Hawaii Nesties
Newlyweds since 2007
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
My ultrasound = It's a....
Cyst!
I've had pain in my right lower abdomen, between my hipbone and navel for a long time. Drs just threw that in the IBS category. It wasn't until I got off of pill that I thought, Hmm, this feels a lot like horrible cramps... I wonder if that weird right pain could be my ovary. When I went for my annual physical, I asked my dr. She ordered an ultrasound. I got the call with the results from someone in her office, but won't see her until the 20th. I'm sure I'll find out more then.
... but, I'm impatient... tell me what you know...
Newlyweds since 2007
Re: My ultrasound = It's a....
I'm glad you kept on it and got some new answers because now you can come up with a treatment plan.
I have had some ultrasounds to look for cysts but they never found anything. I remember my doc saying if they found something that often the cyst goes away on its own but can be very painful (I think you already know that...).
I always thought it was funny to go to get ultrasounds for non-baby stuff (both pelvic and one on my breast) because they still put it up on the screen and I could watch, did you have that option?
MauiWedding - That is funny that they showed you the screen. Mine did not. It's probably good, since I have an active imagination... I would spot a mystery twin.
Yes, I am glad to know. I've had the pain for a long time and no doctor could figure it out. In fact, when my daughter was born (2001), I didn't go into labor... I had horrible pain in that right area and started throwing up (and continued 20+ times). We called the OB nurse. She said it did not sound like labor, but it wasn't normal. They told me to come in. They did the fetal monitor and my daughter's heartrate would go crazy when I would lay on my right side. They wanted to get her out, so started pitocin (which made me shake and feel sicker). The pain in the right was still there. I had to lay on my left side through the whole labor... somewhere from 8am to 3am. You would think an OB and all of the labor nurses would know that my pain was in my ovary. I could point to the exact spot. Oh, well. Hopefully I can get some answers (8 years later).
With yours, if you still have issues, ask for another test. My ultrasound tech said that there are some things that ultrasounds cannot pick up (scar tissue, endometriosis, and other things).
Newlyweds since 2007
Oh my gosh - I can't believe it was going on THAT long. Wow. Has it been steady or does it come and go? When do you have a follow up appt with your doctor?
yeah, I always had them point out what they were looking at (not that I could really tell) but it was always quite goofy and I figured chatting with them would make it less awkward. Once the lady even printed a picture for me because she must have thought I was enjoying it so much. I actually didn't have pain, my old docs were just using the ultrasound as a way to convince themselves I had PCOS (polycystic ovaries) but I never did have the telltale cysts. Those are different than what you explain and usually there are many so it would have been pretty evident from what they say....
Yes, that long... comes and goes, varies in intensity, but always, always in the exact same spot.
I have gastrointestinal issues, which the drs also can't figure out. We know sulfites trigger some of the problems. I always assumed my pain was GI.
That area on the right always hurts when I have an upset stomach. It hurts if I cough or sneeze. It hurts if I wake up in the morning and do the stretchy roll-over thing. Sometimes, it is an achy pain. If I do a twist or big sneeze, it is a sudden pain like pulling something (if you've ever had a pulled muscle with scar tissue and you move it wrong). When I got off of the pill, I was horrified by the pain of the cramps. I thought, holy smokes, no wonder women have a bad rep for being b!tches with PMS. Ouch! That really hurts! When I realized I had a pain in the same area on the left, it dawned on my that the evil right area might be an ovary. Because I'm dumb, I didn't realize my ovaries were that close to my hipbone.
I have an appt with the dr on the 20th. I'm curious what my options are. From dinking around on the internet, the pill seems to help. I got off of it because my reactions to sulfites were worse when I was on it. I would hate to go back on. I'm hoping that beachbubbles checks in. I seem to remember her offering advice to someone else about herbs.
Newlyweds since 2007
yeah, she has lots of knowledge of naturopathic medical info.
If you are interested in that it's great that you live in Seattle because we have lots of naturopathic doctors!
I went actually saw one I really liked in Seattle (International District) while I was trying to get my body to ovulate/get pregnant. The office is very "traditional" though (as in they have their own chinese herbal pharmacy and I was definitely in the minority as non-asian/enlish speaker) so I'm not sure if that is what you are looking for. I'm sure if you asked around you could get some other recommendations, I also see an ND down here that I love for completely different reasons and her office is just like any doctor's office out there (except it smells better because of the lavender eye mask you get to wear during acupuncture treatments
). Both are graduates of Bastyr University.
Please share the names of your docs. I'm open to anything.
My doctors all have spoken english... but, they still don't understand what I've been saying.
Newlyweds since 2007
My mom has cysts too and before she knew, she actually went to ER for them once b/c it was so painful! So yeah, everything I know about it, I learned thru her experience.
From what we were told (by her dr):
- It happens when you have a high level of estrogen in your body, but she's already menopausal and she's not taking hormonal supplements, so they told her to cut out hormones in her diet, ie chicken (which I think is the law in U.S. anyway), other meats, milk, etc. So now she's gone almost fully organic.
- It's hereditary so I'm probably likely to have them at some pt in my life.
- It's pretty harmless for the most part. Some go away on their own.
That's all I know/remember for now. But yeah, I know it can be SUPER painful. She rested a lot when it got really bad but otherwise, I don't think there's much to do about the pain except drugs (painkillers) which she's not too gung-ho about. Sorry for the pain though and I hope it gets better somehow. My mom's has gotten better since that one really bad episode. GL!
That sounds like HELLP Syndrome. Are you familiar with it? For me (and most people) it started suddenly with diarrhea, vomitting, followed by epigastric pain (upper right quadrant) which turned into a band pain around my upper torso. The epigastric pain is the hallmark of HELLP - its caused by your liver swelling. Eventually it becomes difficult to breathe (liver swells into your lungs) and your BP rises. Did anyone ever mention HELLP?
I had a very large cyst on my ovary about 6 years ago. It was so big, in fact, they scheduled a surgery to remove my ovary (assumming they couldn't remove it without taking out the whole ovary). For 6 weeks before the surgery, they put me on high level estrogen birth control. They had me plan for 8 weeks (!) of bedrest following the surgery. My boss (a congressman) dragged me to every church in his district asking preachers to lay hands on me. At my u/s right before the surgery, the cyst had completely dissolved!
SBM - I just google HELLP. Thankfully, I don't think it was that. My BP was good and the pain was lower right (just to the left of my hipbone).
I'm glad your cyst went away without surgery. Send vibes for mine to go away, too, please.
Newlyweds since 2007
Newlyweds since 2007
Thanks! Hopefully, it will go away with a good dose of BC. My docs told me that some women produce cysts all the time if they aren't on the pill so I've just stayed on it (except the 3 weeks I went off and got pg). If that doesn't work...I can take you to visit some Southern Baptist preachers in Atlanta?
Hope you get some good news!
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
nancy-sorry to hear that you have been in pain. isee that you have had loads of posts on the cysts-i have fibroids and also developed cysts getting off the pill and my obgyn keeps telling me toget back on the pill but my regular doctor who is more holistic is strongly opposed to the pill and i happen to agree with her. the more research that i do the more i have come to believe that excess estrogen is really harmful for women and the pill can lead to more problems down the line. sometimes cysts go away on their own sometimes things aggravate them-i would recommend getting a book called healing fibroids-very informative-avoid caffeine-i gave that up years ago with noticeable improvements-some drs prescribe bio identical progesterone cream during the middle of your cycle-i take an herbal supplement called vitex elixir by gaeia herbs (think that is the name of the company)
the above being said definitely get a diagnoisis from the dr and don't make any immediate decision-just mho feel better soon and DONT WORRY!
The only experience I have with cysts isn't a good one - my mother ended up having a hysterectomy because of them.
HOWEVER - she had a lot of huge ones (I believe the count was in the high teens) and she'd ignored her strong symptoms for years, believing they were just bad period pain since her periods had always been very heavy, and she's also very anti-drug so she would never go on the pill to see if that would relieve the "period" symptoms. One day she started vomiting green bile and then collapsed on the living room floor - my Nana had to call an ambulance and they ended up doing an emergency hysterectomy because the cysts were so massive and widespread.
Anyway, I'm not trying to scare you - just saying it's a very good thing that you're looking into this and getting treated, not turning a blind eye to it! So try not to worry too much about it (my mom's case was VERY extreme and nothing like yours).