Ovarian Cyst During Pregnancy

[wombjuice]

I have been having some lower abdominal pain for the past couple weeks that I kept attributing to trapped gas.  The last couple days, the pain has gotten worse and definitely more localized.  I still felt that it must be a trapped gas bubble.  Yesterday, I asked my midwife to palpate my uterus to see exactly where my fundus was (I wasn't sure if I was feeling the right place...it's hard to determine fundal height on yourself, lol!), and when she pressed on the left side of my uterus, I almost came off the table.  It was extremely painful...and I'm kind of a tough cookie when it comes to pain!  Anyway, she did some more palpation and concluded that it is most likely an ovarian cyst on my left ovary and that if the pain doesn't go away, we can get an ultrasound for more concrete diagnosis. 

I will not be receiving an ultrasound during pregnancy, and I asked her if there's anything that can be done for an ovarian cyst during pregnancy anyway.  She said no, not really.  If it ruptures, I will most likely be in severe pain from the inflammatory response in my abdomen, but the pain will eventually go away.  On the other hand, if the cyst is simply reabsorbed, the pain I'm feeling now will gradually go away on its own. 

I want the cyst to go away, but now I'm worried that it will rupture!  Do any of you ladies have experience with ovarian cysts during pregnancy?  Do they mostly go away on their own?  Is there anything (dietary or herbal maybe?) I can do to make the cyst shrink?  I'm vegan and never used to eat much soy, but I've been eating a lot of it since becoming pregnant and part of me wonders if all the soy has anything to do with the cyst (because of the phytoestrogens).  I'm going to start taking fresh chickweed tincture (known for dissolving cysts and tumors) soon to help, but if I can do anything else to shrink it, I'd be willing to try.

Thanks!

Edited by wombjuice - 7/18/11 at 8:02am

[munchymum]

I've no information to give you, but I wanted to pass on my best wishes that you manage to sort the cyst out. I went through a ruptured ov cyst when I was 12 mo postpartum with my last baby, and it was not fun.  If men got them, the medical community would surely take them a lot more seriously

[wombjuice]

I'm sorry that you had to experience that pain postpartum.  It simply sounds awful from what I've heard from other people.  I hope this one doesn't rupture.  The pain has been gradually lessening, so maybe it's reabsorbing.  I hope so anyway.

Thank you for the well wishes! 
 

Originally Posted by munchymum 

I've no information to give you, but I wanted to pass on my best wishes that you manage to sort the cyst out. I went through a ruptured ov cyst when I was 12 mo postpartum with my last baby, and it was not fun.  If men got them, the medical community would surely take them a lot more seriously

[jmd5294]

My sister had surgery in her 2nd trimester of her first pregnancy to remove a very big ovarian cyst that nobody noticed until she was pregnant.   The doctors didn't feel comfortable letting it sit there during her pregnancy.

I don't recall much about the specifics, (it was over 7 years ago), but everything was fine during the operation, and baby is currently a healthy 7 year old :-)