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Dermoid Moving Around?
I have surgery in three weeks to remove what appears to be an 8X3X3 mostly-solid dermoid from my RIGHT ovary. I've felt a lump in my abdomen for over a year now, and I don't think it's grown, but I've lost weight and I've been noticing it more. (No symptoms, and I was living overseas in a place I did NOT want to go see a gynecologist at, so I just waited till I came home.)
Anyway, my question has to do with the location. I feel it about an inch below my belly button. When I lie on my right side for a while, it moves all the way over to the left side right next to the bellybutton, but it's "flatter" (like it extends from my belly button all the way for about four inches to my left side). I can then physically push it back and feel it "slide" back into place underneath my belly button. It doesn't hurt.
If the dermoid is on my right ovary, why is it moving around like this? If I feel it this high up (near my belly button), could it be something else? But wouldn't anything else have shown up on the ultrasound? (Both the abdominal and vaginal ultrasound only saw this one dermoid (the right ovary was not seen). Nothing else was unusual.)
I have a suspicion it might be one of those fibroids that grows up and out of the uterus. It seems that would "move around" more and be higher, but wouldn't the ultrasound have noticed that? I can't imagine that an ultrasound would mistake a fibroid for a dermoid. It just seems weird to me how it "moves".
Anyway, my question has to do with the location. I feel it about an inch below my belly button. When I lie on my right side for a while, it moves all the way over to the left side right next to the bellybutton, but it's "flatter" (like it extends from my belly button all the way for about four inches to my left side). I can then physically push it back and feel it "slide" back into place underneath my belly button. It doesn't hurt.
If the dermoid is on my right ovary, why is it moving around like this? If I feel it this high up (near my belly button), could it be something else? But wouldn't anything else have shown up on the ultrasound? (Both the abdominal and vaginal ultrasound only saw this one dermoid (the right ovary was not seen). Nothing else was unusual.)
I have a suspicion it might be one of those fibroids that grows up and out of the uterus. It seems that would "move around" more and be higher, but wouldn't the ultrasound have noticed that? I can't imagine that an ultrasound would mistake a fibroid for a dermoid. It just seems weird to me how it "moves".
So a cyst can act like a baby? But do they react to heat? My baby bump gets bigger when my husband and brother talk to me. It moves close to the heat when I'm in front of the fireplace. It moves to the left when I tickle myself. And it stretches straight and goes back down. Sometimes it feels. Like something is tickling my back.
Thank you so much for your post. I've been researching my condition day and night, and your words were very reassuring to me. I have to wait 2 weeks for my surgery, because of my insurance, but should've already have the mass removed. So this is already unnerving, but the thought that it could be cancerous and continually growing and spreading is upsetting and stressful. I've been trying to stay positive and keep stress at bay, and your post has definitely helped with that! :)
Thank you so much for the reply, Yvonne! I've actually been managing to "put it out of mind" a little bit more this past week, mainly because I've been so busy with work. I'm just going to keep myself as busy as possible in the next two weeks while I wait for the surgery. I have a lot to do to "get ahead" so that I can take the week off after surgery anyway, so I have a lot to do. I refuse to do any more internet searching. I know I have to have the surgery, so I'm just going to do it. I've made a list of all the things I need to buy/prepare before the surgery, and I'm just going to focus on what I can control now and not worry about things that I can't. Again, thank you so much! You really helped me to put things into perspective!
Please stop reading on line, you are going down the same path as i did and it will send you potty and even ill! , I was looking at scans on google images of dermoids, what their common traits are on ultrasound and comparing it to my report, and getting myself worked up because it didnt match, so I started to think I had a germ cell tumour that was malignant inside the ovary (I know it was iside the ovary and not on the surface) and looking back it was just ridiculous how I made myself, I had time off work, it affected my relationship, I almost lost my personality, I took more notice of the internet than my doctor.
When I first had my cyst drained (which shouldnt have happened but thats another story), yellow fluid was extracted, my Gyno then told me afterwards he thought it was a dermoid, and it would need to be removed at a later date, then when I had a scan 6 weeks later is was showing 'mixed echogenic' and the sonogragher looked concerned and suggested an MRI as she couldnt tell what is was. I panicked because I read that dermoids are easy to spot on ultrasound because of calcifications (teeth) & hair strands, plus fluid levels (bearing in mind all the fluid of mine had been drained). I also read they have typical acoustic shadowing (a dark shadow forming below the cyst in a line), mine didnt. I then met with my Gyno again and got all upset and referred the ultrasound report to him, he then said he wasnt sure it was a dermoid because the fluid extracted wasnt quite as thick as a dermoid and no hair came out in the extraction! But still maintained I didnt have cancer, or it was very highly unlikely. Then I had further scans..after I found out I was pregnant...and the operation was cancelled, and other sonographers said it did look dermoidy! So then my Gyno went back to thinking it was a dermoid again. All very confusing.
When I finally had it removed last week and the results back yesterday, it was a dermoid after all, bizarrely it didnt have any hair (hence why none came out in the orginal extraction) but it did have bone and skin inside it, plus the fluid, no teeth. Which explains the mixed echos because of mixed tissue components. No Malignancy.
I had read mixed echogencity was most likely cancer and mine wasnt! That was reading off the internet. Anybody can put anything on the internet, make it look official, and unless you are on regisitered medical websites (which you normally have to be in the medical profession to access) and know what you are looking for and understanding it correctly I just wouldnt take anything as correct on the internet. I spend hours trawling the internet, couldnt sleep, it was awful. I lost 18lbs in weight ( and I wasnt overweight) and went really fragile, even pregnant now I have only managed to put on 6ilb and still no where near my orginal weight.
Please please try to stay calm, I know its so easy for anyone to say, and for me now I have had it removed. I was so scared of surgery too, scared of being cut open, scared of losing the baby, and convinced they were going to tell me I had cancer, all because of the internet and the 'not knowing' and waiting and my mind working overtime, the mind is so powerful that it can make you ill anyway.
I am so glad I have had the surgery, I never took pain meds or morphine because of the baby, and over a week later I am fine, yes I have an incision, it was painful on the first day, but after than it just got better and better, the staples are out, I can walk fine, and have even been hoovering which is abit naughty! My incision is as fine as cotton, I cannot believe how fine it is, he has done a really good job, some parts you cannot even see the join! I am really pleased, I went an bought my Gyno a bottle of wine & cream cakes, wrote him a letter and went to see him today to thank him, because all through it I challenged him all the time, and he was so patient and kept saying it wasnt cancer, despite him not knowing if it was a dermoid or not.
You know you will go through with the surgery, and you will be fine, it has to come out, if it doesnt you know you will just keep wondering and getting all worked up about it still being there, It will be over before you know it, once you are in the hospital before surgery you will feel a sense of calm, I did anyway, I was wheeled down and that was it, I was out recovering and felt better just knowing it had gone and I only had a small dressing on my incisio that they took off the next day! I expected to see blood and scabs, but nothing, it was neat and clean, and now its fading already which I am really suprised about.
Be strong, face into it, and you will be tons and tons better afterwards, you can then put it behind you and forget about it all.
xxx
When I first had my cyst drained (which shouldnt have happened but thats another story), yellow fluid was extracted, my Gyno then told me afterwards he thought it was a dermoid, and it would need to be removed at a later date, then when I had a scan 6 weeks later is was showing 'mixed echogenic' and the sonogragher looked concerned and suggested an MRI as she couldnt tell what is was. I panicked because I read that dermoids are easy to spot on ultrasound because of calcifications (teeth) & hair strands, plus fluid levels (bearing in mind all the fluid of mine had been drained). I also read they have typical acoustic shadowing (a dark shadow forming below the cyst in a line), mine didnt. I then met with my Gyno again and got all upset and referred the ultrasound report to him, he then said he wasnt sure it was a dermoid because the fluid extracted wasnt quite as thick as a dermoid and no hair came out in the extraction! But still maintained I didnt have cancer, or it was very highly unlikely. Then I had further scans..after I found out I was pregnant...and the operation was cancelled, and other sonographers said it did look dermoidy! So then my Gyno went back to thinking it was a dermoid again. All very confusing.
When I finally had it removed last week and the results back yesterday, it was a dermoid after all, bizarrely it didnt have any hair (hence why none came out in the orginal extraction) but it did have bone and skin inside it, plus the fluid, no teeth. Which explains the mixed echos because of mixed tissue components. No Malignancy.
I had read mixed echogencity was most likely cancer and mine wasnt! That was reading off the internet. Anybody can put anything on the internet, make it look official, and unless you are on regisitered medical websites (which you normally have to be in the medical profession to access) and know what you are looking for and understanding it correctly I just wouldnt take anything as correct on the internet. I spend hours trawling the internet, couldnt sleep, it was awful. I lost 18lbs in weight ( and I wasnt overweight) and went really fragile, even pregnant now I have only managed to put on 6ilb and still no where near my orginal weight.
Please please try to stay calm, I know its so easy for anyone to say, and for me now I have had it removed. I was so scared of surgery too, scared of being cut open, scared of losing the baby, and convinced they were going to tell me I had cancer, all because of the internet and the 'not knowing' and waiting and my mind working overtime, the mind is so powerful that it can make you ill anyway.
I am so glad I have had the surgery, I never took pain meds or morphine because of the baby, and over a week later I am fine, yes I have an incision, it was painful on the first day, but after than it just got better and better, the staples are out, I can walk fine, and have even been hoovering which is abit naughty! My incision is as fine as cotton, I cannot believe how fine it is, he has done a really good job, some parts you cannot even see the join! I am really pleased, I went an bought my Gyno a bottle of wine & cream cakes, wrote him a letter and went to see him today to thank him, because all through it I challenged him all the time, and he was so patient and kept saying it wasnt cancer, despite him not knowing if it was a dermoid or not.
You know you will go through with the surgery, and you will be fine, it has to come out, if it doesnt you know you will just keep wondering and getting all worked up about it still being there, It will be over before you know it, once you are in the hospital before surgery you will feel a sense of calm, I did anyway, I was wheeled down and that was it, I was out recovering and felt better just knowing it had gone and I only had a small dressing on my incisio that they took off the next day! I expected to see blood and scabs, but nothing, it was neat and clean, and now its fading already which I am really suprised about.
Be strong, face into it, and you will be tons and tons better afterwards, you can then put it behind you and forget about it all.
xxx
3 Comments
Thanku! So much I been scanning sites day and night I stopped all meds I was taking for sleep when I realized it didn't help I actually just need to go back to work and wait for my tests results to come back but it really does feel like a cyst and I'm only 21 :( I'm so scared I lost weight constipation nausea vominting pain burning not all the time I was recently put on birth control well back it has helped with just have to remain calm and stay off the internet! I recently took pregnancy test and always negative so thanku so much for your post
I too have had a ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit removed twice. I recently have been showing like I'm actually pregnant and I felt as if I was feeling movement in my belly. I could even see my belly move.
I've been ridiculously constipated to having to take something to have a bowel movement. I thought omg I'm pregnant and my IUD failed or I didn't realize my IUD was past due in getting replaced.
I called my gynocologist and was told I still had until November to get a new IUD. Just for protective measure I took a pregnancy test with negative results thank God. I'm 43 I don't want to be 60 at a new kids graduation for god sake.
So I figured maybe my cyst is back I looked up extended belly and belly movement... Needless to say I have an appointment on Wednesday.
I've been ridiculously constipated to having to take something to have a bowel movement. I thought omg I'm pregnant and my IUD failed or I didn't realize my IUD was past due in getting replaced.
I called my gynocologist and was told I still had until November to get a new IUD. Just for protective measure I took a pregnancy test with negative results thank God. I'm 43 I don't want to be 60 at a new kids graduation for god sake.
So I figured maybe my cyst is back I looked up extended belly and belly movement... Needless to say I have an appointment on Wednesday.
Wow, two surgeries already for large ovarian cysts! Hopefully, if you do have one, it will go away on its own so you don't have to undergo surgery again. Let us know what you find out. Feel free to start a new discussion / thread if you want. But I should see your post even if you don't. :)
I'm terrified of the surgery, but also terrified of not having the surgery. The freaky thing is that all last year, when I felt it was there but couldn't see a doctor, I barely thought about it. Now, it's all I think about!!! I just want it out, confirmed that it's not cancer, and be already healed from surgery so I can go about my life. I know... that's what we all want!
I suppose what scares me is that the line "possibility of a dermoid is raised" is the only line in my ultrasound report that mentions dermoid (although the technician doing the ultrasound said it to me too). My gyn-onc read the ultrasound report and did a physical exam, and began talking to me as if it was for sure a dermoid. He never mentioned having an MRI or a CA125 test. The other phrases of "complex mainly solid" and "no large cystic components" are the words from the report that scare me as those phrases seem to point to malignancy from what I've been reading online. I really need to stop reading stuff online!
I suppose what scares me is that the line "possibility of a dermoid is raised" is the only line in my ultrasound report that mentions dermoid (although the technician doing the ultrasound said it to me too). My gyn-onc read the ultrasound report and did a physical exam, and began talking to me as if it was for sure a dermoid. He never mentioned having an MRI or a CA125 test. The other phrases of "complex mainly solid" and "no large cystic components" are the words from the report that scare me as those phrases seem to point to malignancy from what I've been reading online. I really need to stop reading stuff online!
Maybe it is the dermoid, but I find it strange that you can just easily feel it on the stomach so easily moving around so freely, My Gyno did feel mine, but only by giving me an internal examination that he noticed one of my ovaries was enlarged, he couldnt feel it from the outside of my stomach or move it around, he could only feel it from inside. When I once mentioned to him (after I found out the size was 10cm) that explained my little belly, he said it wouldnt have caused your belly to pop out, it would have needed to be much bigger as the ovaries are deep in the pelvis below the pelvic bone, mine also was first reported as being in the right adnexa, until it moved behind my uterus and was then leaning on my bowel, but it had only moved there because my uterus was moving up due to the baby and the ovaries dropped behind it.. My gyno did say they can shift around, but I would have thought it wouldnt have been so close to the surface of your abdomen that you could freely move it yourself, but thats just from my experience and every case is different i guess. If that is all the ultrasound shown, then I wouldnt worry, best to just get it removed as it wont go away. I am so glad mine it out now, I feel much better for it, its surprising how common these dermoids are. They are strange things!
That is just so weird then. Both doctors (my general practitioner and my gyn-onc) felt it. Feeling it is what made my GP send me for the ultrasound in the first place. The ultrasound technician felt it too and moved the wand all around it. I just don't know what else it could be since the "right adnexal mass" (the dermoid) is the only thing that was seen weird on the abdominal or the transvaginal ultrasounds.
Hi,
I suspect its not the dermoid. Most Dermoids grow inside the ovary, hence thats is why the ovary could not be seen on scan as it would have completely stretched your ovary out from the inside (average ovarian size is 3cm). I just had a 10cm dermoid removed that was inside (not on top of) my right ovary. Initially it was in the right adenexa, which is the area where the ovaries lie, but I then felt pregnant and my ovary containing the dermoid fell behind my womb (as the womb was moving up with the growth of the baby the right ovary fell behind my womb). The Ovary was removed last week whilst 14.5 weeks pregnant, luckily all is going well.
.
The ovaries are buried deep in the lower pelvis, which is why they ask you to drinks lots and lots of water to fill your bladder which then pushes the uterus and ovaries up so they can see the transabdominal ultrasound (unless a trasvaginal one is done, where you dont need to drink water)
I would request another ultrasound and ask them to place the scanner on your upper abdomen, locate them to the point on the of the movable lump you can feel. It may be possible your ovary has moved up their, but doubt it very much.
Good luck and hope it all goes well. Best Wishes Yvonne x
I suspect its not the dermoid. Most Dermoids grow inside the ovary, hence thats is why the ovary could not be seen on scan as it would have completely stretched your ovary out from the inside (average ovarian size is 3cm). I just had a 10cm dermoid removed that was inside (not on top of) my right ovary. Initially it was in the right adenexa, which is the area where the ovaries lie, but I then felt pregnant and my ovary containing the dermoid fell behind my womb (as the womb was moving up with the growth of the baby the right ovary fell behind my womb). The Ovary was removed last week whilst 14.5 weeks pregnant, luckily all is going well.
.
The ovaries are buried deep in the lower pelvis, which is why they ask you to drinks lots and lots of water to fill your bladder which then pushes the uterus and ovaries up so they can see the transabdominal ultrasound (unless a trasvaginal one is done, where you dont need to drink water)
I would request another ultrasound and ask them to place the scanner on your upper abdomen, locate them to the point on the of the movable lump you can feel. It may be possible your ovary has moved up their, but doubt it very much.
Good luck and hope it all goes well. Best Wishes Yvonne x
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