[S1225]Symptoms Of Ovarian Cysts

When the ovarian cyst is small, women often do not observe any symptoms but when it grows, it might cause the abdomen to distend. Depending on where the cyst is situated, it might cause several symptoms. It may put pressure on the bladder or bowels, making you needing to go to the toilet more often. The cysts can make you feel abdominal discomfort, having sex may become painful, your periods may be affected, becoming irregular, or the bleeding may be different then usually.

Tumors that produce hormones won't cause any symptoms, unless they are active, otherwise symptoms will appear only if the tumour is big.
An active feminizing tumour will determine the women who have passed the menopause to start bleeding again and the young girls who haven't reach puberty to start their periods early and develop breasts and body hair.
An active masculinising tumour can make women's periods stop, the clitoris may grow, and also there is possible to appear more facial and body hair. The voice may get deeper and the allure will become more masculine.

Very often a woman that has a cyst doesn't know about it, because the cyst does not show any symptoms. But sometimes cysts cause problems. Depending on where they are growing, they can develop deep pain, rapid heartbeat , or vomiting, that make you go to the doctor for treatment.
Other cysts may burst, and of course, you will feel the pain, its intensity depending on what the cysts contained, whether it is infected or not and whether there is any bleeding. That will also determine you to go to the hospital for treatment.

Most of the cysts are found by chance, because they often do not show symptoms. It may happen for example to find them during a medical internal examination or pregnancy ultrasound scan.

The first stage in diagnosis is an internal examination, and if there is anything suspect, if the doctor believes that something is wrong, the patient will be sent to the gynaecologist. There, the doctor will ask certain things about the age, periods, if sex is painful or if there were previous pregnancies. This examination will be followed next by an ultrasound scan. There exist two ways of scanning, one is using the internal probe, the other method is using the external probe.

The internal probe has the aspect of a tube, having a rounded end, and it is inserted into the vagina, and moved around, so, the doctor can get a picture on a screen.

The external probe has a flat aspect, it is moved around on your abdomen, while pressing it in the same time. For this type of scan, it is necessary that you have a full bladder, it is not comfortable, but you need it so that your organs can be seen more clearly.

There are pro and against opinion for each method. Sustaining a full bladder for a long time and having someone pressing down on it will make you feel very uncomfortable, but unfortunately you do not have a choice. Also, women might feel embarrassed by the vaginal probe, but the advantage is that it gives a clearer picture .

The diagnosis might be a complicated procedure depending on different factors, but it is important not to feel frustrated if doctors can't tell you immediately what is wrong, and try to have patience.