Not sure what approach I should take

[rdnkln]

Hi.  Back in October I decided to get off of birth control for good, for many reasons.  Within a couple of weeks I started have terrible pain in my sides, abdomen, etc.  I went to my regular doctor and he said I had a "possible UTI" and treated me with antibiotics.  The pain seemed to go away, then came back the next month.  Went back to my doc and said I had another UTI, gave me meds and pain went away until a month later.  This became a cycle until about 3 weeks ago when I said (even on the meds for UTI) that the pain was too much and they decided to do a full sono of my abdomen and my uterus to see what was wrong.  They didn't think it was ovarian cysts, but low and behold that is what the sono suggested.  They then sent me to my gyn doc who said yes, you have ovarian cysts on both sides, not very large, and you really shouldn't be feeling ANY pain, but come back in 4 weeks and we'll see if they are gone.  The 4 week appointment is on the 16th of this month, but today the pain was driving me nuts and called my gyn and they got me in for another u/s.  They said the left one looks like it's gotten smaller and the right one is not larger, but may have not gotten smaller.

Their suggestion was either to play the waiting game to see if they go away in a few months or laproscopy.  Unfortunately they can only base the waiting game on when I had my first u/s 2 weeks ago because they have no clue if they were really there when I first started feeling the pain at the end of October.  

I'm frustrated because they don't understand why I have so much pain.  I told them I'm severely bloated, pain when having bowel movements, lots of pressure when urinating, etc, etc and they just don't see why I would.  They agree that the pain seems to go along with the timing of my cycles and the cysts so it's possible they are causing them but it still seems strange to them.

I am all for the waiting game, I guess, because after reading about the laproscopy on here I'm not sure I want it, lol.  I guess I'm just frustrated, confused, and not sure what to do.  Has anyone felt like this?  Would you wait?  I mean the pain starts about 14 days after the 1st day of my period and doesn't go away until around the time I have my period, then comes back the same every month and has happened since end of October.

I dealt with ovarian cysts when I was 12/13 years old and put on BC at that time and had always been on it except for when I had my children, nursing and then got off of it now.  Never had a had a problem since.  I'm 34 now and frustrated, lol.

[fungirl1011]

I am sop sorry that you are going through this.  I know how frusterating that this can be.  I don't care what doctors say, even a very small cyst can cause pain.  I have had cysts that were 1,5cm that were causing pain.  Unfortunately, no one on here can tell you what to do.  It has to be a personal decision.  If the pain is not too bad, then I guess that the waiting game would be ok.  Laproscope is not that bad.  The usual recovery time for on is about a week or two.  Actually, when I had my first one removed that way, I was back at work 2 days later and felt pretty good.  Did your gyn give you any pain meds to help with the pain?  You should never had to be left in pain to suffer.  I hope you get answers soon. Keep us posted.  Kasie

[TrudieC]

It makes me so angry when doctors say cysts don't cause pain.  Argh!!!  In addition to cysts you could also have endometriosis and laparscopic surgery is the best way to deal with this other than going back on the birth control.  Good luck with everything.

[rdnkln]

Thank you for your thoughts on this.  I also wanted to ask something else, if possible.  At about the same time I started having all the symptoms of ovarian cysts I started getting a SEVERE pain in my hip.  It seems to be about right above where the hip bone is, I guess.  I just assumed it was from this, but the doctor said it couldn't be related.  Now the pain from my cysts goes and comes with my cycles, but the hip pain doesn't.  My husband thinks I should convince my doctor to do a scan of my hip, but it seems like everyone thinks I'm insane about all the pain I'm having anyways.  :(

[TrudieC]

When I had my cysts I got pain in my groin, down my leg causing limping and in my lower back.  I have a good friend who gets monthly cysts but has awful hip pain.  She just had laparoscopic surgery and endometriosis was a problem.  They removed a lot of it and now she needs to consider whether to have a hysterectomy or not.  She is waiting to see if the recent surgery helps her hip pain.

[rdnkln]

Thanks for your response.  I went ahead and called my regular doctor and explained to them that the gyn doesn't think the cyst is causing the hip pain and demanded an x-ray, just to rule out anything else.  I'm waiting to hear back from the nurse as to whether the doc will allow me to have one done without being seen first.