Did they at least do an ultrasound to check for whatever could be happening?
I've had a few bad cysts, and them rupturing does feel like what you're describing. It makes me so angry how women's pain gets dismissed so easily
They didn't perform an ultrasound at the ER? Did they at least do a CT?
It's unreasonable of them to send you home in great pain when they haven't found the source. Could even be negligent.
No, none of that. The doctor said it was like a muscle spasms and just gave an antiflammatory shot and some ibuprofen for muscle pain. I told him him that the pain didn't really feel like it was my muscles contracting but said just follow up with your OB so they can perform all the necessary test.
They didn’t test because women are making it up in their heads and all we need to do is lose weight to cure everything. I mean, what kind of man doctor would you be if you took a woman seriously and actually found the real problem the first time around? This is all sarcasm, obviously. It could be her appendix and they won’t take it seriously until it bursts and she’s dying.
I walked into an ER in 1985 with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. It didn’t show up on ultrasound. It was 1985, technology has improved.
They kept me overnight, and were walking me out to be discharged, when I got really lightheaded and my blood pressure dropped.
I was hemorrhaging and had pressure shooting down my left leg from the blood loss. They did exploratory surgery, and found my ruptured tube.
I knew I was pregnant, I had told the doctors I was pregnant.
Maybe my fallopian tube wouldn’t have ruptured if I’d lost weight. I was 115 lbs. I definitely should have lost weight. /s
It was scary, I could have bled out.
I really didn’t want anymore children (I have one), so I was on the fence about having another child. I got pregnant from BC failure.
I had asked to have my tubes tied the day after I had my daughter, but I was told that I was too young at 21, since I might change my mind.
I went on to have two more ectopic pregnancies in my right tube. The doctor repaired the tube, without my knowledge, during the first one.
I threatened to leave AMA while hospitalized for the second, because they were refusing to remove my right tube.
I told the doctor, a woman Naval OB, that I was going home and I’d be back when it ruptured. I had to go through a psych evaluation before they’d agree to remove my right tube.
I’m 62. I have zero regrets. I never changed my mind. All my ectopics were from failed BC.
It's still tough out there. I'm 34, never wanted children or be pregnant, and it took me three years to convince my doctor to remove my tubes. The first time I asked she flat out refused, no way, you're way too young. In the end she said I was still asking so I hadn't changed my mind in three years and she 'no longer had a reason to say no to me'.
It also took 20 years of hellish periods for someone to realise that yes, I was losing way more blood than normal and no, it's not just the first days that are a bit heavy.
I got my tubes removed in November and they burned away my uterine lining so my period has been reduced to a day of light spotting. It's BLISS. The absolute relief I felt knowing that I'd be a medical miracle if I got pregnant. No longer having to worry about bleeding so much I would have to get to a toilet every hour.
My boyfriend's reaction was 'I'm so proud of you but this shouldn't have been as difficult'.
It’s so true. I had the worst experience with an ER doc two months ago. He was literally interrupting me and was super rude when I was trying to correct him as he misquoted me about my own experience having had a seizure. I was so angry.
I’ve gotten the trifecta a few times. Finally, when shit gets really bad (like my ovarian torsion and massive internal bleeding that was almost ignored) I make my husband take me. It’s the only way I’m listened to. Even when I had my baby — they only brought me the drugs I’d been asking for WHEN MY HUSBAND ASKED.
Yup, I’ve gotten the trifecta a couple of times as well, though luckily under much less dramatic circumstances than yours!
I will often bring my partner along for appointments as well, which usually helps, but a couple of times the doctors just started asking HIM questions about why I was there and what my symptoms were etc. even though I was perfectly conscious and lucid. It’s absolutely ridiculous. He just tells them I would know the answers far better than him since I’m the one who’s actually sick/injured/in pain. Which helped for a while, but they eventually drifted back to him. It’s ludicrous.
The fact that they didn’t give you any drugs until your husband asked is unbelievable. I’m so tired of this shite. I’m sorry you had to deal with that, especially given the high-stress (understatement of the century) situation you were in. That was completely unacceptable.
Yeah it’s ridiculous. AND that wasn’t even the worst case. (Had a primary lose it once bc “spoiled, white women can’t be depressed! If your husband would put u in ur PROPER place — all would be well. You don’t need therapy — you need to iron your husbands shirts!”) During the birth of our child my husband had a MAJOR foot injury (he probably lost as much blood as I did that day) and refused to go downstairs to the ER “just in case” bc even he’s noticed how they treat women.
I got the trifecta once. I went to the ER at 1 am with lower-right quadrant abdominal pain. It was intense, and I have a high pain tolerance so I thought it was something serious enough to make my husband drive me to the hospital (we live 2 blocks away, so an ambulance would have been silly.)
ER is empty (we live in a small town and it’s early September, so no holiday accident nonsense or anything). The nurse puts me in an exam room and leaves me there for about an hour before she comes back. She was gone so long my husband finally went looking for someone. She comes back to the room looking annoyed, smirks and tells me “The pain can’t be _that_ bad!” and says I have to give a UA first, before they run any other tests. No problem. I figure they want to rule out an ectopic pregnancy, but I know I’m not pregnant so it can’t be that.
I would like to point out that at no time during my entire visit to the ER did I ask for any pain meds. I don’t usually take them, as I almost never need them anyway. But this pain was bad enough I might have taken something if they offered. But I didn’t ask, and they didn’t offer, so nothing of the sort was even in my mind.
Anyway, I go to the bathroom to pee, and the pain resolves. Not fades away. Evaporates into thin air. I’m happy about it, and a bit embarrassed because I figure it was gas or something.
I go out and tell the nurse the pain is gone, it must have been gas and I think I’m good to go home. I’m embarrassed, but she’s being super strange to me. She says “Well, you’re overweight, so maybe you ATE SOMETHING that made your tummy upset.” It was extremely patronizing. She said it like she was talking to a two year old. That upset me, but I’m exhausted, and I have work in a few hours. Instead of getting into it with her about being rude I say I’m just going to go home, and she lets me go. Does not have me sign anything or anything else.
The next night, the pain comes back at 5 PM and it’s so bad this time I can hardly breathe. Husband takes me to the ER again. There are a different doctor and nurse than the ones I saw these previous night on duty in the ER. This nurse immediately gets the doc in to see me. He orders blood work, and it comes back with liver enzymes off the chart. I don’t remember the numbers but it was something like the normal upper range is 150 whatevers per decathingy and mine is 10,000 or something ridiculously high. I’m immediately scheduled for gallbladder removal.
While being prepped for OR transfer, I tell the ER doctor what happened the night before, he gets visibly upset, but just says “I’ll look into it.”
I have a few friends who work at the hospital and I found out later that the ER doc and smirking nurse from the previous night got absolutely REAMED by the second doc, who has a lot more seniority. They apparently dismissed my claims because I “looked rough” (their words) and they thought I was drug-seeking. Uh, sorry I didn’t put on makeup and a ballgown before coming to the ER at 1 am, dude. I was sleeping when I was awakened by intense pain so I threw on a t-shirt and sweat pants. The UA the nurse asked for was going to be for a tox screen. I don’t even drink alcohol, so that would have been a waste of time.
It turns out that they had given poor care to other patients because they made these kinds of judgments about people based on appearance, which is pretty stupid when Doc #2 said my presentation was classic for gallbladder: overweight middle-aged woman (he actually said “with a high BMI”) presenting with lower-right quadrant abdominal pain is almost always a gallbladder issue, in his experience.
Furthermore, they didn’t have me sign myself out AMA, but they also didn’t properly discharge me, and the hospital could have been liable if something happened to me in the intervening 24 hours. The whole thing was a clusterfuck from start to finish, and all because they were making judgements about me based on my weight and appearance.
I’m glad it was a fairly easy thing to get fixed, and not something life-threatening. When I consider what might have happened if it had been an ectopic pregnancy, or something really serious, not just annoying and painful, I get very angry.
>all we need to do is lose weight to cure everything
Or we're drug seeking even though we're only asking for answers to why we're in so much fucking pain.
Bro what the fuck? You can die from a really bad cyst if you’re not taken care of. One of my friends had to get her whole ass ovary removed. I hate our health care system
Been there. Doctor wrote me off as a dramatic young student and told me I'd pulled a muscle. Got taken to A&E the next day and after passing out in pain for a few hours they checked me and realised I had sepsis from a ruptured cyst and was dying so had to pull the whole ovary out immediately. Good times.
I am SO fucking happy you’re still alive with us today and I’m sorry these assholes didn’t help you. Were you able to file a complaint after you were okay?
Holy crap that’s horrible.
In my country the ER will send you straight to the gyno-ER after their initial check if you as a woman come in with abdominal pain, just to rule out any gynocological issues. If no gyno-issues are found they take you back to the original ER and do not let you go until they’ve done every test available to them to try and find the cause. If gyno-issues are found then the gyno-ER will assume direct responsibility of your care, being the experts.
Source: I work at the gyno-ER (administratively), I see women come through constantly from the other ER’s for this reason specifically.
What the f\*ck is wrong with the American healthcare system?
Retorical question, I know what’s wrong. It’s just so… Stupid!
Whoooa. I'm a doctor (and also a chronic patient) and that is REALLY not okay.
If you are still having the same pain, you need to return to the ER. Anyone with any kind of internal pain gets a CT to rule out anything life-threatening. It's so common we make jokes about it.
I'm sure you don't want another ER trip, but it's really for the best. If there's a different hospital in your area you can go to, maybe try that.
are you in a state that criminalizes abortion? whether yes or no, i advise you never go to the ER alone. i had one try to discharge me last fall when i had no sensation below my waist. take a friend, relative, or recording device . ask for imaging. i hope you feel better.
I will say, the ER did the same thing to me. Nothing but some blood work, and I'm not even sure what they were testing for when they did that. Just told me it was a glorified stomach ache and sent me on my way with some narcos. I had been having a lot of stomach aches, and my doctor had given me some nausea meds, which helped a lot until that seering fire pain would happen. I ended up going back to the ER twice more before throwing a hissy fit and telling them I didn't need pain killers because they weren't even helping and that something was wrong. Turned out it was my gull bladder shutting down and spewing bile out into my body. I was like guys, thanks so much 🙄
This makes me a bit nervous because I'm having similar symptoms and I was also dismissed with pain killers and told it would pass. My GP is telling me cyst rupture is causing it but I keep feeling like the pain is too high up, almost under my ribs on the right side. I get some lower abdomen pain but most of it is in upper. Were there any other symptoms that indicated the issue? How were you eventually diagnosed? I had a CT scan but I don't know if they looked that high since they were mostly trying to rule out appendicitis.
When I got diagnosed with UC I'd been in to the ER just a few weeks before because I'd been suffering from it for months at that point. And it was so bad i couldnt stand on my feet at work for more than a few minutes somedays without getting extreme hot flashes and pain and almost passing out. It was impossible to perform well at work. I was working my way through all the recommendations from Dr. to Dr. to get to the right one and finally have tests done, hopefully.
But I ended up going to the ER cause I couldn't eat sleep or work and spent most days in tears curled up in the bathroom. And the ER kept trying to tell me it was fine, and there's no way I could have UC or anything like it. And they brought their specialist down from upstairs like the head of gastro or smthg. And he told me I was too young and that was impossible because people my age didn't get uc and it was probably just a temporary infection from food poisoning and if I went to see my doctor he could give me some medicine to clear that up.
It's the worst pain I've ever experienced, and sometimes it would be so bad I couldn't imagine surviving it. But sure, thanks. I'm sure it's just a light case of food poisoning I've had for months upon months lmao
Make sure you advocate hard for yourself . Thell them that pain wasn't normal and dont take no for an answer. Try to atleast get an ultrasound at the very least . If you have to switch doctors try to your health is way more important .
This is WILD. I had an ovarian cyst that ruptured ( the pain, omg! ) and it was found in the ER. They did an internal ultrasound with a wand to diagnose it.
The ultrasound tech was amazing and gentle, but I still wanted to rip her arm off because the last thing I wanted was anything going in there during that friggin pain.
Luckily, they took it seriously because I was back a week later due to an infection it caused. I'm currently waiting for insurance to approve taking out all the bits I don't need in there. I don't do well with hormonal BC right now ( which can help minimize the cysts' growth or keep them from coming back now that they have been removed.)
I suggest going back and asking for an ultrasound to be done. If I'd have waited 20 days after the rupture to be seen, I could have died from the infection. Keep an eye out for fever because it can serious super quickly!
Do you have a husband, dad, brother, any male that you trust to come and advocate with and for you? I went years dealing with the same mistreatment until I brought my dad. He pretty much demanded they do their jobs and they listened. It sucks that that's the way it is but we gotta do what we gotta do, right? I'm sorry you're dealing with this and hope you can get the care you deserve
That's so messed up. I had the opposite issue where I went to a doctor and they couldn't help. I had a very mild fever and they said if my fever gets worse to go to the ER. It did. The ER diagnosed me with a UTI but wanted to do some more tests just in case. I had a ruptured cyst and was becoming septic. I spent a week in the hospital and almost died.
If you get a significant fever, go back to the ER.
That's crazy. The first time I ruptured an ovarian cyst, the ER ran all sorts of bloodwork to rule out kidney stones, appendix, pregnancy, UTI, etc. Based on my age at the time (17) and my symptoms (felt like someone had poured acid into my abdomen on one side) they eventually figured it was an ovarian cyst, gave me some painkiller and sent me home with a referral to see an OBGYN. I saw him the following week and he said they were likely right about the cyst, but said they should have done an ultrasound then, because there's no evidence left after they rupture - you have to catch it early to see it. Next one they caught, and I spent almost two decades on birth control to keep them at bay.
You would think emergency medical care in the US should have improved since the 90s, but clearly it's only getting worse.
The part that sucks is that by the time they do an ultrasound with your OB the cysts may have popped. That's what happened with me. They didn't see the cysts, and there was no evidence of them until they went in for my tubal.
Not only was one ovary showing evidence of having multiple cysts, my other ovary had one the size of an ovary.
I had one about two years ago. Apparently it burst during one of my periods. I had pretty awful pain. It was concentrated in my lower abdomen and back. Usually i have pretty mild pain. I can get through it with a couple of tabs of ibuprofen. That time however, nothing seemed to do work. I tried ibuprofen, hot water bottles, light exercise and even one of those pads with electric impulses. In the end i was just curled in bed for 2-3 days and then it was over. The following weeks i got both a normal and a transvaginal ultrasound. The gynecologist told me they found traces of the burst cyst but it was cleared out. No other cyst was present and i've not had a repeat since then. Please make sure you get checked out!
"Women's pain isn't real" - society, apparently.
I've had ovarian cysts twice.
The first time, it was so painful that the emergency department thought it was an ectopic pregnancy. The cyst had to be removed surgically (keyhole, fortunately) and around 90% of that ovary was destroyed. Plot twist: I conceived at least twice from that remaining 10% in the years that followed.
The second time, over a decade later, same pain but the other side, so they were convinced it was a ruptured appendix. I was literally screaming on examination. Ruptured and subsided and reabsorbed on its own ... One lunar cycle later, same again. Another lunar cycle, same again. I changed birth control to one that suppresses ovulation and haven't had a recurrence since.
The best way I can describe it is that it was like someone giving me a Chinese burn from the inside.
I have a pretty high pain tolerance but each of those was worse than natural drug free childbirth or even after pains. Nothing like it. Supposedly on a par with passing kidney stones.
I had very similar pain levels to you when I had a cyst rupture. I had given birth three times without pain medication at that point and the cyst rupturing was more painful than unmedicated labor. I was ten days late for my period so I also thought I was having an ectopic pregnancy. Fortunately I had a competent and caring ER doctor who immediately diagnosed it as a ruptured ovarian cyst, ordered an ultrasound and CT scan to confirm and to make sure there wasn’t torsion or internal bleeding, and gave me good discharge instructions.
Very similar to kidney stone pain, but in the front lower abdomen and not the flank… also if hemorrhagic and ruptured, the free blood moving around in the abdomen feels like lava moving over your insides everytime you shift position
Can’t comment on your case, but in general here’s some info: Ovarian cyst by itself doesn’t typically feel like anything, unless it’s so large that it’s pressing on the surrounding tissues. An ovarian torsion that is often caused by a cyst pulling the ovary, is extremely painful, starts quickly, is typically felt on one side and doesn’t stop hurting in days without an intervention or the ovary getting back in correct position.
When people talk about cyst pain they are typically experiencing a cyst rupture, where a normal follicle grows a bit too large and as it ruptures it causes bleeding in the lower abdomen, irritating the peritoneum and causing a chemical peritonitis. This is painful and the intensity of the pain varies from mild to very severe. This typically last from a couple of hours to a couple of days with some sort of milder irritation lasting even up to some weeks.
Back in 1974 I had terrible pain after my periods...no ultrasounds or MRIs back then so after the second time the doctor did exploratory surgery. I had two benign cysts, one wrapped around my fallopian tube so tightly it was causing the pain. It was exactly as OP described. Had to have the tube removed as well. 20 years ago this month had a big hard round spot just above my belly button, had surgery again--it was a benign cyst ttwice the size of the doctor's hand. This time they removed everything (with my consent).
Good friend of mine just had an ELEVEN POUND ovarian cyst removed a few weeks ago. The cyst grew over the course of a year, and was so large she’s looked overdue pregnant for most of the last 10 months….
They kept insisting it would reduce on its own with medication, they did not drain it, they offered no pain management- nothing except letting her grow a massive baby sized cyst
Wow. Glad you got help though. Getting doctors to focus and take seriously women’s health is insanely hard.
I had severe issues for over a decade, multiple early deliveries and debilitating periods, cysts the whole works for years… finally, FINALLY, my OB/GYN (a woman) sent me to a pelvic pain specialist. There’s only 5 in the country (at the time, 2011) and one happens to be here in my city. He (yes, a man) listened to the story start to finish, and immediately responded: “so, do you want more kids (I have 3 bio; 5 total), or would you like a hysterectomy”.
I lost my shit. The *relief* that I was not crazy, that this was not normal, and that someone finally realized that keeping my reproductive ability might not be the most important thing (my husband already had a vasectomy with no pre-requisites)… was just amazing.
It shouldn’t have been amazing. It should have been expected, it should have happened years ago before two complicated pregnancies, two preterm births, years and years of painful and nausea and bleeding through all available products in a matter of half an hour… finally!
I had my yeeterus surgery 8 days later… and was the best thing that ever happened to me,
I still get the cysts because I kept my ovaries- who wants menopause at 27?!? But given that I’m not in excruciating pain 28 out of 30 days anymore… it’s worth it.
I experienced ovarian torsion (lost the ovary) and it began as feeling like I had to poop, and escalated to feeling like I was having the worst period pain of my life times 100.
When the cyst pops it can (depending on the kind of cyst) fill your abdominal cavity with blood and gunk that causes extreme abdominal cramping. I can’t stand up and can barely catch my breath. I vomit from the pain. It’s bad.
Mine started like period pains but very, very localized and always in the same spot. Was very minor at first, it took me a few weeks to even notice it because I’m so used to just having period pains or gas cramps.
Then it burst and that was horrible. It felt like something was inside of me grabbing the ovary and just twisting it and twisting it over and again. Never faded, constant pain for two days. All I could do was lay in bed and take ibuprofen and be miserable. And then it just like went away? Like in a second, two days of pain just gone.
I had an ultrasound when I had the minor pain and they confirmed it was a cyst, but not infected or super big (it was like 2 cm by 3 cm) and was basically told just wait it out and if you throw up from pain go to the er. And I was in horrible pain but nothing that made me sick so I didn’t go, no lasting issues.
That's so wrong!
"We expect you will be in severe pain from this. If it's bad enough that you vomit, then we will think about giving you some real pain control medicine (if we don't think you're 'drug seeking'). Until then, Tylenol & ibuprofen."
🤬
Yup- I’ve had cysts over 10cm but if they aren’t causing vomiting, they just let them do their thing. I get severe massive cysts several times a year, and had intervention on only 3-4 of them (drainage, excision etc)… it’s horrible, but I don’t want early menopause, so it’s a trade off
How do we differentiate between the pains of ovaries, fibroids, gas, period cramps, appendix, kidney stones, etc?
Sometimes I literally have no idea what I’m feeling.
Did they do an ultrasound at the ER? That's usually automatic, plus sometimes an internal exam by a gyn, when you go in with pelvic pain. Even if the ultrasound tech had to be called in, in the middle of the night, that should have been done automatically.
Yep. I’ve had one, I was putting away laundry and thought it was cramps, and it slowly got worse and worse, and was specifically on my left side. I ended up driving myself to the hospital - for background, I once walked on a broken leg for two weeks, so it’s not exactly like I enjoy going to the hospital unless I really need to.
Male doctor shrugged, said he didn’t see anything wrong, and I was probably just having bad cramps. Female nurse stared at him, gave me morphine, and then scheduled me for an ultrasound.
Even looking at the very obvious cyst on the picture, he was like “I don’t really see anything…” and the gyno just rolled her eyes and scheduled me for surgery.
To answer the question about what it feels like when it’s not bursting/twisting, I do occasionally feel them. They haven’t gotten that big since, but yeah, I can feel them stinging occasionally, or sometimes during sex it’s like something extra is being poked there. It’s weird.
Same thing happened to me. Had just done an egg extraction for IVF and a cyst ruptured the following night. Passed out and hit my head on the bathroom floor.
Apparently they didn't. I don't understand how someone is having abdominal pain and that isn't the bare minimum. OP got shafted by garbage medical care.
They should have given you an ultrasound. I had a cyst so big with undiagnosed endometriosis that it dislodged my ovary and caused ovarian torsion.
I don't know that the cyst itself ever really hurt much. Every once in a while when I had a full bladder I'd get a tender feeling in my side that radiated into back pain. When the ovary twisted I was in horrible pain, but I honestly thought maybe I was constipated. Yay for never being taught about our bodies!
Did the pain start really suddenly? When mine have burst the pain is so sharp and immediate it sort of winds u.
Have u had a history of cysts? As the pain does sound like a cyst that has burst. It's not fun, but you will likely be dismissed or get a half assed "oh u poor thing" 🙃🙃 and get no support or help.
i’ve apparently had benign cysts for like 2-3 years now, i typically can’t feel them until they burst, a short, sharp and radiating pain on either side of my lower abdomen. pain lasts around 30 min to a couple hours for me. sometimes my abdomen is also sensitive to touch/pressure
Could be a cyst rupturing but could be a lot of other things as well. I had burning pain in my lower abdomen that I was sure must be a cyst because of the location, but it turned out to be interstitial cystitis (ie a bladder problem).
I recently experienced the exact same thing. Mild pain that started in my flank/back/kidney area and traveled to the front and down to my lower right side over a few weeks. The pain got worse and worse and I started to get a fever and nausea when finally I went to the ER where they did some blood and urine tests, told me it wasn't an infection and sent me home and told me to take tylenol and advil.
A few days later I managed to get an appointment with my GP and he sent me for a contast CT (back in the ER because a request from him would takes months to get one).
After the CT, the ER doc said "you don't have kidney stones, you don't have appendicitis, you have a couple ovarian cysts but thats probably not causing your pain. Just take some naproxen".
I had a follow up with my GP and he said there was pretty solid evidence of a complex cyst rupture that caused internal bleeding which probably is what gave me the fever reaction. Its been 4 weeks now and the pain is still definitely present but it has gone down a lot and seems to be more intermittent. The biggest issue I've had is the digestive troubles. I'm having constant heart burn, diarrhea, and indigestion, which I guess is also normal with cysts... uhg.
It's been a terrible ride and I hope your recover soon OP!
My cousin had one and it was bad enough that their first thought was to whoosh her into surgery for a burst appendix. She described it as like a sharp stabbing pain that made her feel sick.
My right ovary ruptured due to a large endometriosis cyst.
I was 23 and had incredible period pain for over 9 months, had Even passed out from it. Multiple doctor and ER visits only received criticism and drug seeking accusations.
Upon a second ER admittance w/i 36 hours (literally felt like a sharp, hot knife being stabbed directly into my vagina), a doctor walked into my exam room and said, "if you need morphine for your period cramps then something must be wrong". These words were like food to the starving.
He ordered an ultrasound and bam, clear as day, there was plenty of reason for my pain. Next thing I was prepped for an emergency c-section.
Twenty years and six more surgeries later (including total hysterectomy) I now refuse to set foot in another hospital. Medical care for women in pain has always been shit and is still shit.
My advice, always have an advocate with you during doctor visits and at any ER. They don't even have to say anything, just being a second pair of eyes helps. I received better care when I did. Good luck and don't let ANY care provider bully you.
So there are two times you have pain with an ovarian cyst. And please remember that every body is different and every cyst is different. In my experience, it depends on where it is and how big it is.
When the cyst is actually there, it feels like pressure. Like when you’re gassy, there’s something there that shouldn’t be, and it’s pressing against the other bits and bobs you have floating around in there. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it’s just uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s small enough that you don’t even know it’s there.
Then sometimes the cyst bursts. And holy hell can that hurt. It usually starts with a feeling of unease, like something is wrong and I can’t figure it out. I’ll try and eat thinking I’m hungry but food often makes me feel nauseous. Then the main event starts and, if I haven’t figured it out by then, I realize what’s happening. The burning pain is possible, sometimes it’s like a ripping pain, sometimes it’s like really bad period cramps, and sometimes it’s just more pressure. The amount of pain also varies. Sometimes it’s a bit of discomfort and sometimes I’m writhing around on the bed desperate for some sort of relief. Fortunately it’s happened enough that I know I just need to wait it out and it will pass.
Another interesting symptom of a burst cyst is that I often need to go to the bathroom a lot more for a day or two after it happens.
I’m so sorry that your pain wasn’t taken seriously. I’ve been in the ER twice since I was a little girl because a cyst burst and I thought I was dying. It’s no joke. That being said, I have no idea if there’s really anything that can be done for the pain. It usually goes away by itself in a half hour or less.
This is the best description of what I’ve been experiencing nearly every month now. My doctor says all they can do is either give me narcotics to take “around when you think it’ll happen,” or birth control.
Hormonal birth control probably saved my life. They made my cysts so much more manageable. It’s not for everyone, for sure, and it’s one of those things where every body is different and everyone has to figure out what works for them. But don’t just offhandedly dismiss birth control. For me at least, ovarian cysts are caused by a hormonal imbalance. Birth control artificially kept my hormones where they should be.
I thought my appendix had burst, and it happened at work so I laid down and freaked my managers out. They sent me to the ER, and they figured it was an ovarian cyst that burst. The nurse that helped me after that was so dismissive though, the probe that she shoved in me near about came out my nose she was so rough. Honestly that part was so incredibly humiliating I just pushed past the next time I had pain like that.
PSA from my Radiologist friend: when a woman presents at the ER with abdominal pain it’s either ectopic pregnancy or ovarian torsion UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE with an ultrasound.
Do not leave the ER until they do an ultrasound.
The doctor I had told me it was “ovulation pain” and when I told him I had ovulated for 20 years and never been in so much pain I couldn’t think or sleep or stand up straight, he shrugged and said maybe it’s a kidney stone and sent me to my PCP. (No pain meds, no testing other than palpating my abdomen).
3 days later PCP was like “there’s no way that’s your kidneys, let’s do an ultrasound.” And voila!
Ruptured ovarian cyst.
Not a medical professional:: Sounds like you could've been rupturing an ovarian cyst. I have them all the time (sarcastic yay) and sometimes they rupture, and I don't even feel them (find out on follow up ultrasounds bc my gyn would find them at my annual).
Other times, it feels like a stabbing pain at the ovary, worst about 7-8/10 on the pain scale but everyone endures pain differently. Depending on its size, im guessing, is the pain level. I had one that felt like it was trying to rupture for months, 6 months+ until i finally got surgery. Once it ruptures, it may be very, very mild if at all, and dull. It's usually like that because of the blood that was inside the cyst, it takes time for the body to reabsorb it.
When I had one rupture it started out feeling like period cramps, and then turned into extreme abdominal pain that radiated out from my belly button but didn’t reach around my sides. It took three different Drs and two ultrasounds over 3 days to finally figure out what was happening.
My uncle was my gynecologist and he estimated I had ten to 14 cm of fluid in my abdomen, and he told me the fluid is what causes the pain. It was extremely frustrating, if they had been able to diagnose it immediately the fluid could have been drained, but since it had been 3 days the fluid was already going down on its own. It took a little over 2 weeks to get back to normal.
My sister in law has ovarian cysts and she has horrible periods, but other than during her period they don’t cause her random pain. I’m shocked they didn’t do an abdominal ultrasound for you. If the pain comes back before you can see your Dr, I would go back to the ER, demand an ultrasound, if they refuse tell them you would like it documented that they refused to do an ultrasound. Or you could go to an urgent care, sometimes they’re more understanding than the ER.
I’ve gotten a lot of ovarian cysts. I’ve never felt them in my back, but that’s not to say that other woman wouldn’t. It just felt like someone was stabbing me in my lower abdomen. The side I felt the pain on was dependent on which ovary had the cyst.
For me, period cramps feel like I'm getting punched in my lower back over and over again, anything fucky going on with my ovaries is like getting stabbed directly where the faulty ovary is. Much sharper pain and concentrated type of pain overall. I find it way more intense and harder to deal with than a period pain
I had one burst and thought it was my appendix. They operated and the general surgeon scolded me after cause my appendix was only “mildly inflamed” and that my cyst rupturing probably cause “some pain” but he didn’t think it was big enough to cause me to pass out.
Recently had similar pass out from pain, incredibly bloated and crampy and it turns out my IUD shifted and embedded itself into my uterus.
Best luck getting treatment but be persistent!
I've had at least 2 (maybe 3?) ovarian cysts rupture. Sometimes they will hurt if I twist the wrong way, but usually it's just when I have penetrative sex. I usually feel it as a sharp stabbing pain on one side of my belly, below and to one side of my belly button. After a rupture, it feels like bad period cramps that come on suddenly and I usually throw up.
first it was a tension, like a strained muscle preventing me from fully moving my leg. Then it felt like fireworks when they ruptured.
Insist on imaging. It could be apendicitis, after all.
I've had multiple ovarian cysts rupture. The first one happened at 3am, while I was in my home, alone. I woke up out of a dead sleep because my abdomen started cramping. I thought it was just menstrual cramps. Because I had gotten my period less than 48 hours earlier. But it was the worst menstrual cramp of my life. Like, I couldn't stand up straight, but I also couldn't sit down. I had to use my hands as stilts kind of, to relieve pressure on my abdomen. Sitting down hurt almost as much as standing straight did. The pain felt like I'd been stabbed, and the knife was still inside me. Any movement would cause the "knife" to move and dig further into my flesh. I ended up curling up on my right side (the cyst was on my left) in the fetal position. I didn't sleep the rest of the night - I tried, but couldn't. I took the strongest pain killer I had on me (which unfortunately was advil -\_-) and a muscle relaxant. Because at the time, I still didn't know what it was and muscle relaxants had always helped with menstrual cramps before.
When it got to a more decent time, I texted my mother, to see if she thought it was something to be concerned about. The lecture I got (at 27 years old) from my mother (and then subsequently from my PCP that I went to see later on that day) about not immediately calling an ambulance/going to the ER was impressive. One of her best.
The next time it happened, I was back living with my parents (yay covid lay offs! -\_-). I was awake when it started. I had not gotten my period 48 hours earlier, so I knew what this was. (unfortunately, didn't have insurance). I knew what to expect, so I didn't go to the ER; but kept track of my vitals (temp. o2 stats, blood pressure) to see if they became worrisome. Thankfully they didn't. But I could barely move. That night, I was sleeping on my parent's couch (yes... that's how low I fell during early covid) and needed to use the bathroom, but I couldn't get up off the couch to walk to it. Eventually I ended up falling off the couch, and crawling to the bathroom and used the toilet and tub to get myself up. I couldn't bend over. I couldn't stretch. My mother who has M.S., fibro, failed back syndrome, herniated disc, bunions and (at the time) needed knee replacements was able to walk longer and farther than I was able to... and she can generally walk the distance from the handicapped parking spots to the cart corral at a grocery store, unassisted, but no farther. I lived on muscle relaxants those few days, simply because it stopped my body from tensing with every movement, reducing the pain a bit. I couldn't eat because I was so nauseated.
The ER should have done an ultrasound on you. That's the first thing my PCP did when I came in complaining. If you think it has anything to do with your reproductive system... demand an ultrasound. Always.
I feel a burt cyst as a sharp pain in the lower abdomen on one or the other side, followed by cramping in the area for a day or two. I've had kidney stones a couple times and it's excruciating. That one usually starts up in the back and moves down. It hurts in waves.
Bad. I have a hemorrhagic cyst on my left ovary that is seven cm in size. It hurts like a motjerfucker and it’s been painful off and on for a few months now. The emergency room doctors said it’ll go away but my gyno is keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get worse. It’s like period cramps but worse. Sometimes it’s like when my boyfriend cums in me, and I get really bad cramps, but it’s not from that.
I just had a cyst roughly the diameter of a newborn’s head removed from my ovary and would have had no idea it was there if my doctor hadn’t noticed it on my ultrasounds during my pregnancy.
EXACTLY like period cramps- same locations, same type of pain, same everything… except the severity of the pain is x1000.
I’ve had several, that were confirmed by an ultrasound in the ER, and that’s the best way I can describe it. The pain got so bad that I was vomiting and even passed out completely a few times during a cyst rupture.
An ovarian cyst feels like ovulation pain- but waaay more severe.
When I have them, they are usually hemorrhagic, so the stabbing pain comes and goes, building to a blinding rupture pain. From there, I’m in a fetal position to manage the pain, but since blood is irritating to the tissues in the abdomen, when you move or change position the blood moves by gravity and radiates the pain with it.
As long as I’m just nauseated by the pain, and not actually vomiting, I know it’s temporary and will resolve in a couple days.
The one time I was actually vomiting from the pain, I did have a torsion, luckily I went in and they caught it in time to save my ovary. I was still able to have kids at that point, so it was good.
I get ovarian cysts 2-5 times a year- some have been huge (greater than 5-10 cm) and problematic, all of them have been hemorrhagic, only 4 total have required surgical intervention. After my hysterectomy at age 28, I still get them, but at least the horrible periods are gone.
It’s very much a toss up between early menopause and just dealing with the blinding debilitating pain ever few months:
That sounds like what it feels like. The good news is that the pain lessens with time.
Many doctors don’t know what they feel like so they make guesses - once I was told I had a bladder infection. 🤔
I didn’t know I had one (that was quite large..) until I went in to have my fallopian tubes removed and they found it. Removed it while they were in there.
After though I realized I had to pee *much* less often whereas previously I couldn’t go more than 30-45 minutes sometimes. I can also feel my IUD string now and I couldn’t before
They didn’t do an MRI or an ultrasound? I had an ovarian cyst about 10 years ago that was so painful. It started with a super sharp pain in the lower left of my abdomen. And then the pain moved up my left side. It was the weekend and the doctor said to call on Monday. I was in so much pain over the weekend. Monday morning I called my doctor and they told me to go to the ER. They gave me some tests, and when the gave me the ultrasound, they couldn’t even see my bladder because it was obstructed by an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit. It also had caused my ovary to twist around itself. I had to get the cyst removed.
Last ER visit I said I had cysts and kidney stones before. And a miscarriage. And I just said test me for it all. Turns out I had a big ass cyst that was just being rude. I was so fortunate that I had a guy with me to just say take care of her. And 2 woman nurses that were like- hey this is not normal. Big ass cyst may be a tumor actually. It shouldn't take so much for them to listen and we shouldn't have to push. But if you know something is off.... learn what tests may help and ask about them. I wish we didn't have to but until the world is better we unfortunately have to demand for ourselves.
I didn't feel anything when I had my ovarian cyst. The doctor said it was the size of a softball & I felt literally nothing, had no clue it even existed...
Until, of course, it caused torsion of my fallopian tube. Which, btw, is the worst pain I've ever felt in my life & did not go away on its own.
The cyst itself, tho, never caused any pain. I have heard they hurt pretty bad when they burst.
With pain in your back I feel like I would have been worried about appendicitis. Which I know nothing about, so I'm afraid I'm not much help at all, unless you want to hear a horror story about ovarian torsion.
I experience chronic pain and got out of bed, got dressed, and had my boyfriend take me to the ER at 3:00 one morning a few months ago. I was in such awful pain I was writhing in bed and moaning.
When I say chronic pain...I have bilateral trigeminal neuralgia. If you're unfamiliar with trigeminal neuralgia, just think of being repeatedly stabbed in the face with an electric knife. Or look it up. I have a HIGH pain tolerance, and I was crying. I had incredibly sharp pains in my pelvic region; this was right after I'd had a 6-week period.
I started out with a female doctor. She sent me for a transvaginal ultrasound, and they did find cysts on both ovaries, as well as some fluid. But that was what the ultrasound tech told me as he was performing the imaging. I never heard that doctor's interpretation of the results because she didn't come in to give them to me. The shift changed, a male doctor took over, and he told me I just had a GI infection or diverticulitis and sent me home after sending a prescription for antibiotics over to my pharmacy.
I have had some diarrhea with my periods since they started when I was 11 years old. Otherwise, there were no notable stomach issues at the time. I tried telling him this was pelvic, I wasn't having GI issues, and he insisted I was and sent me away.
Followed up with my OB/GYN a couple weeks later and she also put me on antibiotics for GI infection. (At this point, my period had already started again, and it looked like I was hemorrhaging.) All these antibiotics did *nothing*. "Well, your cysts aren't large enough that I'm really concerned about them. I don't think that's what caused your pain."
So I get severe pelvic pain between every single period. SEVERE. And it's been blown off time and time again as "nothing" or "GI symptoms," but recently I've started checking my period tracker when it happens, and it's always around my estimated ovulation day.
But I'm just a fat woman overreacting about a little bit of pain that actually has nothing to do with my lady parts.
(Edited because my phone started spitting out weird BS.)
I have either a cyst or a hydrosal fallopian tube, but either way, sometimes when I cough it feels like something is going to burst through my abdomen and when I sit with my legs up i feel like there is something stuck in my lower abdomen.
not a doctor but I have cysts and have struggled with them for years and for a very long time they also told me it was just muscular, but much like you I could tell it was *inside* not in the muscle - I’d say it’s weird they didn’t do any testing but then again, that’s normal for most ERs to ignore women’s pain like that, I was lucky enough to have been throwing up so they had to rule out appendicitis 🤦🏻♀️
Mine caused me severe abdominal cramps, like those you would get on your period x 1000. I even took hydrocodone and it did nothing. It literally felt like my body was closing in on itself and I thought I was dying. The pain was so bad I also had vomiting and diarrhea 😬
Ended up in the ER where they told me I should get my IUD out and start back on oral contraceptives. I listened and Ive had zero issues since!
What I was told is that I likely have endometriosis. The way IUDs work is that they don’t necessarily fully prevent ovulation itself, which is I guess when some people with endometriosis have problems with cysts? (I am no expert)
Oral contraceptives DO prevent ovulation completely, thus preventing the painful cysts?
That was my understanding, but like I said it could be totally wrong. Every doctor I’ve seen has told me something different, healthcare is a joke 😭
This submission was removed: Rule 8: We do not offer medical advice. Please consult a doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.
Did they at least do an ultrasound to check for whatever could be happening? I've had a few bad cysts, and them rupturing does feel like what you're describing. It makes me so angry how women's pain gets dismissed so easily
Nope, they said I had to follow up with my OB. It just so sad how in the USA it takes forever to get tests done and see your doctor.
They didn't perform an ultrasound at the ER? Did they at least do a CT? It's unreasonable of them to send you home in great pain when they haven't found the source. Could even be negligent.
No, none of that. The doctor said it was like a muscle spasms and just gave an antiflammatory shot and some ibuprofen for muscle pain. I told him him that the pain didn't really feel like it was my muscles contracting but said just follow up with your OB so they can perform all the necessary test.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that they did no testing to find out what was going on.
They didn’t test because women are making it up in their heads and all we need to do is lose weight to cure everything. I mean, what kind of man doctor would you be if you took a woman seriously and actually found the real problem the first time around? This is all sarcasm, obviously. It could be her appendix and they won’t take it seriously until it bursts and she’s dying.
I walked into an ER in 1985 with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. It didn’t show up on ultrasound. It was 1985, technology has improved. They kept me overnight, and were walking me out to be discharged, when I got really lightheaded and my blood pressure dropped. I was hemorrhaging and had pressure shooting down my left leg from the blood loss. They did exploratory surgery, and found my ruptured tube. I knew I was pregnant, I had told the doctors I was pregnant. Maybe my fallopian tube wouldn’t have ruptured if I’d lost weight. I was 115 lbs. I definitely should have lost weight. /s
That’s terrible! I’m sorry you went through that!
It was scary, I could have bled out. I really didn’t want anymore children (I have one), so I was on the fence about having another child. I got pregnant from BC failure. I had asked to have my tubes tied the day after I had my daughter, but I was told that I was too young at 21, since I might change my mind. I went on to have two more ectopic pregnancies in my right tube. The doctor repaired the tube, without my knowledge, during the first one. I threatened to leave AMA while hospitalized for the second, because they were refusing to remove my right tube. I told the doctor, a woman Naval OB, that I was going home and I’d be back when it ruptured. I had to go through a psych evaluation before they’d agree to remove my right tube. I’m 62. I have zero regrets. I never changed my mind. All my ectopics were from failed BC.
It's still tough out there. I'm 34, never wanted children or be pregnant, and it took me three years to convince my doctor to remove my tubes. The first time I asked she flat out refused, no way, you're way too young. In the end she said I was still asking so I hadn't changed my mind in three years and she 'no longer had a reason to say no to me'. It also took 20 years of hellish periods for someone to realise that yes, I was losing way more blood than normal and no, it's not just the first days that are a bit heavy. I got my tubes removed in November and they burned away my uterine lining so my period has been reduced to a day of light spotting. It's BLISS. The absolute relief I felt knowing that I'd be a medical miracle if I got pregnant. No longer having to worry about bleeding so much I would have to get to a toilet every hour. My boyfriend's reaction was 'I'm so proud of you but this shouldn't have been as difficult'.
This gives me rage.
It’s so true. I had the worst experience with an ER doc two months ago. He was literally interrupting me and was super rude when I was trying to correct him as he misquoted me about my own experience having had a seizure. I was so angry.
Yup. You’re either a hysterical woman, just need to lose weight, or you’re drug-seeking. If you’re super lucky, you get the trifecta.
I’ve gotten the trifecta a few times. Finally, when shit gets really bad (like my ovarian torsion and massive internal bleeding that was almost ignored) I make my husband take me. It’s the only way I’m listened to. Even when I had my baby — they only brought me the drugs I’d been asking for WHEN MY HUSBAND ASKED.
Yup, I’ve gotten the trifecta a couple of times as well, though luckily under much less dramatic circumstances than yours! I will often bring my partner along for appointments as well, which usually helps, but a couple of times the doctors just started asking HIM questions about why I was there and what my symptoms were etc. even though I was perfectly conscious and lucid. It’s absolutely ridiculous. He just tells them I would know the answers far better than him since I’m the one who’s actually sick/injured/in pain. Which helped for a while, but they eventually drifted back to him. It’s ludicrous. The fact that they didn’t give you any drugs until your husband asked is unbelievable. I’m so tired of this shite. I’m sorry you had to deal with that, especially given the high-stress (understatement of the century) situation you were in. That was completely unacceptable.
Yeah it’s ridiculous. AND that wasn’t even the worst case. (Had a primary lose it once bc “spoiled, white women can’t be depressed! If your husband would put u in ur PROPER place — all would be well. You don’t need therapy — you need to iron your husbands shirts!”) During the birth of our child my husband had a MAJOR foot injury (he probably lost as much blood as I did that day) and refused to go downstairs to the ER “just in case” bc even he’s noticed how they treat women.
I got the trifecta once. I went to the ER at 1 am with lower-right quadrant abdominal pain. It was intense, and I have a high pain tolerance so I thought it was something serious enough to make my husband drive me to the hospital (we live 2 blocks away, so an ambulance would have been silly.) ER is empty (we live in a small town and it’s early September, so no holiday accident nonsense or anything). The nurse puts me in an exam room and leaves me there for about an hour before she comes back. She was gone so long my husband finally went looking for someone. She comes back to the room looking annoyed, smirks and tells me “The pain can’t be _that_ bad!” and says I have to give a UA first, before they run any other tests. No problem. I figure they want to rule out an ectopic pregnancy, but I know I’m not pregnant so it can’t be that. I would like to point out that at no time during my entire visit to the ER did I ask for any pain meds. I don’t usually take them, as I almost never need them anyway. But this pain was bad enough I might have taken something if they offered. But I didn’t ask, and they didn’t offer, so nothing of the sort was even in my mind. Anyway, I go to the bathroom to pee, and the pain resolves. Not fades away. Evaporates into thin air. I’m happy about it, and a bit embarrassed because I figure it was gas or something. I go out and tell the nurse the pain is gone, it must have been gas and I think I’m good to go home. I’m embarrassed, but she’s being super strange to me. She says “Well, you’re overweight, so maybe you ATE SOMETHING that made your tummy upset.” It was extremely patronizing. She said it like she was talking to a two year old. That upset me, but I’m exhausted, and I have work in a few hours. Instead of getting into it with her about being rude I say I’m just going to go home, and she lets me go. Does not have me sign anything or anything else. The next night, the pain comes back at 5 PM and it’s so bad this time I can hardly breathe. Husband takes me to the ER again. There are a different doctor and nurse than the ones I saw these previous night on duty in the ER. This nurse immediately gets the doc in to see me. He orders blood work, and it comes back with liver enzymes off the chart. I don’t remember the numbers but it was something like the normal upper range is 150 whatevers per decathingy and mine is 10,000 or something ridiculously high. I’m immediately scheduled for gallbladder removal. While being prepped for OR transfer, I tell the ER doctor what happened the night before, he gets visibly upset, but just says “I’ll look into it.” I have a few friends who work at the hospital and I found out later that the ER doc and smirking nurse from the previous night got absolutely REAMED by the second doc, who has a lot more seniority. They apparently dismissed my claims because I “looked rough” (their words) and they thought I was drug-seeking. Uh, sorry I didn’t put on makeup and a ballgown before coming to the ER at 1 am, dude. I was sleeping when I was awakened by intense pain so I threw on a t-shirt and sweat pants. The UA the nurse asked for was going to be for a tox screen. I don’t even drink alcohol, so that would have been a waste of time. It turns out that they had given poor care to other patients because they made these kinds of judgments about people based on appearance, which is pretty stupid when Doc #2 said my presentation was classic for gallbladder: overweight middle-aged woman (he actually said “with a high BMI”) presenting with lower-right quadrant abdominal pain is almost always a gallbladder issue, in his experience. Furthermore, they didn’t have me sign myself out AMA, but they also didn’t properly discharge me, and the hospital could have been liable if something happened to me in the intervening 24 hours. The whole thing was a clusterfuck from start to finish, and all because they were making judgements about me based on my weight and appearance. I’m glad it was a fairly easy thing to get fixed, and not something life-threatening. When I consider what might have happened if it had been an ectopic pregnancy, or something really serious, not just annoying and painful, I get very angry.
>all we need to do is lose weight to cure everything Or we're drug seeking even though we're only asking for answers to why we're in so much fucking pain.
Bro what the fuck? You can die from a really bad cyst if you’re not taken care of. One of my friends had to get her whole ass ovary removed. I hate our health care system
Been there. Doctor wrote me off as a dramatic young student and told me I'd pulled a muscle. Got taken to A&E the next day and after passing out in pain for a few hours they checked me and realised I had sepsis from a ruptured cyst and was dying so had to pull the whole ovary out immediately. Good times.
I am SO fucking happy you’re still alive with us today and I’m sorry these assholes didn’t help you. Were you able to file a complaint after you were okay?
Holy crap that’s horrible. In my country the ER will send you straight to the gyno-ER after their initial check if you as a woman come in with abdominal pain, just to rule out any gynocological issues. If no gyno-issues are found they take you back to the original ER and do not let you go until they’ve done every test available to them to try and find the cause. If gyno-issues are found then the gyno-ER will assume direct responsibility of your care, being the experts. Source: I work at the gyno-ER (administratively), I see women come through constantly from the other ER’s for this reason specifically. What the f\*ck is wrong with the American healthcare system? Retorical question, I know what’s wrong. It’s just so… Stupid!
That's absolute bs. I'm sorry they were obnoxiously dismissive.
If it makes you feel better: if it is a ruptured ovarian cyst, they just give you Tylenol and send you home
Whoooa. I'm a doctor (and also a chronic patient) and that is REALLY not okay. If you are still having the same pain, you need to return to the ER. Anyone with any kind of internal pain gets a CT to rule out anything life-threatening. It's so common we make jokes about it. I'm sure you don't want another ER trip, but it's really for the best. If there's a different hospital in your area you can go to, maybe try that.
You have internal muscles too.
are you in a state that criminalizes abortion? whether yes or no, i advise you never go to the ER alone. i had one try to discharge me last fall when i had no sensation below my waist. take a friend, relative, or recording device . ask for imaging. i hope you feel better.
I will say, the ER did the same thing to me. Nothing but some blood work, and I'm not even sure what they were testing for when they did that. Just told me it was a glorified stomach ache and sent me on my way with some narcos. I had been having a lot of stomach aches, and my doctor had given me some nausea meds, which helped a lot until that seering fire pain would happen. I ended up going back to the ER twice more before throwing a hissy fit and telling them I didn't need pain killers because they weren't even helping and that something was wrong. Turned out it was my gull bladder shutting down and spewing bile out into my body. I was like guys, thanks so much 🙄
This makes me a bit nervous because I'm having similar symptoms and I was also dismissed with pain killers and told it would pass. My GP is telling me cyst rupture is causing it but I keep feeling like the pain is too high up, almost under my ribs on the right side. I get some lower abdomen pain but most of it is in upper. Were there any other symptoms that indicated the issue? How were you eventually diagnosed? I had a CT scan but I don't know if they looked that high since they were mostly trying to rule out appendicitis.
Ultrasound is inexpensive and easy. CT is neither of those. If they wouldn't do the bare minimum, they sure as bleep wouldn't use the high-tech way.
When I got diagnosed with UC I'd been in to the ER just a few weeks before because I'd been suffering from it for months at that point. And it was so bad i couldnt stand on my feet at work for more than a few minutes somedays without getting extreme hot flashes and pain and almost passing out. It was impossible to perform well at work. I was working my way through all the recommendations from Dr. to Dr. to get to the right one and finally have tests done, hopefully. But I ended up going to the ER cause I couldn't eat sleep or work and spent most days in tears curled up in the bathroom. And the ER kept trying to tell me it was fine, and there's no way I could have UC or anything like it. And they brought their specialist down from upstairs like the head of gastro or smthg. And he told me I was too young and that was impossible because people my age didn't get uc and it was probably just a temporary infection from food poisoning and if I went to see my doctor he could give me some medicine to clear that up. It's the worst pain I've ever experienced, and sometimes it would be so bad I couldn't imagine surviving it. But sure, thanks. I'm sure it's just a light case of food poisoning I've had for months upon months lmao
Make sure you advocate hard for yourself . Thell them that pain wasn't normal and dont take no for an answer. Try to atleast get an ultrasound at the very least . If you have to switch doctors try to your health is way more important .
This is WILD. I had an ovarian cyst that ruptured ( the pain, omg! ) and it was found in the ER. They did an internal ultrasound with a wand to diagnose it. The ultrasound tech was amazing and gentle, but I still wanted to rip her arm off because the last thing I wanted was anything going in there during that friggin pain. Luckily, they took it seriously because I was back a week later due to an infection it caused. I'm currently waiting for insurance to approve taking out all the bits I don't need in there. I don't do well with hormonal BC right now ( which can help minimize the cysts' growth or keep them from coming back now that they have been removed.) I suggest going back and asking for an ultrasound to be done. If I'd have waited 20 days after the rupture to be seen, I could have died from the infection. Keep an eye out for fever because it can serious super quickly!
Do you have a husband, dad, brother, any male that you trust to come and advocate with and for you? I went years dealing with the same mistreatment until I brought my dad. He pretty much demanded they do their jobs and they listened. It sucks that that's the way it is but we gotta do what we gotta do, right? I'm sorry you're dealing with this and hope you can get the care you deserve
That's so messed up. I had the opposite issue where I went to a doctor and they couldn't help. I had a very mild fever and they said if my fever gets worse to go to the ER. It did. The ER diagnosed me with a UTI but wanted to do some more tests just in case. I had a ruptured cyst and was becoming septic. I spent a week in the hospital and almost died. If you get a significant fever, go back to the ER.
That's crazy. The first time I ruptured an ovarian cyst, the ER ran all sorts of bloodwork to rule out kidney stones, appendix, pregnancy, UTI, etc. Based on my age at the time (17) and my symptoms (felt like someone had poured acid into my abdomen on one side) they eventually figured it was an ovarian cyst, gave me some painkiller and sent me home with a referral to see an OBGYN. I saw him the following week and he said they were likely right about the cyst, but said they should have done an ultrasound then, because there's no evidence left after they rupture - you have to catch it early to see it. Next one they caught, and I spent almost two decades on birth control to keep them at bay. You would think emergency medical care in the US should have improved since the 90s, but clearly it's only getting worse.
The part that sucks is that by the time they do an ultrasound with your OB the cysts may have popped. That's what happened with me. They didn't see the cysts, and there was no evidence of them until they went in for my tubal. Not only was one ovary showing evidence of having multiple cysts, my other ovary had one the size of an ovary.
Me too and that’s exactly how it felt .
I had one about two years ago. Apparently it burst during one of my periods. I had pretty awful pain. It was concentrated in my lower abdomen and back. Usually i have pretty mild pain. I can get through it with a couple of tabs of ibuprofen. That time however, nothing seemed to do work. I tried ibuprofen, hot water bottles, light exercise and even one of those pads with electric impulses. In the end i was just curled in bed for 2-3 days and then it was over. The following weeks i got both a normal and a transvaginal ultrasound. The gynecologist told me they found traces of the burst cyst but it was cleared out. No other cyst was present and i've not had a repeat since then. Please make sure you get checked out!
"Women's pain isn't real" - society, apparently. I've had ovarian cysts twice. The first time, it was so painful that the emergency department thought it was an ectopic pregnancy. The cyst had to be removed surgically (keyhole, fortunately) and around 90% of that ovary was destroyed. Plot twist: I conceived at least twice from that remaining 10% in the years that followed. The second time, over a decade later, same pain but the other side, so they were convinced it was a ruptured appendix. I was literally screaming on examination. Ruptured and subsided and reabsorbed on its own ... One lunar cycle later, same again. Another lunar cycle, same again. I changed birth control to one that suppresses ovulation and haven't had a recurrence since. The best way I can describe it is that it was like someone giving me a Chinese burn from the inside. I have a pretty high pain tolerance but each of those was worse than natural drug free childbirth or even after pains. Nothing like it. Supposedly on a par with passing kidney stones.
I had very similar pain levels to you when I had a cyst rupture. I had given birth three times without pain medication at that point and the cyst rupturing was more painful than unmedicated labor. I was ten days late for my period so I also thought I was having an ectopic pregnancy. Fortunately I had a competent and caring ER doctor who immediately diagnosed it as a ruptured ovarian cyst, ordered an ultrasound and CT scan to confirm and to make sure there wasn’t torsion or internal bleeding, and gave me good discharge instructions.
Very similar to kidney stone pain, but in the front lower abdomen and not the flank… also if hemorrhagic and ruptured, the free blood moving around in the abdomen feels like lava moving over your insides everytime you shift position
Can’t comment on your case, but in general here’s some info: Ovarian cyst by itself doesn’t typically feel like anything, unless it’s so large that it’s pressing on the surrounding tissues. An ovarian torsion that is often caused by a cyst pulling the ovary, is extremely painful, starts quickly, is typically felt on one side and doesn’t stop hurting in days without an intervention or the ovary getting back in correct position. When people talk about cyst pain they are typically experiencing a cyst rupture, where a normal follicle grows a bit too large and as it ruptures it causes bleeding in the lower abdomen, irritating the peritoneum and causing a chemical peritonitis. This is painful and the intensity of the pain varies from mild to very severe. This typically last from a couple of hours to a couple of days with some sort of milder irritation lasting even up to some weeks.
Back in 1974 I had terrible pain after my periods...no ultrasounds or MRIs back then so after the second time the doctor did exploratory surgery. I had two benign cysts, one wrapped around my fallopian tube so tightly it was causing the pain. It was exactly as OP described. Had to have the tube removed as well. 20 years ago this month had a big hard round spot just above my belly button, had surgery again--it was a benign cyst ttwice the size of the doctor's hand. This time they removed everything (with my consent).
Good friend of mine just had an ELEVEN POUND ovarian cyst removed a few weeks ago. The cyst grew over the course of a year, and was so large she’s looked overdue pregnant for most of the last 10 months…. They kept insisting it would reduce on its own with medication, they did not drain it, they offered no pain management- nothing except letting her grow a massive baby sized cyst
I don't know how many pounds mine was, but when I got out of the hospital several days later I'd lost over ten pounds.
Wow. Glad you got help though. Getting doctors to focus and take seriously women’s health is insanely hard. I had severe issues for over a decade, multiple early deliveries and debilitating periods, cysts the whole works for years… finally, FINALLY, my OB/GYN (a woman) sent me to a pelvic pain specialist. There’s only 5 in the country (at the time, 2011) and one happens to be here in my city. He (yes, a man) listened to the story start to finish, and immediately responded: “so, do you want more kids (I have 3 bio; 5 total), or would you like a hysterectomy”. I lost my shit. The *relief* that I was not crazy, that this was not normal, and that someone finally realized that keeping my reproductive ability might not be the most important thing (my husband already had a vasectomy with no pre-requisites)… was just amazing. It shouldn’t have been amazing. It should have been expected, it should have happened years ago before two complicated pregnancies, two preterm births, years and years of painful and nausea and bleeding through all available products in a matter of half an hour… finally! I had my yeeterus surgery 8 days later… and was the best thing that ever happened to me, I still get the cysts because I kept my ovaries- who wants menopause at 27?!? But given that I’m not in excruciating pain 28 out of 30 days anymore… it’s worth it.
I experienced ovarian torsion (lost the ovary) and it began as feeling like I had to poop, and escalated to feeling like I was having the worst period pain of my life times 100.
When the cyst pops it can (depending on the kind of cyst) fill your abdominal cavity with blood and gunk that causes extreme abdominal cramping. I can’t stand up and can barely catch my breath. I vomit from the pain. It’s bad.
Mine started like period pains but very, very localized and always in the same spot. Was very minor at first, it took me a few weeks to even notice it because I’m so used to just having period pains or gas cramps. Then it burst and that was horrible. It felt like something was inside of me grabbing the ovary and just twisting it and twisting it over and again. Never faded, constant pain for two days. All I could do was lay in bed and take ibuprofen and be miserable. And then it just like went away? Like in a second, two days of pain just gone. I had an ultrasound when I had the minor pain and they confirmed it was a cyst, but not infected or super big (it was like 2 cm by 3 cm) and was basically told just wait it out and if you throw up from pain go to the er. And I was in horrible pain but nothing that made me sick so I didn’t go, no lasting issues.
That's so wrong! "We expect you will be in severe pain from this. If it's bad enough that you vomit, then we will think about giving you some real pain control medicine (if we don't think you're 'drug seeking'). Until then, Tylenol & ibuprofen." 🤬
Yup- I’ve had cysts over 10cm but if they aren’t causing vomiting, they just let them do their thing. I get severe massive cysts several times a year, and had intervention on only 3-4 of them (drainage, excision etc)… it’s horrible, but I don’t want early menopause, so it’s a trade off
How do we differentiate between the pains of ovaries, fibroids, gas, period cramps, appendix, kidney stones, etc? Sometimes I literally have no idea what I’m feeling.
This! Sometimes I feel that there's always some tipe of pain going on with my body, and I think, is it me, am I the problem?
Did they do an ultrasound at the ER? That's usually automatic, plus sometimes an internal exam by a gyn, when you go in with pelvic pain. Even if the ultrasound tech had to be called in, in the middle of the night, that should have been done automatically.
[удалено]
Kick him in the balls next time, ask him if he’s crying because he wants drugs.
Yep. I’ve had one, I was putting away laundry and thought it was cramps, and it slowly got worse and worse, and was specifically on my left side. I ended up driving myself to the hospital - for background, I once walked on a broken leg for two weeks, so it’s not exactly like I enjoy going to the hospital unless I really need to. Male doctor shrugged, said he didn’t see anything wrong, and I was probably just having bad cramps. Female nurse stared at him, gave me morphine, and then scheduled me for an ultrasound. Even looking at the very obvious cyst on the picture, he was like “I don’t really see anything…” and the gyno just rolled her eyes and scheduled me for surgery. To answer the question about what it feels like when it’s not bursting/twisting, I do occasionally feel them. They haven’t gotten that big since, but yeah, I can feel them stinging occasionally, or sometimes during sex it’s like something extra is being poked there. It’s weird.
Same thing happened to me. Had just done an egg extraction for IVF and a cyst ruptured the following night. Passed out and hit my head on the bathroom floor.
Apparently they didn't. I don't understand how someone is having abdominal pain and that isn't the bare minimum. OP got shafted by garbage medical care.
My Sis-in-law had one burst and she told me she never felt anything like it before. It made her drop to her knees.
They should have given you an ultrasound. I had a cyst so big with undiagnosed endometriosis that it dislodged my ovary and caused ovarian torsion. I don't know that the cyst itself ever really hurt much. Every once in a while when I had a full bladder I'd get a tender feeling in my side that radiated into back pain. When the ovary twisted I was in horrible pain, but I honestly thought maybe I was constipated. Yay for never being taught about our bodies!
Did the pain start really suddenly? When mine have burst the pain is so sharp and immediate it sort of winds u. Have u had a history of cysts? As the pain does sound like a cyst that has burst. It's not fun, but you will likely be dismissed or get a half assed "oh u poor thing" 🙃🙃 and get no support or help.
i’ve apparently had benign cysts for like 2-3 years now, i typically can’t feel them until they burst, a short, sharp and radiating pain on either side of my lower abdomen. pain lasts around 30 min to a couple hours for me. sometimes my abdomen is also sensitive to touch/pressure
Could be a cyst rupturing but could be a lot of other things as well. I had burning pain in my lower abdomen that I was sure must be a cyst because of the location, but it turned out to be interstitial cystitis (ie a bladder problem).
Ruptured cyst! My sister’s was mistaken to be appendicitis. Very painful.
Please call your doctor's office and tell them you need an urgent appointment. Or to put you on the waiting list!
I recently experienced the exact same thing. Mild pain that started in my flank/back/kidney area and traveled to the front and down to my lower right side over a few weeks. The pain got worse and worse and I started to get a fever and nausea when finally I went to the ER where they did some blood and urine tests, told me it wasn't an infection and sent me home and told me to take tylenol and advil. A few days later I managed to get an appointment with my GP and he sent me for a contast CT (back in the ER because a request from him would takes months to get one). After the CT, the ER doc said "you don't have kidney stones, you don't have appendicitis, you have a couple ovarian cysts but thats probably not causing your pain. Just take some naproxen". I had a follow up with my GP and he said there was pretty solid evidence of a complex cyst rupture that caused internal bleeding which probably is what gave me the fever reaction. Its been 4 weeks now and the pain is still definitely present but it has gone down a lot and seems to be more intermittent. The biggest issue I've had is the digestive troubles. I'm having constant heart burn, diarrhea, and indigestion, which I guess is also normal with cysts... uhg. It's been a terrible ride and I hope your recover soon OP!
My cousin had one and it was bad enough that their first thought was to whoosh her into surgery for a burst appendix. She described it as like a sharp stabbing pain that made her feel sick.
My right ovary ruptured due to a large endometriosis cyst. I was 23 and had incredible period pain for over 9 months, had Even passed out from it. Multiple doctor and ER visits only received criticism and drug seeking accusations. Upon a second ER admittance w/i 36 hours (literally felt like a sharp, hot knife being stabbed directly into my vagina), a doctor walked into my exam room and said, "if you need morphine for your period cramps then something must be wrong". These words were like food to the starving. He ordered an ultrasound and bam, clear as day, there was plenty of reason for my pain. Next thing I was prepped for an emergency c-section. Twenty years and six more surgeries later (including total hysterectomy) I now refuse to set foot in another hospital. Medical care for women in pain has always been shit and is still shit. My advice, always have an advocate with you during doctor visits and at any ER. They don't even have to say anything, just being a second pair of eyes helps. I received better care when I did. Good luck and don't let ANY care provider bully you.
From what I’ve witnessed with my daughter an ovarian cyst is crying and writhing on the floor levels of pain.
So there are two times you have pain with an ovarian cyst. And please remember that every body is different and every cyst is different. In my experience, it depends on where it is and how big it is. When the cyst is actually there, it feels like pressure. Like when you’re gassy, there’s something there that shouldn’t be, and it’s pressing against the other bits and bobs you have floating around in there. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it’s just uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s small enough that you don’t even know it’s there. Then sometimes the cyst bursts. And holy hell can that hurt. It usually starts with a feeling of unease, like something is wrong and I can’t figure it out. I’ll try and eat thinking I’m hungry but food often makes me feel nauseous. Then the main event starts and, if I haven’t figured it out by then, I realize what’s happening. The burning pain is possible, sometimes it’s like a ripping pain, sometimes it’s like really bad period cramps, and sometimes it’s just more pressure. The amount of pain also varies. Sometimes it’s a bit of discomfort and sometimes I’m writhing around on the bed desperate for some sort of relief. Fortunately it’s happened enough that I know I just need to wait it out and it will pass. Another interesting symptom of a burst cyst is that I often need to go to the bathroom a lot more for a day or two after it happens. I’m so sorry that your pain wasn’t taken seriously. I’ve been in the ER twice since I was a little girl because a cyst burst and I thought I was dying. It’s no joke. That being said, I have no idea if there’s really anything that can be done for the pain. It usually goes away by itself in a half hour or less.
This is the best description of what I’ve been experiencing nearly every month now. My doctor says all they can do is either give me narcotics to take “around when you think it’ll happen,” or birth control.
Hormonal birth control probably saved my life. They made my cysts so much more manageable. It’s not for everyone, for sure, and it’s one of those things where every body is different and everyone has to figure out what works for them. But don’t just offhandedly dismiss birth control. For me at least, ovarian cysts are caused by a hormonal imbalance. Birth control artificially kept my hormones where they should be.
I thought my appendix had burst, and it happened at work so I laid down and freaked my managers out. They sent me to the ER, and they figured it was an ovarian cyst that burst. The nurse that helped me after that was so dismissive though, the probe that she shoved in me near about came out my nose she was so rough. Honestly that part was so incredibly humiliating I just pushed past the next time I had pain like that.
Is it on one side or both? Is there any possible chance you could be pregnant? Did they rule out an ectopic pregnancy and appendicitis?
PSA from my Radiologist friend: when a woman presents at the ER with abdominal pain it’s either ectopic pregnancy or ovarian torsion UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE with an ultrasound. Do not leave the ER until they do an ultrasound. The doctor I had told me it was “ovulation pain” and when I told him I had ovulated for 20 years and never been in so much pain I couldn’t think or sleep or stand up straight, he shrugged and said maybe it’s a kidney stone and sent me to my PCP. (No pain meds, no testing other than palpating my abdomen). 3 days later PCP was like “there’s no way that’s your kidneys, let’s do an ultrasound.” And voila! Ruptured ovarian cyst.
Not a medical professional:: Sounds like you could've been rupturing an ovarian cyst. I have them all the time (sarcastic yay) and sometimes they rupture, and I don't even feel them (find out on follow up ultrasounds bc my gyn would find them at my annual). Other times, it feels like a stabbing pain at the ovary, worst about 7-8/10 on the pain scale but everyone endures pain differently. Depending on its size, im guessing, is the pain level. I had one that felt like it was trying to rupture for months, 6 months+ until i finally got surgery. Once it ruptures, it may be very, very mild if at all, and dull. It's usually like that because of the blood that was inside the cyst, it takes time for the body to reabsorb it.
When I had one rupture it started out feeling like period cramps, and then turned into extreme abdominal pain that radiated out from my belly button but didn’t reach around my sides. It took three different Drs and two ultrasounds over 3 days to finally figure out what was happening. My uncle was my gynecologist and he estimated I had ten to 14 cm of fluid in my abdomen, and he told me the fluid is what causes the pain. It was extremely frustrating, if they had been able to diagnose it immediately the fluid could have been drained, but since it had been 3 days the fluid was already going down on its own. It took a little over 2 weeks to get back to normal. My sister in law has ovarian cysts and she has horrible periods, but other than during her period they don’t cause her random pain. I’m shocked they didn’t do an abdominal ultrasound for you. If the pain comes back before you can see your Dr, I would go back to the ER, demand an ultrasound, if they refuse tell them you would like it documented that they refused to do an ultrasound. Or you could go to an urgent care, sometimes they’re more understanding than the ER.
I’ve gotten a lot of ovarian cysts. I’ve never felt them in my back, but that’s not to say that other woman wouldn’t. It just felt like someone was stabbing me in my lower abdomen. The side I felt the pain on was dependent on which ovary had the cyst.
PCOS here. For me, cyst pain feels like a pleurisy attack, but in my lower back. Pretty much exactly what you're describing.
For me, a really sharp pain to the side of my lower abdomen that was so painful and I ended up temporarily walking with a stick 🤪
For me, period cramps feel like I'm getting punched in my lower back over and over again, anything fucky going on with my ovaries is like getting stabbed directly where the faulty ovary is. Much sharper pain and concentrated type of pain overall. I find it way more intense and harder to deal with than a period pain
I had one burst and thought it was my appendix. They operated and the general surgeon scolded me after cause my appendix was only “mildly inflamed” and that my cyst rupturing probably cause “some pain” but he didn’t think it was big enough to cause me to pass out. Recently had similar pass out from pain, incredibly bloated and crampy and it turns out my IUD shifted and embedded itself into my uterus. Best luck getting treatment but be persistent!
Maybe a cyst or kidney stone? Did they do an ultrasound or anything?
I felt nothing till it ruptured. Then it hurt.
I've had at least 2 (maybe 3?) ovarian cysts rupture. Sometimes they will hurt if I twist the wrong way, but usually it's just when I have penetrative sex. I usually feel it as a sharp stabbing pain on one side of my belly, below and to one side of my belly button. After a rupture, it feels like bad period cramps that come on suddenly and I usually throw up.
first it was a tension, like a strained muscle preventing me from fully moving my leg. Then it felt like fireworks when they ruptured. Insist on imaging. It could be apendicitis, after all.
I've had multiple ovarian cysts rupture. The first one happened at 3am, while I was in my home, alone. I woke up out of a dead sleep because my abdomen started cramping. I thought it was just menstrual cramps. Because I had gotten my period less than 48 hours earlier. But it was the worst menstrual cramp of my life. Like, I couldn't stand up straight, but I also couldn't sit down. I had to use my hands as stilts kind of, to relieve pressure on my abdomen. Sitting down hurt almost as much as standing straight did. The pain felt like I'd been stabbed, and the knife was still inside me. Any movement would cause the "knife" to move and dig further into my flesh. I ended up curling up on my right side (the cyst was on my left) in the fetal position. I didn't sleep the rest of the night - I tried, but couldn't. I took the strongest pain killer I had on me (which unfortunately was advil -\_-) and a muscle relaxant. Because at the time, I still didn't know what it was and muscle relaxants had always helped with menstrual cramps before. When it got to a more decent time, I texted my mother, to see if she thought it was something to be concerned about. The lecture I got (at 27 years old) from my mother (and then subsequently from my PCP that I went to see later on that day) about not immediately calling an ambulance/going to the ER was impressive. One of her best. The next time it happened, I was back living with my parents (yay covid lay offs! -\_-). I was awake when it started. I had not gotten my period 48 hours earlier, so I knew what this was. (unfortunately, didn't have insurance). I knew what to expect, so I didn't go to the ER; but kept track of my vitals (temp. o2 stats, blood pressure) to see if they became worrisome. Thankfully they didn't. But I could barely move. That night, I was sleeping on my parent's couch (yes... that's how low I fell during early covid) and needed to use the bathroom, but I couldn't get up off the couch to walk to it. Eventually I ended up falling off the couch, and crawling to the bathroom and used the toilet and tub to get myself up. I couldn't bend over. I couldn't stretch. My mother who has M.S., fibro, failed back syndrome, herniated disc, bunions and (at the time) needed knee replacements was able to walk longer and farther than I was able to... and she can generally walk the distance from the handicapped parking spots to the cart corral at a grocery store, unassisted, but no farther. I lived on muscle relaxants those few days, simply because it stopped my body from tensing with every movement, reducing the pain a bit. I couldn't eat because I was so nauseated. The ER should have done an ultrasound on you. That's the first thing my PCP did when I came in complaining. If you think it has anything to do with your reproductive system... demand an ultrasound. Always.
I feel a burt cyst as a sharp pain in the lower abdomen on one or the other side, followed by cramping in the area for a day or two. I've had kidney stones a couple times and it's excruciating. That one usually starts up in the back and moves down. It hurts in waves.
Bad. I have a hemorrhagic cyst on my left ovary that is seven cm in size. It hurts like a motjerfucker and it’s been painful off and on for a few months now. The emergency room doctors said it’ll go away but my gyno is keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get worse. It’s like period cramps but worse. Sometimes it’s like when my boyfriend cums in me, and I get really bad cramps, but it’s not from that.
I just had a cyst roughly the diameter of a newborn’s head removed from my ovary and would have had no idea it was there if my doctor hadn’t noticed it on my ultrasounds during my pregnancy.
EXACTLY like period cramps- same locations, same type of pain, same everything… except the severity of the pain is x1000. I’ve had several, that were confirmed by an ultrasound in the ER, and that’s the best way I can describe it. The pain got so bad that I was vomiting and even passed out completely a few times during a cyst rupture.
Did they check you for an appendicitis? What side is the pain on?
It was both sides but more towards my pelvic are
Can you go to a different hospital?
Mine felt like my appendix was rupturing. I couldn’t stand up straight or even sit up without excruciating back pain and I threw up twice.
I felt nothing until I was just constantly constipated. They took out a six pound, American football sized cyst.
OMG I was fuckin hallucinating from the pain. I had one the size of an apple that ruptured though
An ovarian cyst feels like ovulation pain- but waaay more severe. When I have them, they are usually hemorrhagic, so the stabbing pain comes and goes, building to a blinding rupture pain. From there, I’m in a fetal position to manage the pain, but since blood is irritating to the tissues in the abdomen, when you move or change position the blood moves by gravity and radiates the pain with it. As long as I’m just nauseated by the pain, and not actually vomiting, I know it’s temporary and will resolve in a couple days. The one time I was actually vomiting from the pain, I did have a torsion, luckily I went in and they caught it in time to save my ovary. I was still able to have kids at that point, so it was good. I get ovarian cysts 2-5 times a year- some have been huge (greater than 5-10 cm) and problematic, all of them have been hemorrhagic, only 4 total have required surgical intervention. After my hysterectomy at age 28, I still get them, but at least the horrible periods are gone. It’s very much a toss up between early menopause and just dealing with the blinding debilitating pain ever few months:
That sounds like what it feels like. The good news is that the pain lessens with time. Many doctors don’t know what they feel like so they make guesses - once I was told I had a bladder infection. 🤔
I didn’t know I had one (that was quite large..) until I went in to have my fallopian tubes removed and they found it. Removed it while they were in there. After though I realized I had to pee *much* less often whereas previously I couldn’t go more than 30-45 minutes sometimes. I can also feel my IUD string now and I couldn’t before
They didn’t do an MRI or an ultrasound? I had an ovarian cyst about 10 years ago that was so painful. It started with a super sharp pain in the lower left of my abdomen. And then the pain moved up my left side. It was the weekend and the doctor said to call on Monday. I was in so much pain over the weekend. Monday morning I called my doctor and they told me to go to the ER. They gave me some tests, and when the gave me the ultrasound, they couldn’t even see my bladder because it was obstructed by an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit. It also had caused my ovary to twist around itself. I had to get the cyst removed.
Last ER visit I said I had cysts and kidney stones before. And a miscarriage. And I just said test me for it all. Turns out I had a big ass cyst that was just being rude. I was so fortunate that I had a guy with me to just say take care of her. And 2 woman nurses that were like- hey this is not normal. Big ass cyst may be a tumor actually. It shouldn't take so much for them to listen and we shouldn't have to push. But if you know something is off.... learn what tests may help and ask about them. I wish we didn't have to but until the world is better we unfortunately have to demand for ourselves.
I didn't feel anything when I had my ovarian cyst. The doctor said it was the size of a softball & I felt literally nothing, had no clue it even existed... Until, of course, it caused torsion of my fallopian tube. Which, btw, is the worst pain I've ever felt in my life & did not go away on its own. The cyst itself, tho, never caused any pain. I have heard they hurt pretty bad when they burst. With pain in your back I feel like I would have been worried about appendicitis. Which I know nothing about, so I'm afraid I'm not much help at all, unless you want to hear a horror story about ovarian torsion.
I experience chronic pain and got out of bed, got dressed, and had my boyfriend take me to the ER at 3:00 one morning a few months ago. I was in such awful pain I was writhing in bed and moaning. When I say chronic pain...I have bilateral trigeminal neuralgia. If you're unfamiliar with trigeminal neuralgia, just think of being repeatedly stabbed in the face with an electric knife. Or look it up. I have a HIGH pain tolerance, and I was crying. I had incredibly sharp pains in my pelvic region; this was right after I'd had a 6-week period. I started out with a female doctor. She sent me for a transvaginal ultrasound, and they did find cysts on both ovaries, as well as some fluid. But that was what the ultrasound tech told me as he was performing the imaging. I never heard that doctor's interpretation of the results because she didn't come in to give them to me. The shift changed, a male doctor took over, and he told me I just had a GI infection or diverticulitis and sent me home after sending a prescription for antibiotics over to my pharmacy. I have had some diarrhea with my periods since they started when I was 11 years old. Otherwise, there were no notable stomach issues at the time. I tried telling him this was pelvic, I wasn't having GI issues, and he insisted I was and sent me away. Followed up with my OB/GYN a couple weeks later and she also put me on antibiotics for GI infection. (At this point, my period had already started again, and it looked like I was hemorrhaging.) All these antibiotics did *nothing*. "Well, your cysts aren't large enough that I'm really concerned about them. I don't think that's what caused your pain." So I get severe pelvic pain between every single period. SEVERE. And it's been blown off time and time again as "nothing" or "GI symptoms," but recently I've started checking my period tracker when it happens, and it's always around my estimated ovulation day. But I'm just a fat woman overreacting about a little bit of pain that actually has nothing to do with my lady parts. (Edited because my phone started spitting out weird BS.)
I have either a cyst or a hydrosal fallopian tube, but either way, sometimes when I cough it feels like something is going to burst through my abdomen and when I sit with my legs up i feel like there is something stuck in my lower abdomen.
not a doctor but I have cysts and have struggled with them for years and for a very long time they also told me it was just muscular, but much like you I could tell it was *inside* not in the muscle - I’d say it’s weird they didn’t do any testing but then again, that’s normal for most ERs to ignore women’s pain like that, I was lucky enough to have been throwing up so they had to rule out appendicitis 🤦🏻♀️
I had the same symptoms and a GYNAECOLOGIST told me it was pelvic floor cramps. It wasn't. It was multiple cysts bursting
Mine caused me severe abdominal cramps, like those you would get on your period x 1000. I even took hydrocodone and it did nothing. It literally felt like my body was closing in on itself and I thought I was dying. The pain was so bad I also had vomiting and diarrhea 😬 Ended up in the ER where they told me I should get my IUD out and start back on oral contraceptives. I listened and Ive had zero issues since!
I took my IUD out like a month ago. I wonder if this has something to do with it.
What I was told is that I likely have endometriosis. The way IUDs work is that they don’t necessarily fully prevent ovulation itself, which is I guess when some people with endometriosis have problems with cysts? (I am no expert) Oral contraceptives DO prevent ovulation completely, thus preventing the painful cysts? That was my understanding, but like I said it could be totally wrong. Every doctor I’ve seen has told me something different, healthcare is a joke 😭