Freaking out about ovarian cyst while pregnant

[Anonymous]

I had a pelvic ultrasound a few months back and doctors discovered an ovarian cyst (the ultrasound was for an unrelated issue). The cyst was around 5cm at the time. Very shortly after, I found out I was pregnant. At my most recent ultrasound, the doctor stated that the cyst had grown a small amount (maybe a quarter/half centimeter), that it was a 'functional cyst' (which I think means it's benign/full of water?), and that we would continue to monitor it as there was a small risk of rupture or ovarian torsion should it continue to grow. They also mentioned potentially bringing in 'oncology' if it got bigger.

Doctor did not seem concerned but I am freaking out about the impact on my pregnancy / potential for the cyst to cause future issues. Has anyone had a similar issue, and what happened?

[Anonymous]

I had a 10 cm ovarian cyst that "torsed," I guess would be the term, in the middle of my corporations class in law school. I was maybe 8 weeks pregnant at the time.

The pain was absolutely incredible. I didn't know what was happening and ran to the nurse and begged for an ambulance.

And then the pain disappeared. It was so weird. I figured this was some weird pregnancy thing and canceled the ambulance and walked home. LOL!

A couple of weeks later I was on spring break with family when the pain started and did not go away. In the end I had to have surgery while pregnant to remove the cyst, which was huge, and I believe she removed many more during surgery.

The baby was fine, the rest of the pregnancy was fine, the next pregnancy had no issues, and now I have a 12 and 14 year old. You are lucky that you know what is happening if you feel any weird pain- the pain caused by torsion is horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a 10 cm ovarian cyst that "torsed," I guess would be the term, in the middle of my corporations class in law school. I was maybe 8 weeks pregnant at the time.

The pain was absolutely incredible. I didn't know what was happening and ran to the nurse and begged for an ambulance.

And then the pain disappeared. It was so weird. I figured this was some weird pregnancy thing and canceled the ambulance and walked home. LOL!

A couple of weeks later I was on spring break with family when the pain started and did not go away. In the end I had to have surgery while pregnant to remove the cyst, which was huge, and I believe she removed many more during surgery.

The baby was fine, the rest of the pregnancy was fine, the next pregnancy had no issues, and now I have a 12 and 14 year old. You are lucky that you know what is happening if you feel any weird pain- the pain caused by torsion is horrible.

Oh my goodness! I'm glad things worked out for you, that sounds really scary.

I am worried about the pain of a potential torsion for sure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a 10 cm ovarian cyst that "torsed," I guess would be the term, in the middle of my corporations class in law school. I was maybe 8 weeks pregnant at the time.

The pain was absolutely incredible. I didn't know what was happening and ran to the nurse and begged for an ambulance.

And then the pain disappeared. It was so weird. I figured this was some weird pregnancy thing and canceled the ambulance and walked home. LOL!

A couple of weeks later I was on spring break with family when the pain started and did not go away. In the end I had to have surgery while pregnant to remove the cyst, which was huge, and I believe she removed many more during surgery.

The baby was fine, the rest of the pregnancy was fine, the next pregnancy had no issues, and now I have a 12 and 14 year old. You are lucky that you know what is happening if you feel any weird pain- the pain caused by torsion is horrible.

Oh my goodness! I'm glad things worked out for you, that sounds really scary.

I am worried about the pain of a potential torsion for sure!

The pain was like nothing else I have ever experienced- I thought I was dying. It was really scary but I’m grateful that I had the surgery in time. In the end everybody was safe and unharmed!

[Anonymous]

I had a 12 cm cyst I had to get removed while pregnant bc they were concerned it was malignant. It wasn’t and I’m fine and baby is now 5

[Anonymous]

I developed a large ovarian cyst during a pregnancy that miscarried at 16 weeks. The cyst was palpable from the exterior; when I first felt it I was a couple of months post miscarriage and had lost pregnancy weight and more from post miscarriage depression and I just thought I was feeling stuff I hadn’t felt for a while because I was a big overweight before I got pregnant.

Anyway a year later it was felt by the PA doing my internal exam at a GYN yearly, I was sent for scans and consult with a surgeon who wanted to take it out because the scans weren’t clear as to whether it was totally benign. It did end up being benign - I’m convinced that the pregnancy hormones caused the cyst to grow to what the surgeon described as ‘small nerf football’ sized. She never told me the centimeters although I’m sure it is in my medical records.

Sometimes I wish I’d just left it alone because removal of that ovary (and a bit of the other which also had smaller cyst so the surgeon chopped it up) basically tanked my health by putting me into perimenopause with truly awful symptoms when before the surgery I’d had no issues whatsoever and no pain of any kind from the cyst.

But doctors are paranoid about potential ovarian cancer so they tend to recommend aggressive treatment of cysts if they aren’t certain they are benign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a 12 cm cyst I had to get removed while pregnant bc they were concerned it was malignant. It wasn’t and I’m fine and baby is now 5

Similar story - I had a 10 cm cyst that I had removed while I was 22 weeks pregnant. I remained on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. My baby is now 18 and graduating high school in a week!