Ovarian Dermoid Cyst - Very Painful!!

Hi Freddie, welcome & sorry to hear of your cyst.

I had no symptoms at all my cyst (7/6/5cm) was only found when scanning for something else.

My gynea consultant said that as I had no symptoms they would just do 'watchful waiting'. I then fell pregnant so cyst was left. When a new scan found it still there 4months after the birth of my baby they decided to have it removed. This was NHS but I have had private health care in the past & I would imagine I would have had it removed straightaway if private.

I therefore knew of my cyst for nearly 18months before it was removed. Including no troubles at all with my pregnancy.

I personally would not have cancelled my holiday but I had no symptoms so slightly different for me. My cyst ended up being a few cm bigger but still had keyhole surgery.

Best of luck with your op.

Hi Freddie and welcome to the forum. For what it's worth I would have probably cancelled the holiday in the same situation. My dermoid was discovered by accident during a scan for something else but I am confident that it was the root cause of my symptoms. I had some pain and occasional spotting but my cyst had practically doubled in size from the initial scan and my consultant said that had it been left it could have twisted or burst and caused all sorts of problems. I doubt you would have enjoyed your holiday knowing that you had the cyst; you wouldn't have been able to relax and this would undoubtedly have made you anxious.

My surgery was keyhole although I ended up with one slightly longer vertical incision where the cyst was removed in its little bag! Like you, my CA125 was perfectly normal so I was pretty confident that the cyst was non-cancerous, having said that it was still reassuring to read the lab reports that confirmed this. Wishing you all the best for your surgery, if you read the previous posts on here the ladies all give great advice.

Sonar, hope you healing well and managing to get some rest! xx

Hi Ladies and welcome Freddie, hurrah surgery over and done with. As you all know I was very nervous, I had cyst, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed by key hole!! so pleased as the consultant wasnt sure as I had a very murky looking mri and womb stuck to bladder bowel etc meant a potential full hysterectomy. When I woke and found out it was keyhole and no catheter i was so pleased despite being very shivery from anaesthetic. I got sent home same day seemed really short staffed with antibiotics and paracetomol!! First night I think I was on a morphine high from the pain killer they give you for op cos felt no pain but also could not sleep. Finally fell asleep 5am but slept well last night. decided to take ibruprofen along with paracetomol to preempt pain and that along with lots of peppermint tea seems to be doing the trick.

I was very fortunate like you Sonar not to have any shoulder pain from gas, it seems to be coming out the usual way mint tea seems to really help.

It seemed much more comfortable to sleep on sofa with cushions all around i couldnt get comfy in bed and today just on antibiotics. thought i might skip pain killers to get bowels back to normal. bit achy but not too bad. been pottering around and then you know when you have to rest cos belly starts to ache a bit. i was a bit nervous bathing and peeling off dressings, those of you ahead of me, did your stitches just dissolve, did you soak them or just splash them in the bath. you can tell i need details, so far all your tips have been so useful!!

Although my cyst was quite small compared to all your cysts only 3cm i am ashamed to say My back ache is gone and feel so much better already it must have been pressing on a nerve! The only thing is i didnt get to speak to doctor before i came home so dont know any details which is a bit frustrating. I see doctor in 2 weeks and will hopefully have good news re pathology, my c125 was bit high but feel it is from cyst so not worried. just glad to have it over with.

Freddie i def think you did the right thing, you dont want to be very far away and you wouldnt have been able to enjoy holiday thinking about it. Good luck with your surgery, when you read back you will see how nervous I was and it really has been a relief and not as bad as i thought.

Thank you all for your support it really has helped

Hi Bernie, so pleased to hear that everything went well for you, what a relief to have had it all done via keyhole and you did so well to come home the same day! As regards the stitches I was told not to touch anything for ten days but had an allergic reaction to the dressings so had to swap them as I had blisters and a lovely bright red patchwork belly! I was convinced the stitches wouldn't dissolve as I could feel little sharp edges but they did! It did take a good couple of weeks though. Once the dressings were off I just washed the incisions carefully and rubbed a little bio oil in to help the healing and scarring. Not sure if you are the same but I had a few stitches in the belly button incision but couldn't really see them as they were inside and quite deep, two tiny holes at about ovary height level which each had a couple of stitches in and a slightly longer vertical incision in the middle which had about four stitches in; this one took the longest to heal. It sounds as if you are doing amazingly well; don't get overdoing things though! Listen to your body and rest when you need to and take things very easy. Like you, my pre-op symptoms seem to have disappeared. So glad you have now joined the post-recovery ranks! xx

Hi Bernie.

First of all, I am so glad you had the surgery and it went well!! They said in about a week I could start taking off the glue that covers my stitches but they said that the stitches themselves will dissolved on their own. So I'm not sure if you have the dissoluble stitches too but if you just let come out when they are ready too. Yes, one of my blood tests was a "little high" too but I am hopefully that it is not anything and most likely from the cyst being in there. And even though your cyst was small (mine was 11x13cm) I have found that they can cause serious back pains and a bunch of other issues regardless of size so I'm not surprised to hear your back is feeling better.

Now I'm going to post another question

Hi all!

Ok here goes my somewhat embarrassing question I had my operation, as you ladies know, as a "mini c section". I think it is 4 inches, maybe 5, where they cut right below my bikini line. Anyways, I've been finding myself in the c section forums, as this type of surgery is what I went through. MY surgery was last Wednesday and everything seemed fine but then this past Monday there started to be swelling ABOVE the incision. It seems puffy and swollen above it (just when I thought my swollen belly was going away from the cyst) and I feel discouraged. Has anyone here had a c section and know how long the swelling lasts? It's been just 8 days but I just want to know there is light at the end of the tunnel. The funny thing for me is that I was hit by a car last December and had a full body cat scan and the cyst wasn't there at that time. So they found it in September, as I was complaining about pains so in 9 months time this thing grew bad!

Anyways, I just freaked myself out with the "the shelf" or "c shelf" a lot of women call this part of their bodies from the surgery.... I sure hope this doesn't apply to me!! After all, it was a cyst and MUCH smaller than a baby!!!

Any insight would be of GREAT help!!!!!!!!

Thanks ladies

thanks shaunagh and elizabeth, excuse non capitals easier for fingers i was told by one nurse before i came home to keep dressings dry and another to bathe and wet dressings and take them off the next day. conflicting advice so phoned the hospital next day and they said take all dressings off and leave to air, does feel a bit exposed but i guess they will heal quicker? strange isnt it lots of different after bits. felt good this morning pottered about a bit then wham crashed and slept all afternoon. as you said shaunagh you have to take it easy.

good luck with your question elizabeth sorry i cannt help i would contact doctor for advice if you worried you have been thru alot!! what a huge cyst!! i cannt believe my back ache is gone last week i couldnt get up easily and felt like i was in practice for how i was going to feel after. so relieved amazing what nasty cysts do!! i am keen to speak to doctor to hear what he saw? did you all get to speak to doc before you came home, bit frustrating but cannt complain as doing better than i expected.

a question, bowels?? havent been since monday is this normal, bit nervous to take senna as guts feel a bit tender and not sure i want gripes etc, what have your experiences been

Hi Elizabeth, good to hear you are doing well! Not sure how helpful I can be but I have had two c-sections in the past (daughters now aged 25 and 28) and I was quite pleased that my stomach was pretty flat and I only had the smallest of c-shelves! After my dermoid surgery I had a vertical incision, about 4cm between my bikini line and my belly button and I was pretty horrified to discover swelling between the new incision and my old c-sections scar. I thought maybe it was because I had been stitched up too tightly or something and I really wasn't impressed. However, four weeks post surgery I am pleased to report that the swelling has gone down; it hasn't gone completely but it looks much better now. I guess you have to bear in mind the trauma that your body has been through, I don't know whether this entails internal stitches but I know that your insides take a fair battering during surgery and this is bound to cause swelling and internal bruising. Presumably you can rule out any infection? If there is any possibility of this you probably need to get checked out by your doctor or consultant but it is very early days for you and I am sure things well settle given some time. The hard part is over and as you become more active and get your energy back you will soon be back to normal. Take care xx

Bernie so glad all went well. I too am confused by the stitches! I was told mine would dissolve but if not done so in a week then I can take them out! Or get nurse to do it. Can't get a nurse appointment for over a week & I don't fancy snipping myself....I don't even have anything to snip them with! Today, 11days on, they do seem to be drying out so hoping they will just sort themselves out.

Elizabeth, I'm so sorry but I can't help other than my tiny incisions were puffy above cut at first but are now ok. I would get it checked out & make sure you rest a lot.

Bernie,

Don't worry- constipation is totally NORMAL!!! In fact just yesterday, 7 days after surgery, I had to go get milk of magnesium because the stool softeners weren't working at all. It's from the anesthesia and the pain medication. They told me to eat veggies, take stool softeners and drink water. I wouldn't do laxative either.... just yet. I would do probiotics though.... they did help me greatly.

With regard to the stitches I think the internal bit dissolves and then the exposed bits just dry up eventually. I have to admit I did have a little pick at mine and found the dried bits came away very easily

Bernie, I think the pain relief and anaesthetic slow things down. Personally, I had the opposite problem but that seems to have settled now. Providing you are eating all the right stuff and you are not feeling uncomfortable or bloated then things should improve as you become more active. One of the more gentle, overnight relief remedies should be ok to take and not cause gripes. As you say, this is the last think you want after everything else you have been through I still get tired easily in spite of being very active normally. Today seemed a good day to clean windows - not the best idea I have ever had and feeling very sore tonight from all the stretching. Crazy or what!! It is lovely to share our experiences on here, wishing all you lovely ladies a very speedy recovery xxx

Hi Shaunagh1,

Thanks so much for your feedback!! Did your small c-shelves go away with time? Yes, I was told I have internal stitches too so maybe what I'm feeling are those as well but it is pretty darn painful. Regarding infection I went in this past Tuesday but they said it didn't look infected but I don't know.... I keep feeling it might be. My post-op isn't till next Friday so I will know more then but if this gets worse I will go back to hospital before. I just want my life back The pain from the swelling hurts pretty badly and I just got out of the shower and felt like the pain takes my breath away in a sense. I know this takes time but I sure hope I start seeing improvement soon. Since this past Monday it seems that the pain is not getting better and is staying the same. Thanks again for your feedback. And it is reassuring that 4 weeks post-surgery you noticed the swelling go down some

Yes Elizabeth, the 'shelves' pretty much disappeared; I had a lot of scar tissue cut away during my second section so I think it was tightness caused by the stitches rather than an actual 'shelf' if that makes sense. I would see how you go over the weekend and maybe get checked out again before next Friday. I had a kidney infection two weeks post op; dreadful backache and a very swollen tum. The water test confirmed this and I needed antibiotics so it may well be that you have an infection lurking somewhere. I have since had a second water test sent away and everything is clear now. You know your own body and you know if something doesn't feel right. Hope you feel better soon xxx

Hi Shaunagh1,

Thank you again for your kind and honest feedback. We do know our bodies and today it feels like burning over the incision. I am going to wait to see how I feel tomorrow and if I still feel the same, I am going to call and make another appointment. It seems like doctors wait until there is this huge sign of infection but sometimes it can be small and brewing and they overlook it waiting for the big nasty one to happen and I hate that!! I am so glad to hear the "shelves" went away.... really am Will keep everyone posted. Next Friday I get the pathology report back too and can't wait to update everyone here. May your healing continue as well xxx

Were you given any antibiotics to come home with, they gave me co-amoxiclav to take for 7 days presumably in case of infection. I should def see doctor if you are worried Elizabeth no point in waiting for it to get worse. We are turfed out quite quickly really and its fine if all goes well! I am a bit sore but resting lots, it will be good to hear the results that is for sure. good luck Elizabeth x