight and I always get hot flashes. Mind you, after my first surgery I lost a huge amount of weight and the this time around I ended up gaining it all back and then some. Has this happened to anyone else?
sonia64317 LaurenZetta
Posted
Hello, I hope you are doing better.
My daughter was 10 when one day she started feeling pain in her abdoment, and was vomiting. At first I thought it was a stomachache, but there was something different. I know her, and she was in a lot of pain. I took her to the pedritician and she send us home, she says it was a virus. The next day she was better. 2.days after she started compleining of the same pain, but this time her leg hurt too. She was in a lot of pain. The pain on the leg was the worst, she screamed and hit her leg. At that moment I decided it was time to bring her to the emergency room. She was seen fast by the doctor, they tought it was her appendix, within few hours she had a scan done. The doctor came to me and told me there was blood on her ovary, he wasn't sure why and he send us to the children hospital. I was so scare. They gave her morphine and she felt better. At the children hospital they explain it to me. They said her ovary has twisted because a tumor, the weight of the tumor had make the ovary twist. They had to remove the tumor and untwist the ovary. They were positive they were going to save the ovary. And they told me she needed to go into surgery asap. She did, everything went fine, they did save her ovary. About 2.months ago she went to her followed up, where she got an ultrasound to see how her ovary was doing. The doctor told me the ovary is not recovering like they expected. He did not wanted to go into details on what is going to happen if the ovary doesn't go back to normal. He gave her another appointment in 5 months, for another ultrasound. He told me, he hopes the ovary is better by that time. I am so scare, that she is going to lose an ovary so young. I know people say, "she still can have a normal live, she still will have 1 ovary"But I keep thinking of the side effect on her body.I don't personally know anyone who her ovarium has been remove. I am so worry.
faithh LaurenZetta
Posted
Hi ! I went to the emergency room this morning because my lower back has been hurting for about a week and my low abdomen started hurting about three days and I mean it's excruciating pain. They checked my urine and blood and also did a cat scan, everything came up normal even my appendix. My doctor this morning said it could be a cyst on my ovary or a twisted ovary, I'm quite scared and stressed because he sent me home with pain medicine and if the pain gets worse I'm suppose to go back. The pain has gotten a little worse, I'm 16 years old and I'm really not sure if I should wait a little more to see if it progresses more or if I should go back now. Any help ?
sonto69097 LaurenZetta
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jade55214 LaurenZetta
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Hi 2 weeks ago today I woke up perfectly fine. Within 5 mins however I was rolling on the floor around my living room screaming for an ambulance in agony. Was crazy. I suffer Ehlers danlos syndrome anyway which causes me a lot of pain greater than normal. But this was like nothing id ever felt. We had an ambulance called and the car that came first had lines in me straight away, gave me gas and air and morphine. None of which touched it. Taken to one hospital where appendicitis was ruled out transferred to the women's hospital early hours in the morning as they suspected twisted ovary. 3 days later I had surgery for a haemorrhagic cyst on my right ovary which has cut off the blood supply and caused my right ovary twist. Left one perfectly healthy. I do every now and then get these cysts but last op was July 2010 for drainage of cyst (not counting grommet insertion in September just gone). Anyway it turned out that 2/3 of my right ovary had died inside me and had had to be removed (via laparoscopic surgery) along with the cyst. They told me that my left ovary shouldn't have any problems its perfectly fine however due to the removal of 2/3 my right ovary its left a gap meaning that there's a high risk of the torsion occurring again in the same ovary. As mentioned previously I suffer from a connective tissue disorder meaning my stitches are taking longer to heal and I'm in a lot of pain nearly 3 weeks later (3 wks sat to be precise) what's got me worried is how likely would this actually be to occur does anyone have statistics? They told me this seconds after I woke up to be precise so I was still fairly out of it xx