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What are Ovarian cysts?

To know what ovarian cysts are, you must first know what the ovary is and what it does.  A woman’s anatomy is such that we have two ovaries that store and release eggs.  Unlike men who have to produce sperm daily, all the eggs we will ever need and use, we are born with.

This means we are born with about two million eggs, pretty amazing huh?  To make it even more incredible we will go through a process called atresia and by the time we are in puberty we will only have about 400 thousand eggs left.  To continue the story each cycle we go through we will lose 1000 eggs.  Ultimately this means that only 400 eggs will ever mature.

Each ovary, one on the left of your pelvis and one on the right is about the size of walnut.  Only one ovary each month will send out an egg (ovulation) and that is the beginning of the menstrual cycle. An egg grows inside the ovary till the estrogen level signals the uterus to prepare itself for implantation.  If the egg is fertilized you are pregnant, if it is not then you will slough off the endometrium lining of the uterus and be in menses.

So now we know what an ovary is, so let us discuss the ovarian cyst.  An ovarian cyst is a fluid filled pouch or sac in or on the ovary.  They occur in females from birth through menopause. They normally show up in hormonally active periods of growth, such as neo natal through post menopausal.  They can start out small and grow to the size of a football.  They can be painful or cause no pain at all.  They can even go away with little or no treatment.

Ovarian cysts have been known to
Most are functional in nature and resolve with minimal treatment. However, ovarian cysts can indicate a more serious problem, such as a malignant process or they can hide emergency diagnoses of such things as ovarian torsion or ectopic pregnancy.  Appendicitis has been missed more than a time or two.

They usually do not require much treatment unless they are very painful, very large or in the way of sex or urination.  Sometimes the ovary will need to be taken out if the problem persists. If the doctor suspects an ovarian cyst he may order something called an ultrasonography which helps to diagnose the presence of the cysts.

Indications of an ovarian cyst
There are many types of ovarian cysts, here are five types: Follicular cyst, corpus luteum cyst, dermoid cyst, and hemorrhagic cyst and endometrioid cysts.  Some cysts will not have any symptoms but if there all each type will carry its own symptoms, but all have a few in common:

• Abdominal pain is the first indicator
• Heaviness in the lower abdomen
• Painful sexual intercourse

Pain can also be intensified by:
Rupturing, bleeding, blocking and twisting of the ovaries and with these types of pain you will normally have severe pain, weakness, nausea and vomiting.

If the cyst is large it may also be intrusive.  This means the cyst itself is pushing on the rectum, causing rectal fullness, pain and constipation.  Or it may push on the bladder giving you the sensation that you need to pee all the day long.

One thing you should not ever do and that is to ignore any of these symptoms for they could mean something like bladder infection or gastrointestinal problems.

Filed under: General Issues

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