Mary Parker asked:


Most ovarian cysts are asymptomatic, disappear without medication and cause no harm. Medications for ovarian cysts, whenever prescribed, alleviate pain and pressure in the pelvic region and prevent the forming of more cysts by stopping the process of ovulation if it is a chronic problem. The best way to stop ovulation is to take birth control pills.

Initial medications for ovarian cysts

Since most ovarian cysts disappear within a couple of menstrual cycles, the medical practitioner might not prescribe any medication and keep the patient under observation to see if the ovarian cyst is getting bigger or disappearing on its own. An examination of the pelvis might be recommended after a few months to record any variations in size.

After a few menstrual cycles if the ovarian cyst still does not improve, the doctor could carry out tests to see whether any other type of growth in the ovary is causing this problem. At such times over the counter medication to relieve pain and the application of heat could reduce some of the annoying symptoms.

Ongoing medications for ovarian cysts

An ovarian cyst which persists through more than two menstrual cycles should be checked out. If an ultrasound shows the there is something amiss or you start exhibiting symptoms of cysts in the ovary, treatment has to start on you through medications or through surgery. Your gynaecologist could suggest that you keep using birth control pills for some time so that more cysts do not get to form.

Surgery as a Medication

If, despite medical treatment, an ovarian cyst which is functional but is causing a good deal of pain, refuses to go away, a surgery (cystectomy) through the use of laparoscopy (causing an incision which is small) could have to be done to remove it. However if an ultrasound brings out something unusual or the gynaecologist feels that there could be a risk of ovarian cancer, a surgery by way of a bigger incision in the abdomen through laparotomy may require to be carried out.

Surgery could also be needed to confirm the presence of ovarian cysts. And if ovarian cancer is suspected, surgery will also be required for gauging the state of ovarian growths. You must realise however that surgery does not provide a permanent solution in the matter of ovarian cysts. It can only work if it is used to remove the ovaries altogether.

What would require surgery are situations where the cyst or the ovary have been ruptured or twisted (torsion), where there is severe pain or bleeding, where the cyst is more than 3 inches or is pressing on some of the other abdominal organs, the cyst not going away although two or three months have elapsed since its detection and where these months have covered a couple of menstrual periods and finally, where the ultrasound has discovered something suspicious.

But although the application of surgery could prove effective for the treatment of ovarian cysts, some studies have also shown that it could lead to complications as well. These complications could include problems of access, of operative procedures and physiological complications involving pneumoperitoneum.

Surgery Choices

Whether the incision is small, such as in Laparoscopy or large, such as in Laparotomy, a cut will have to be made on the area of your stomach. Laparoscopy could be used for confirming the presence of ovarian cysts in women of child bearing age. And, at the time of the Laparoscopy, large, painful ovarian cysts could easily be removed, even though they might not be cancerous, without taking out the ovary.

Laparotomy, on the other hand, might have to be used if the cysts are too large to manage through Laparoscopy. Laparotomy would also have to be used if the woman has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer or some problems relating to the abdomen or the pelvic organs occur. If indeed cancer has been detected, the larger incision allows the surgeon to observe the affected area closely and, where necessary, remove the affected portion of the abdomen.

Factors to be thought of

A major consideration in the treatment of ovarian cysts is whether the woman concerned is menopausal or not, because the risk of cancer in the ovaries increase significantly in such women. So it is necessary to be extra careful when checking the ovarian growths of women past this stage.

In fact, many doctors would immediately suggest that the ovaries be removed i.e. oophorectomy if they find that cysts have developed on any ovary of a menopausal woman. However, the current trend of thought in medicine is not to perform surgery on women past menopause if the cysts are small and simple. Among cysts which are dangerous are the Unilocular cysts which are housed in compartments and have thin walls. These could be cancerous after menopause.

Holistic approach

The holistic approach is simple and causes the least amount of pain amongst the various forms of medication used to cure ovarian cysts and all sufferers would be better served if they followed this approach from the initial stages of discovery of these cysts. What the holistic approach believes in is “Prevention is better than cure”. What this means is that the holistic approach lays stress on the approach which attempts to root out the problem of ovarian cysts at the very nascent stages. This is done by stressing on a person`s physical fitness and an increase in his optimism. The holistic approach has given a new meaning to ovarian cysts medication.



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Brooke A asked:


irregular period. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for almost a year and I havent had a period since late April. I have taken 3 home pregnancy tests in the past 2 weeks and they have all read positive. However, I have no pregnancy symptoms except I do feel tired and I am having to *** during the night. Do you think an ovarian cyst can cause a false positive test 3 times?!?

rupturing ovarian cysts

questionnaire asked:

From the answers I recieved for my previous question, I learned that if the cyst ruptures, it does not cause infertility but causes a lot of pain. But i forgot to mention that the cyst that I have is a complex one as found from ultrasound. So, PLEASE give me more information.

Groshan Fabiola asked:


It is known that as a result of ovulation, there can appear cysts, which are called functional cysts and are completely normal. In about 1 to 3 months, these cysts shrink, and if you have this type of cysts, it is good to do a check after 1-3 months to see if the cyst became smaller. In some cases, it is possible that the doctor will prescribe birth control pills, to stop ovulation and in this way the forming of the cysts will stop.

In what concerns menopausal women, they shouldn’t form functional cysts. The doctor will perform a sonogram, and after that he will decide what must be done, depending on what he sees on the sonogram, on the age of the patient, and on the symptoms that can be present ( like pain, bloating, constipation, and other).

It is good to know that a sonogram uses sound waves that will give the doctor information about the size and the appearance of your cyst. The sonogram lasts about 30 minutes, it can be done through the abdomen or ****** and is not painful.

In order to see if a woman’s cyst can be cancerous, the doctor may perform a test that measures the level of a protein called CA-125 in the blood. It is known that a normal CA-125 level is less than 35, but this test is not very accurate. Sometimes, women who have ovarian cancer have a normal level of CA-125, that is why this test is recommended usually only for women who are at high risk for ovarian cancer.

Depending on the age of the patient, whether is having periods, the size of the cyst, its appearance and symptoms, the doctor will decide if surgery is needed. If the cyst is functional, probably surgery is not necessary, but if it doesn’t disappear after several menstrual periods, it gets bigger, or it doesn’t look like a functional cyst on the sonogram, the doctor may decide that it is best to surgically remove it. Usually, there are a lot of type of ovarian cysts in women of childbearing age that require surgery, but, fortunately, at this age, cysts are almost always benign.

Women 50 to 70 years of age are at greater risk of developing ovarian cancer, and if there is found an ovarian cyst, probably the doctor will want to remove it.

If the cyst looks benign on the sonogram and is small, laparoscopy seems to be the right choice. A small incision is made just above or just below your navel and a laparoscope, which is like a slender telescope is put into the abdomen. With it, the doctor can see the organs.

If the cyst is too big to be removed with the laparoscope, or because of another reason, the doctor can suggest laparotomy. This involves bigger incisions to remove the cyst or possibly the entire ovary. While the patient is under general anesthesia, the cyst can be tested to see if it is cancerous, and if it proves it is, the doctor may need to remove both of the ovaries, the uterus, omentum and some lymph nodes. It is very important that before the surgery, women to talk with the doctor about the situations that can appear.

For more info about pain from ovarian cyst or even about ruptured ovarian cyst please review this page http://www.ovarian-cysts-center.com/



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Groshan Fabiola asked:

Ovarian cysts usually appear in younger women, on one ovary or on both ovaries, but they can appear after the menopause as well. It is known that most of the cysts are benign, although some are “tumors” or growths,  these do not turn into cancer.  Although in the past the solution was surgery to remove the cyst, nowadays, in most of the cases monitoring of the cyst, using ultrasound scan and blood tests is possible.

It is known that the CA125 protein which can be found normally in the blood has an increased level in women with ovarian cancer. That’s why, the doctors may want to measure the level of CA125 in the blood if it is suspected a woman has ovarian cancer. But, it was seen that the level of CA125 can rise because of other factors too, like inflammation of the liver, pregnancy, pelvic or abdominal infection, and endometriosis.

When treating women past their menopause who have ovarian cysts, doctors are advised to monitor these women using the ultrasound scan and the CA125 test. However, this can vary, depending on the size of the cysts, what they look like on a scan and how they behave over time.

It is known that if there are present small cysts on one ovary, more than half of these cysts will disappear on their own in about 3 months. It is recommended that at 4 months after the cysts disappeared an ultrasound scan to be performed.

The peritoneum is a sheet of body tissue that lines the inside of the abdomen. It helps to protect the contents of the abdomen, and also produces a lubricating fluid that helps the organs to move smoothly inside the abdomen as we move around. When there appears a cancer of this tissue, we say we are dealing with primary peritoneal carcinoma.

It was seen that the primary peritoneal cancer behaves like the epithelial cancer, the most common type of ovarian cancer, that’s why, the treatment is very similar.

Especially when this disease is in its early stages, the symptoms are vague and hard to spot, and many of the symptoms are very similar to other conditions, which are much more common. It is important to know that this type of cancer can appear even if the ovaries were removed.

It is necessary for every woman to go periodically to the doctor and do tests, because in early stages of the disease the treatment is more effective.

For more info about ovarian cysts/ or even about ovarian cyst surgery please review this page http://www.ovarian-cysts-center.com/