Bartholin's Cyst - Regret Or Remove?
Oct 3, 2013
I would like to share with the community that unless your Bartholin cyst is a real problem in your life, don't do it. From my own experience, and from what I have read from others on forums and sites, it seems pretty safe to say that many women who have had the surgery regret it. Ladies, it is not worth the pain. Many doctors completely play down the surgery and pass it off as being minor with little pain, fast recovery.
Here is my story: I had a small to med. size cyst, not bothersome at all..it was just there. I went to my yearly exam and the doc said, let's remove that. He explained that is was a simple, common surgery. So, I went in to remove it , expecting to be able to work the next day (ha!). I was given some shots of anesthesia, and then some more, during the surgery I felt pain...was administered more shots. I became completely nervous and entered panic, pleading for something to calm me down. Well, I went through it and I noticed there was a lot of blood and the doctor asked the nurse to help me up, the doctor left the room and I was bleeding so much, like all over the place. To make a long story short, the doctor found my out in the hospital hall and rushed me into surgery again (this time they put my ass to sleep). Come to find out, there was a vein behind the cyst that got cut during the surgery. Later on through research I discovered that this could cause the need for a blood transfusion! Thank goodness I didn't. I completely regret the surgery.It's been 8 days and I still can't drive or sit with both cheeks down in a chair, I'm still walking funny and my vagina looks weird. I love to run and swim and I would NEVER EVER have done this if I had known it was this painful and debilitating. So girls, unless it is a complete necessity and it is totally ruining your life, don't do it. And for those of you who do do it, demand an ultrasound to make sure there aren't any veins behind it, its your right. A lot of veins run through this area and if the doc cuts a vein, its a bad surprise and there is a chance you would need a blood transfusion if you loose too much blood and the doctor isn't prepared. Oh, and I was prescribed tylenol with codeine for the pain every 12 hours...I ended up in the emergency room the next day so they could give me something much stronger. Today, day 8 I didn't have to take any pain meds, but I still can't work/drive/sit normal/walk normal.
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i had a solid cyst removed on friday its worse than childbirth, i have had 4 babies so i should know. i am swollen black and blue,can not walk or sit down feel depressed,no one can understand how bad the pain is.in hospital they did give me morphine that did take the edge of the pain.but i am home now and it kills!. i've tried to think of things i can do to get the pain away like cold flannels. and spray with a shower nothing helps.
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If you're reading this, you may think you have a Bartholin's Cyst, or worse a painful Bartholin's Cyst Abscess. I'm just going to recount what happened to me so that you might be able to gauge if yours is similar, or if it has gotten infected, and may require the operation. In Hawaii where I'd been snorkeling for weeks, (sand granule?), suddenly a day after spirited intercourse, I felt something that felt like a sprained muscle about an inch and a half along and just under the skin at the beginning of the left inside side of my vaginal wall. It seemed to spread out and fade in pain but only a couple of days later I felt a very alarming, but not painful lump there, about the size of a small olive. When I got home I managed a bit of psychic reading and brought it up to a friend who apparently is the only one in my circle of female friends who'd ever heard of it or had one before. She'd had 3 in her life. She told me to take 2-3 very hot sitz baths a day with nothing else, no epsom salts. She said to gently massage it in the hot water. I started myself on Echinacea tincture, because that works for me for my immunity. My friend said that until it hurts, it is not infected, just clogged and filling up with the normal fluid. She said that it may itch or feel uncomfortable from swelling, but that the pain when it gets infected is unmistakable and fierce. So I bought a weird plastic sitz thingy with the bag and did that pretty religiously for 3 weeks. At about 4 weeks my lover and I tried to have intercourse, and that was pretty impossible because it hurt like I was a virgin again - ouch! So we waited and i continued to do the sitz thing, but by now I was at about 1 time a day. Over the course of these weeks, it would get slightly bigger, then shrink down a bit, back and forth. Sometimes it felt smaller after the sitz bath so I kept it up, though I never saw anything in the water to indicate it had drained. Right in the middle of week 6, (sheesh), it itched and felt a little uncomfortable so I did a sitz bath right in the middle of the day, when I was down to 1 time a day. She always told me to use water as hot as I could stand and I massaged it like usual - maybe I was doing anywhere from 8 mins to 20, but that day it was probably about 10. About 30 minutes afterward, I was walking and it just let loose, just a fairly small amount of slippery fluid that felt like I got my period. I went to the bathroom thinking that was what it was, and was relieved to find out the thing had just passed whatever blockage, opened and cleared. There was no odor or anything, it was nearly clear. I kept doing the sitz baths about 5 more times and that was that. 100 percent normal now. It was still pretty weird and inconvenient, and I really hope I never get it again, but for all the times I was considering hauling myself in to get it lanced, I'm really glad I waited and did what I did, because it worked. I'm sorry for the high detail, I just want to make sure that someone knows that they can handle this without surgery if this is what they have and it's not infected.
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It hurts when I sit down and sometimes when I walk. I have used a hot washcloth for compresses, I have used cold water to help maybe the swelling go down, I have even put a heating pad between my legs applying pressure on it when I sleep. I only noticed it a few days ago and thought it was an ingrown hair. I haven't had any sexual activity since October. It hurts to itch and touch it. It even hurts when I wipe after using the restroom. I'm trying as many home remedies as possible before telling my doctor because at the moment we are still trying to figure out if I'm going to have a strong pregnancy or not and I don't want anything getting infected.
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Have any of you ladies experienced a bartholin cyst that could've been questionable for herpes? How to tell the difference? I had some ache down in that area for a month when I would squeeze my legs together while sitting cross legged. Then one week was some slight itching and I looked, on the inside of the opening of vagina on left side was a marble sized like white ulcer, i went in to get it swabbed and it hurt when she swabbed it. The swab came back negative for herpes. It has since been 6 weeks and there is still some healing happening. Blood test for herpes came back negative but tested again and am waiting for results. We're anyone of you thinking herpes when you got your first Barth cyst? ( infected one) I think if it was bartholin cyst it was an infected one
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I just had my bartholin's cyst drained two days ago. I know it's healing there is no pain and the swelling has gotten smaller. But! Sometimes it hurts because it's kinda dry and tender and my skin is moving like it might be trying to go back to it original form. Is it normal that it hurts a lot when healing? I'm scared it might be because it's getting worst and not actually healing. Please help!
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I was diagnosed w/ Bartholin cyst that burned until it ruptured. Dr. Gave me antibiotics. How long will I bleed for?
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After roughly 5 years of experience with these beasts I opted to have my gland removed. I feel as though I've been through hell and back and almost feel a sense of obligation to share my story to those who may be going through the same thing. I know I wanted to know everything about them, so the least I can do is contribute my knowledge of the topic.
*I am NOT a medical professional and I am not dishing out medical advice, just sharing an experience*
I got my first abscess towards the end of my senior year of college. I'm now 27. I had the abscess drained by OB and it did not reappear until several years later. And guess when it decided to return? My honeymoon. My honeymoon was completely ruined. We were in the Dominican Republic and I noticed it starting to swell up the morning after we arrived. By that afternoon I was already starting to feel sluggish and almost like I had the flu. By the third day I was in bed with a 102 degree fever. I was too embarrassed and nervous to see an actual doctor in the Dominican so we went to the resort clinic and I faked a sinus infection knowing they would give me antibiotics. The antibiotics did not help (cephalexin) and I still had several days until I could get a flight back to the states. I writhed in pain for days, I didn't sleep for 3 days straight. I made a half-assed attempt at popping it WITH A NEEDLE. That is what desperation will do to you! The pain was so bad I had to stop and LAY DOWN IN THE AIRPORT when we were trying to get home. Do you know how disgusting and humiliating it is to lay down on the ground in an airport? I refused to get help until we got home. There is just something about getting cut open by someone you don't know in an unfamiliar place that is just unsettling...I cried for the entire day during the course of our 2 flights home. My husband rushed me to the ER as soon as we landed. The doctor lanced the abscess and gave me a word catheter. I felt amazing afterwards. It hurt to sit, but I could work from home and within a week I was back to normal. Story should end there with a happy ending, right?
Wrong.
Fast forward to a few months later and it's back. I tried the sitz baths, but it did not change. When it got big enough and I started to feel that awful flu-ish feeling, I saw my OBGYN who once again lanced it and inserted a catheter. Went home, did my sitz baths, back to normal in a week...
Fast forward another two months and I feel another one coming on. Once again, I got the catheter. Except this time my OB stated she made a larger incision than before. It hurt extremely bad this time. I cried at the pharmacy waiting for my pain meds and cephalexin. I almost couldn't make the drive home. That night, I got chills and noticed I was bleeding way more than normal. I also developed another high fever. By that time I was a veteran with the word catheter so I knew something was wrong. Me and my husband called local hospitals trying to figure out how to classify "too much blood loss". I toughed it out and tried to sleep through the night. I was sure it was infected and that it was bleeding too much. 3 days of bleeding with chills and fever, puss burst through the catheter, almost as if it had re-burst again after it was lanced. It was a horrible, horrible experience.
Later that winter it came back once again...like clockwork, I swear. This time I had a marsupilaization. The procedure seemed almost TOO good to be true. I felt way better afterwards than when I had the catheters. We even went out to eat that night! This blissful feeling lasted for 3 whole months! I know it seems odd, but when my husband and I were intimate after the incision healed and the stitches dissolved, it was better than it was before this whole mess started!
Too good to be true, you say? You are correct.
Here we are...summertime, a little over a year after my honeymoon disaster. On a holiday weekend I felt it coming back. I went and saw my OB and she said she would lance and insert a catheter. At that point, I finally took control of what I thought should be done and declined the catheter. I requested a lancing instead because at that point - I already know it will come back, so why go through the extra pain of the catheter? She lances it, it got infected (despite the antibiotics) and re-burst again a few days later. Same fever, same pain, no sleeping, etc. I cried once again, but this time not just because it hurt, but because I felt broken. I felt like it had officially taken over my life.
Before I left my OB's office the day I got it lanced again, we talked about a more permanent solution. I mentioned removing the gland entirely (because like you people, I troll the internet looking for all possible solutions to this thing) and she shrugged her shoulders and gave me an uneasy look suggesting that removing the gland was not something she would advise.
The fact that she wouldn't even hear it out made me feel a bit less comfortable with her even though she had been my OB for 14 years! I once again took to google and searched for the BEST gynecological surgeon in my area. I settled on one and set an appointment for a second opinion. My visit with her was borderline inspiring. She was so confident, she explained that I was considered an ideal candidate for the surgery and even went so far as to draw pictures of the actual procedure for me. It sounds weird, I know, but it helped. She sent me on my way and said to call back when I was ready. I called back two months later when I just barely felt another abscess coming on and she put me on the surgery calendar. I met with her the night before and even sat down with the anesthesiologist to get a very clear picture of how everything the next day would run. The surgery went great. I'm 3 weeks post-op and feeling really well. There is still a little pain, but definitely no bleeding. I'm used to healing really quickly so I keep expecting it to not hurt at all, but that is just unrealistic considering a gland was removed from my body.
I'm not going to tell anyone on here to go out and do the surgery. It is up to you.
Below is what did not work for me.
Sitz baths
Tea tree oil
Epsom salts
Silicia
Serrapeptase
Probiotics (these are good for you anyway)
Drawing salves
Massaging the area
Steam/warm compresses
Ice packs
Antibiotics
Calamine lotion
The Bartholin Cyst Miracle e-book
Here is a little procedure cheat-sheet for those who may be unfamiliar:
Lancing - the area is numbed with a topical anesthetic, again with local anesthetic and a small incision is made into the abscess/cyst to allow the built up puss to drain. **soooo gross**
Word Catheter - incision is made similar to the above, except a small tube with a balloon on the end is inserted into the hole. This allows the hole to remain open and encourages the cyst to continue to drain. My first doctor said the catheter should stay in place for a few days. The internet told me 4 weeks. My second doctor that performed my excision also said it should have stayed in for at least a few weeks.
Marsupialization - incision is made per the above and instead stitched open to allow the hole to remain open. From what I've heard, this has been a permanent solution for some! Not for me, but I definitely preferred it over the catheter.
Gland Excision - exactly that. The entire gland is removed. Recovery time is around 6 weeks, pain is mild, I was also warned that disfigurement is a possibility, but that was not the case for me. Yes, I've looked at it.
It may be too early to tell if my surgery has a good prognosis, however, my doctor did say she was able to remove almost all of the gland. It is important to know that the gland is so small and the area is so vascular, that it can sometimes be difficult for the surgeon to remove the entire mechanism. Understanding how much was removed will help you better figure out your chance for recurrence.
Well friends, I wish everyone on here the best of luck with this awful condition. It blows my mind that this disorder doesn't get a whole lot of attention considering how life altering it really can be. I leave you with just a few of my mantras for battling this crap: you are not alone, you are not broken, and you are not crazy. Do your research, don't be afraid to get second opinions and do what you feel is best for your body and your well being.
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ive read through all the posts but it doesn't seem as though anyone has spoken about a solid cyst...i've had one for a few months now and its half a pea size, it doesn't hurt and it's near the surface of the skin as it looks yellow/white in colour
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Every time I feel an abscess coming I do this very simple steps and trust me! Trust me! when I say INSTANT RELIEF! I've had bartholin abscess recurrence since 8 years ago. I've had it maybe 15 times. I've tried everything except surgery. I just did these steps literally 10 minutes ago because I felt an abscess coming and when I checked my vagina I was right my right labia was starting to swell up.
All you need is q-tips or cotton swabs, and a mirror. (I use the magnifying mirror it's easier to see) Sit on the toilet, place the mirror in front of your vagina so you can see. Find your bartholin duct/opening... Using your index and middle finger spread the labia - I don't know if it's the same for everyone but my bartholin opening is just right beside my clitoris. It's a very small hole. Position the q-tip/swab on the swollen gland then press to squeeze the puss out. Keep doing it until the gland is empty. The relief ahhhh if I had known this procedure 8 years ago (I discovered it by accident -(tried everything out of desperation) omg all those suffering from pain and not being able to walk and sit.
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I've had a series of cyst they normally go away by themselves but today my doctor told me i have a complex cysts and they are going to draw blood to check if its benign. How rare is it to be cancerous? Does anyone know? I have had a lot of symptoms from pain, to nausea, bloating, etc and because of that i'm really scared. Does anyone know if it's better to remove the ovaries if you are proven to cyst and have had a possible scare
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When your son was born did you get your son circumcised and later regretted it? Did you have another son and opted NOT to circumcise him?
I have one boy and he is circumcised, then a few days post circumcision I deeply regretted it seeing how it looked as it was healing. After 5 mos it healed, but he did experience penile adhesion which I had to gently pull the skin back over the course of 2 weeks so as not to cause him great discomfort. I felt bad for having him circumcised during that time, but after that all was well. My sister had gone through the same thing with her son, and we corrected the penile adhesion before it was completely fused. Now my dilemma is, I'm greatly concerned about going through this again if I should have another son (my gut feeling tells me I'm having a boy) and I dont want to get him circumcised, however my husband feels differently. And I told him to research the pros and cons so he can make an informed decision. Instead of just saying "it looks better".
Does anyone else have at least two boys, one who is circumcised and one who isn't?
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The fireworks went off, its new year. I've never felt so alone and depressed. I'd been thinking about my life, and I can't stand it anymore.
Is it true that there can never be a second chance in life? I made mistakes and I regret it; I want to start anew, but life just doesn't seem to work that way. When a part of your life crumbles, the rest will follow. I am a college dropout since August, and my family just gives me hell. They mock me in every chance given to them, stating how useless and helpless I am wasting my life, and everything that I do is bad, useless and stupid according to them. My friends look down on me, and many of them take joy in my condition now.
I don't know who to turn to, or who to trust anymore. Everyone just seems to be against everything I do. I don't know how to pick myself up again, since everything I do is judged. I am very very sad inside, but I can't even cry. No one will pity me.
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I had a Tubal Ligation about 10 months ago, when my was born. It was my decision, my husband just went along with whatever I decided. I think I decided to quick and will possibly have it reversed, but the cost is so high and there are no guarantees The problem is I don't know why I am so sad I did this. I've felt this way since they placed my newest angel in my arms. Does anyone have this feeling of Major Regret?
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I am wondering if anyone has had an elective colectomy and regretted it.
I am 27, and have had ulcerative colitis for 6 years (5 years diagnosed). I have 2 young children, work part time and study at an online university.
i have been on sulfasalazine since being diagnosed and used codeine to manage the pain during flares. While pregnant with both my children my colitis was basically non existant and other that the standard discomforts of pregnancy I felt fantastic, after each pregnancy however, my colitis has become worse.
Since the birth of my daughter 10 months ago I have been in a near constant flare. A good day for me is around 10 bowel movements, all ranging from soft to water, and very painful.
i am currently dependent on prednisone to keep my symptoms at a minimum and the codeine is no longer helping with the pain. I recently was given 6MP to try, however I had a reaction to it and am unable to continue taking it. I have been told that this limits the remaining treatment options available.
i am strongly considering having an elective total colectomy in order to rid myself of the disease for good. I want my life back, I want to be able to enjoy my children and my husband, i want to be able to give them all my time rather than being stuck in the loo or curled up in pain. I want to be able to socialise again and enjoy my work. Basically i want my life back.
Every story I have read for people who have had a colectomy wish they had done it sooner. I really want to know if anyone regrets it?
I will be seeing my dr again in a couple of week so I am keen to arm myself with as much information as possible prior to that appointment.
My husband is very supportive and agrees that it is probably be the best option for us. When i spoke to my mum about it she yelled at me about it being a stupid idea, but she doesn't see the struggle I have everyday.
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I am going for surgery on a large cyst. I am expecting a baby so I am anxious about having to have surgery during this time. Has anyone been through similar and were ok and the baby was ok?
Also what were your experiences of the surgery pain relief and stitches etc?? Did it take you long to recover. Also if anyone has had this surgery pregnant or not I would love to hear from you but if you were what stage of pregnancy did you have surgery?
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I had a simple 13cm cyst removed from my broad ligament (next to ovary) at the end of June. It had been causing me issues for at least 6 months, including sharp pains, which I thought were linked to the digestive system at first. I had a laparoscopy and feel much better in myself.
The week before surgery, I began to noticeably lose hair from my head. It's now been coming out for nearly 8 weeks. Luckily I had a lot of hair to start with but I've now had to have it cut shorter as looked awful and I must have lost half my hair or more. :o( I've had blood tests and everything seems fine, so Dr thinks it must have been the stress that the cyst was putting on my body, esp with sharp pains etc. I have found this link to PCOS but not large cysts and wondered if anyone else had suffered in the same way and if so, how long the hair loss continued?
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is it healthy if i want to remove adjust skin on my penis .. is it have a side effect of it
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how do you remove protein from urine, I got it from using certain kind of chemo.
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I had an IUD paragard inserted in the16th of this month and I was feeling terrible " back pain dizziness blurry visions ..." So I tried to remove it myself and I hurt myself I think, and when I told my husband he took me to the ER and they remove it, it was no pain at all, two days after that I had sex and my husband was kinda ruff and when I went to the bathroom I found blood and I'm still bleeding sense.
Is my uterus hurt or had scars and why? Did I have sex too early?
I just want to know why I'm bleeding?
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hi I have three week pregnancy and I want to remove it,may I use cytotec pills ....
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