WOW! That sounds like alot to go through. I hope you get better. I don't want all that. I am on my third week of birth control and as long as I can go to be before I start feeling sick, and stay asleep for the whole night, then my stomach isn't sick. I am still having pain in my right ovary and someties feel a pain in my left; however, the pain feels different. Not sure how to explain it. I don't know if the meds are working. Not sure how long they take, but I feel like the pain should be less and it isn't. I just want this all to be over.
Anyway, sorry for going on and on. Your going through much worse thatn me. Hope everything is o.k. and you can start feeling better.
erika
Birth control pills can help a FUNCTIONAL cyst, as per the explanation in one of the above posts about hormones and so forth. My gyne did try OCP's with me when I had my first cyst diagnosed in 2003. At the time it was only about 3 cm and she felt from the look of it ultrasonographically that it probably was a functional cyst. However, over the next 3-4 weeks the abdominal pain persisted and worsened. At that point they slotted me in to interventional radiology and percutaneously drained the cyst. (NOT fun; was discharged to home with the suprapubic drain attached to a leg drainage bag and then returned the next morning to interventional radiology for assessment and removal of the drain. Yuck-ola.) The drainage helped only for about 2-3 days, after which the fluid in the cyst reaccumulated and pain recurred. At that point, my gyne did a laparoscopy. She completely removed the left ovary (which was not causing me any pain at all!) because it was "severely cystic, scarred, and atrophic" and biopsied the right cyst. Frozen section came back as a "benign serous cystadenoma" and so she resected the right ovary and tube, removing the actual tumor but leaving the remaining section of ovary. Her rationale was that I wasn't menopausal yet (at 45 years old) and she wanted me to have the benefit of the hormones for as long as possible. I could/can see her point, but given the fact I have a recurrent right ovarian mass (this time it's 6 cm) and abdominal pain again, I almost wish she'd just taken everything out the first time and the heck with hormones! Luckily the CA-125 is "normal" (nurse wouldn't give me the exact value though) and according to the nurse, she said gyne said the repeat ultrasound "looks like another cystadenoma." Plan is to repeat the laparoscopy, do the frozen section, if frozen section is normal remove everything and fix the periumbilical hernia laparoscopically; if frozen section shows cancer then do laparatomy with removal and staging along with hernia repair. OR date 7/18. Keeping my fingers crossed!
As my doctor explained it, the bc pills keep your hormones at a more consistent level than when you're going through your cycle without them. The idea is that if you are not building up a thick uterine lining (the bc pills makes it thinner), the tissue that can form tumors or endometriosis won't be so prone to do that. I think treating ovarian cysts or tumors with bc pills is fairly common. My doctor put me on Seasonal, which is the one where you take the pills consistently for 90 days before having a week off for a period. She said that way, the tumors that keep building up and then dissolving on my ovaries, will be less likely to do so.
thank you for your help! i am taking the pills about 2 hours before bed, and after a few hours in the morning it isn't as bad. I just hope it helps the cyst!
erika
I was put on the pill for a cyst and I am on the third week of pills. I too had a very sensitive stomach- achey kind of pain when I oushed on it. I do not have it anymore. I did have it for about a week or two.
I also have been spotting for almost two weeks becauuse of the pill. I was on it for 4 year straight and i never experienced spotting before... dr said this is normal. Hope you feel better!
Gina