ovarian cysts | common female pelvic diseases pt. 4

In this episode of Stellar Cycles, we’re diving into the topic of ovarian cysts, a common condition that many women experience. I’ll break down the differences between ovarian cysts and conditions like PCOS, along with the various types of cysts—functional and pathological. 

We’ll cover the symptoms to watch for, potential complications, how ovarian cysts are diagnosed, and the treatment options available. While most cysts are generally benign, I’ll emphasize the importance of monitoring and staying informed about your health. Whether you’re dealing with ovarian cysts or just want to learn more, this episode is packed with valuable insights and support resources. 

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Transcript

Alina: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Stellar Cycles podcast, your hot girl database for all things pertaining to your femininity, your cycle and wellness, and your walk in life. As a woman, I am your host, Elena, and today we're going to be talking about ovarian cysts. this is the fourth and final part of our common female pelvic diseases series. the goal of today's episode is for us to understand how ovarian cysts form, how they differ from the condition PCOS and the ways in which they affect female health. As in with the other episodes, we're also going to be talking about how their symptoms can show up, how this condition is diagnosed, as well as what are the usual treatment options that doctors like to offer their patients suffering from ovarian cysts. I just want to thank you guys for sticking through this series. I know it could feel a little bit more heavily academic, but at the same time, I really hope that I've broken down and distilled this information in ways that are more easier to understand for you guys. before we get so so before we get into this episode, I know you guys have been missing some of the updates that I used to do at the beginning of each episode, but I have like two just jumping into the episode and the topic straight away. So I will have my personal updates towards the end of this episode. and if you're interested in hearing about those, just stick around till the end. let's get into this ovarian cysts episode. as always, we like to start these kinds of episodes with why do we need to talk about ovarian cysts? Why is that important for us to learn about them in 2024? Well, the truth of the matter is they are very, very, very common. most women will develop a cyst on their ovary at some point in life, especially during their reproductive years. And this isn't meant to scare you or throw you into panic, because these topics are important for us to know about because it brings awareness to conditions like these and helps us destigmatize them and be able to talk about them more freely and normalize the fact that a lot of people go through this and deal with it a lot of the time silently. And I know that talking about things can definitely help with going through any sort of issues. So that is also another reason why we want to talk about ovarian cysts. Also, I'm bringing up this topic because of the asymptomatic nature of ovarian cysts, but again, just because you might have them, it is not to cause worry. There are healthy types of cysts and so they can turn problematic, which we will get into and talk about. the earlier that we can detect them, the earlier we can seek treatment or avoid complications such as a rupture of a cyst or torsion. All will be described down the line here. We also want to clear up the confusion between ovarian cysts and PCOS or even fibroids, which can be hard to differentiate without this proper understanding because it's all within our female reproductive system. And a lot of people who don't know the difference between all of this might use them interchangeably. we already talked about fibroids. So if you're interested in that episode, refer to the fibroid episode Which came out last week. But for the purpose of this episode, specifically about sex, let's just kind of forget about the fibroids, because fibroids are contained to the uterus. They're formed and they grow in the uterine muscle tissue. And ovaries are not made for muscle tissue. They are a gland that produces hormones, that produces your eggs. So we're just going to stick just to the ovaries for the most part when talking about cysts. Also, if it helps to kind of know the difference between a cyst in a fibroid, a cyst is going to be made up of a little sac of fluid, whereas a fibroid is kind of a dense bundle of tissue, while not every cyst can pose a problem, we do need to learn about the ones that may have an impact on your fertility down the line because cysts of course affect ovary function. Another reason why we are talking about ovarian cysts today is because your knowledge of how to manage your symptoms and what kind of treatment options you might have is very, very highly important and very empowering. And we also want to take a look at the warning signs and also understanding any sort of cyst complications that can become a lot more serious and sometimes even life threatening. And also just take a minute to understand that cysts do have an impact on our mental health. They can lead to anxiety and stress and kind of how we can best mitigate that. This episode will also help, you know, what kind of resources and support you have access to. And, you know, we're just after breaking the silence as well as advocating for women's health. finally, we're going to also take a look at when it's important to monitor them and how to prevent them from turning cancerous. So let's get into the definition of ovarian cysts. ovarian cysts are fluid filled sacs that can develop on or inside your ovary. They are incredibly common and mostly harmless. So there's going to be two types of cysts. There's functional cysts and pathological cysts. Functional says means that they are there for a reason. They have a job to do. First and foremost, let's talk about follicular cysts. Throughout this podcast, throughout many of our episodes, we talk about follicles on the ovary, which are the little cysts that contain your egg and how, while it matures, follicles are meant to burst during your ovulation to help release that egg into the pelvis to be fertilized. And this is really important because this is a metric that we use in the ultrasound world, which is that a typical functional, healthy cyst like this should be no bigger than two and a half centimeters when it starts getting larger than that. Then they start classifying it as like a problematic or unhealthy cyst. The next one that we have is a corpus lutz cyst. This is a very special little structure that forms on your ovary right after you ovulate. So when your little follicle bursts and releases that egg in its place forms a little thing called a Corpus Lutyens cyst. So it has a network of blood vessels and it also produces progesterone, which is the hormone that we, a lot of the time that we should normally experience during the latter part of our cycle, usually during the luteal phase. So the Corpus Lithium sister has a very special job to do because after you ovulate, the body hopes that you get pregnant, right? So the cyst stays on your ovary in hopes of helping to sustain a potential pregnancy. They'll usually go away once you do start your period or if you are pregnant, they will stick around for a few weeks to create that hormone progesterone to support the little fetus for the beginning part of the pregnancy. Either way, both follicular cysts in corpus luteal cysts follow a cycle. They're on a schedule and typically they resolve on their own. Next section is why people seek medical help for their cysts, and those are called pathological or problems cysts. Now these are less common than those functional cysts that are supposed to be there, and they can be associated with several conditions. We already talked about endometriosis, which is the condition where your endometrial tissue, which should only be on the inside of your uterus, starts growing outside of the uterus starts growing on the ovaries, the bladder, the rectum. And when endometriosis starts growing on the ovaries, you can have a thing called a chocolate cyst, also known as a endometrium. And the reason this is called a chocolate cyst is because it's not like a clear fluid filled sac, like a normal cyst. It can contain endometrial tissue or blood. The next type of pathological cyst is I don't know if you guys have ever heard of women having, like, teeth and hair and bones, kind of like growing in their pelvis. Well, that's a very specific type of tumor called a moist. And the reason that these can happen is because germ cells, which are the cells that we develop our teeth, our bones, our skin, our hair from those all start from very, very tiny type of cells called the germ cells. And we all have germ cells in our ovaries. Sometimes, for whatever reason, they can be set off and they start growing on your ovaries, which I've seen before in the clinical setting. And it's definitely pretty strange. Next, you could have multiple large cysts and a lot of the time this can happen from a condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. So the ovaries have been overworked. This could be from using fertility medication that tries. To stimulate your ovaries to ovulate and help you get pregnant. So a side effect of this can be those multiple large cysts on the ovaries. And of course, another type of pathological cyst that could be a problem is just a cyst that gets so big that it poses a risk of rupturing inside your pelvis or twisting the ovary on itself, which would eventually cut off the blood supply to the ovary. And we do have an episode for reference. It's called When Your Ovaries Act Up. With my friend and sonographer Shauna and this in this episode, she talks about her personal experience of nearly losing her life to a huge ruptured cyst that was on her ovary. And it led to internal bleeding that led to these crazy surgeries. She knew nothing about this happening until she was going through this crazy, severe pain and nausea and fainting from the amount of blood she was losing. So if you want to learn more about that, that's a great episode to go back to. when it comes to ovarian cysts, what are going to be their signs and symptoms? How can you tell if maybe you could be suffering from an ovarian cysts? So a lot of the time, especially if they're functional, they're doing their job, they are going to be small and they're going to be asymptomatic. But those larger or problematic says could be more noticeable by a pelvic pain. This could be really dull, sharp or just achy pain. And it's often it'll often happen on the side where the sister's present. So we have two ovaries on each side, the left over in the right ovary and whichever one is affected by that super large cyst. That's kind of where you might be feeling some sort of pain. You could also be having more painful menstrual periods or pain during sexual intercourse. Another symptom that comes along with cysts is abdominal bloating, super unpleasant, and it can also lead to irregular periods. Because cysts are on our ovaries, they can mess with our hormonal regulation and our hormonal output. So this could lead to either heavier or lighter bleeding. One of the two you can also have missed periods and when cysts get big enough, they can even have an effect on your bowel and your colon. So this could look like constipation or pain when you're eliminating because those cysts, once they get big enough, they can start pressing on nearby organs and kind of messing with their function and could also be felt in bladder pressure and you could see some changes in urination. another more serious symptom that people might experience when they have ovarian cysts is nausea and vomiting. This is especially when the cysts get large or they rupture or they twist on themselves. This could also be from the significant pain of experiencing these types of complications that could lead to nausea and vomiting, because the pain is so great that your body just that's how it reacts. Also, any sort of pelvic pain that you might have could from any sort of pelvic pain that you might have from the cysts, could actually expand to your lower back or your thighs just because of the extra pressure in your body. final symptom could be unexplained weight gain. So let's say you have these large heavy cysts in your body, these collections of fluid that can be a reason for unexplainable weight gain. speaking of cyst complications, what could happen if things get worse? So a lot of the times women who are going through a complication with their ovarian cysts, they'll feel sudden, severe abdominal or pelvic pain. Usually this is due to rupture or torsion. Rupture is when the cyst bursts. And this is really dangerous because internal bleeding of any sort is life threatening and is going to require you to have emergency care right away. Then torsion is dangerous because when a cyst gets large enough on the ovary, it can make the ovary twist over on itself. And there's blood vessels, right, that go to the ovary. And when the ovary twists, It can cut off that blood supply that supplies the ovary and helps it do its work. And that will also manifest in very severe, sharp pain. Another sign of complication is fever. And this could be a sign of infection because of a ruptured cyst. This also would require you to seek immediate medical attention. Also, if you're going through something really serious with an ovarian cysts, you might be feeling faint or dizzy. So if it is something like rupture or torsion, it's going to affect your blood flow and affect your blood pressure. And finally, rapid breathing just from the shock of what your body is going through. those are signs and symptoms going all the way from very normal to very complex and complicated. a very important reason why we're talking about ovarian cysts is because we want to get down to the difference between what ovarian cysts are and PCOS, which stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Right? So there's a lot of similarities in both of those words. But like we previously stated, ovarian cysts are a normal part of the cycle. Unless they become a problem, such as they get too big or they're composed of something else other than that clear functional fluid. So that's going to be ovarian cysts. PCOS is a syndrome, which means it's a collection of imbalances that makes up that condition and disorder. And for someone to be diagnosed with PCOS, there has to be three criteria that they meet. First, being irregular periods. Second, being higher levels of male hormones. And third, being lots of very, very, very small follicles in the ovary that never mature, which affects their ovulation, affects their fertility. Another reason or another differentiation is that PCOS is very often linked to blood sugar levels, hormonal imbalance, as well as genetic factors. So it's not caused by simple ovarian cysts. Also, people with PCOS will have symptoms like extra hair growth where women are not supposed to have hair growth like on the chest or on the face. Acne that's incredibly hard to get rid of. And male pattern baldness. These are all results that come from having extra male hormones in the body. Also with PCOS, there's weight gain and a very high difficulty in losing that way and a difficulty in conceiving naturally. So that's kind of the difference between just having ovarian cysts and having the condition of PCOS. That's a collection of these imbalances. if you are concerned that maybe you might have ovarian cysts, how would you get diagnosed? Well, first you would go into your doctor and the doctor would, first and foremost take a look at your medical history. Okay. What kind of symptoms are you experiencing? Do they align with any of those symptoms that we just went over? They're also going to take a deeper look at your menstrual cycle and your fertility history. They're going to look okay. Have your periods been regular? Have you been missing a lot of periods? Do you have a heavier flow or a lighter flow? What does this look like? And also, they're going to look at your past medical conditions. Have you had ovarian cysts in the past? Have you ever been diagnosed with and Dimitrios PCOS are going to take all of that into account. The first step is usually just a normal pelvic exam where the doctor will feel around inside of you and the doctor might be able to feel swollen or tender ovaries, which can help get you to the diagnosis. But it's not a definitive way of diagnosing, especially if those cysts are smaller or if they're asymptomatic. They're not causing you any problems. The next way that they're going to take a look is with ultrasound, transvaginal ultrasound, where they put the probe inside of you and kind of skin around is typically the most reliable. But if the cysts are pretty big, then just moving the probe over your tummy, which is called the trans abdominal way, is kind of the go to either way. There's two different options and the purpose of doing an ultrasound to look at your cysts is to look at their size, their shape, their location, their composition. What are they made up of? Is it mostly clear fluid? Is there something else floating around in there? Does it look like there's bones in that? Could it be a derm wide tumor? And this kind of helps them to differentiate. Okay. Are these benign, just like simple cysts that we don't need to be concerned about? Or could they be potentially cancerous or something else that would require removing them immediately? If cancer is a concern, they're going to do a blood test called see a 125. They might also do a MRI because MRI gives more detailed imaging. It's kind of like an overall snapshot of the entire body. Another way that they might look at the cysts is through laparoscopy, which is inserting a very tiny camera into a very tiny incision in your abdomen, which will not only see the cysts, but it can be used to remove them right away if need be. And finally, to complete the diagnosis, they are going to make you they could they could have you take a pregnancy test just to make sure that it's not one of those little corpus blue team sets that we talked about earlier that's actually necessary to be there to support a developing fetus. So what are the risk factors to developing ovarian cysts? Well, honestly, just being a woman of reproductive age with hormones, because this can happen from just typical hormonal fluctuations over the cycle of a reproductive age woman. They can also happen in pregnancy and they can happen with conditions like endometriosis, PCOS. So what are going to be the ovarian cyst treatments? What do the side effects look like? What are the options that we are given at the current medical landscape? If ovarian cysts are something that is interfering with your life, interfering with your ability to do things. the most basic and easiest one is going to be if they discover a cyst in your pelvis, on your ovary, but it's doesn't give you any symptoms, does not cause you any problems. The doctor might just continue to monitor it, keep an eye on it, just to make sure it doesn't change into something worse, that it's not growing, it's not changing in its shape, or that it's not becoming more complicated based on the things inside it. They're just going to keep an eye on it. The next step is going to be hormonal birth control pills. Unfortunately, this is kind of the go to for a lot of these kind. Editions that we've talked about. what birth control pills are going to do in this scenario with ovarian cysts is they're not going to shrink existing cysts, but they could potentially help prevent new cysts from forming. Side effects of hormonal birth control are things like nausea, breast tenderness, weight gain and mood changes. These are all very common. Many of us, if not all of us, have experienced these side effects from a birth control pill. Another one that's more serious is going to be blood clots, especially if on birth control for a very long time or even a higher risk if you are a smoker. Next, they might recommend some over-the-counter pain relief such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen. This is just going to help you deal with any sort of mild to moderate pain that you might feel, any discomfort that you might feel in your pelvis from the cysts. However, a side effect of those is that it can really irritate your stomach lining or burn ulcers through it if you're taking them for a long time or for prolonged periods or on an empty stomach. Now, in the medical field. a lot of the time they'll have us measure it on ultrasound. And if it's greater than three centimeters, well, that's a cyst. We're going to keep an eye on it. But if it's symptomatic and if it's causing you problems in your life, they might offer surgery. This is if the cyst, again, is large, if it's persistent, if there is any sort of cancer that's suspected, and there's a couple different types of procedures that they might do. these being. Laparoscopy laparotomy. Cystectomy for up to me, I'm going to go into each and every one of these. with a laparoscopy, that's the one where they put in a little tiny camera through a really tiny hole in your body. And this is usually used for smaller benign cysts that they're not too worried about. Side effects of this type of procedure could be mild pain, some discomfort at your incision site, bloating, fatigue. But it's usually goes pretty easy and recovery at time will be up to one week next. You might have to have laparotomy, which is open surgery that cut through the layers of tissue of your stomach and they're going to open you up. And this is usually reserved for large, complicated or cancerous cysts. And they might just remove the cyst or the entire ovary, depending on how invasive it is. this is a little bit more serious of a surgery because as side effects go, you might take from for up to six weeks to recover. There could be pain scarring, infection risk. And for anybody undergoing any sort of anesthesia, you could have an adverse reaction to the anesthesia. Next, we have a procedure called a cystectomy, which is a removal of the cyst. But they're really careful to preserve your ovary. This is especially for women who want to maintain their fertility and be able to still have kids down the line. And finally, The most extreme. One, I would say, is the euphoric to me, which is a removal of the ovary. If that system is very large, if it keeps coming back or if it's cancerous, they're going to go ahead and remove the ovary. If they only have to remove one ovary, then your fertility is still intact. But if both ovaries are removed, that's going to induce the patient into menopause, which could lead to things like hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, risk of osteoporosis and heart disease. And that's because without your ovaries, you're not producing the hormones that you need in order to function. And so when women go into menopause, that's because their ovaries are producing less and less and less female hormones. And that's why you would probably experience the same symptoms of menopause if your ovaries were to be surgically removed. Of course, this could also lead to psychological effects, especially for women who might still have the hope to have children or, you know, feel like it affects their fertility in any sort of way. As always, we like to touch on how a healthy lifestyle and a good diet can help. And although it might not impact with assists directly, it can definitely help with maintaining your reproductive health, with managing weight, etc. just kind of doing your part to stay on top of it. For more complicated cases, such as rupture and torsion with rupture. Surgery is immediately required to handle internal bleeding Because you could be bleeding out inside your body. They're going to want to go in and cauterize, which means singe and burn the blood vessels that have been broken and are causing you to lose blood within your body. That is a process called courter ization and with ovarian torsion, that's also an emergency surgery because once they find that you, your ovary twisted on itself, it's lost its blood supply. The clock is ticking. Now they have to save your ovary. So they might have to go in and untwist or even end up removing your ovaries. So a big side effect of this type of situation is a loss of the ovary. So what is the future outlook for women with cysts on their ovaries? While generally it's pretty positive. Most cysts are benign. They're asymptomatic and will typically resolve on their own, especially the functional ones. However, in complicated cases, choosing the appropriate treatment is going to be your best bet. It will normally lead to full recovery when it comes to fertility in your ability to have kids that can be preserved for the most part, unless both of the ovaries are severely affected or removed. The risk for ovarian cancer is pretty low with CIS, but of course they're going to regularly monitor them. This is key for women who are having large or persistent or complex cysts. I want to let you guys know where you can find education and support, especially if you're suffering from ovarian cysts yourself. First and foremost is going to be your doctor and health care team. That's why it's really important to pick the doctors that you vibe the most with, that you feel safe with, that you feel like you guys are working together on this problem to get you to better health. that's going to be number one because they can point you to so many more resources, support groups, education and just things outside of the office that you can go and seek support from. Also, there's lots of online pages and forums, but as always, like I say, take this with a grain of salt and just make sure that the information that you're seeking out is fact checked and that you're getting real stuff. And not just people who are just spewing whatever they want to say. There's non-profits such as the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance that you can get involved with and learn more about and you can find local support groups. Again, your doctor and your health care team could probably point you towards that. You can always seek help through mental health professionals. And this doesn't just mean any sort of therapist or counselor. I would greatly suggest and advise you to seek out someone who has experience with helping women with dealing with any sort of reproductive health concerns. And finally, you can also seek help and support from reproductive health clinics such as Planned Parenthood. Yes. It's not just what you think it's for. It's also offers a wide range of health services to women from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of socioeconomic status. So there'll be those. And also you can look around for specialty women's health centers. Well, all right. Let's wrap this episode up, you guys. So we've been talking about ovarian cysts, those pesky little or sometimes big fluid filled sacs that can pop up on our ovaries. They are pretty common. And most of the time, as we found out in today's episode, they're not a big deal. But it's always good to know what's going on with our bodies. Right? in this episode, we've covered the whole spectrum from the harmless functional says that come and go with our cycles to the more troublesome ones that might need a doctor's attention. remember the symptoms that we talked about? We have things like pelvic pain, wonky periods, feeling bloated. If you're experiencing these, it might be worth a chat with your doctor. The good news is that most of the time these cysts are going to be totally benign and often sort themselves out on their own. But if they do need treatment, there's options from birth control to surgery and more serious cases. And the key is staying in tune with your body and keeping up with those regular check ups. And ladies, there's a ton of support out there if you need it all the way from your health care team to online communities. Just know that you're not alone in whatever you're experiencing. So keep taking care of yourself, stay informed and remember your health matters. thank you guys for joining me on this episode and completing the Common Female Pelvic Disorders Series. Don't forget to check out the other episodes if you haven't yet where you talk about endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids. And we finish with this episode about ovarian cysts. All right, it's time for a few personal updates. I'm going to keep this pretty brief just to touch base with you guys, but it's kind of crazy But when this episode drops, and as you're listening to it, I'm about halfway through my pregnancy and we are having a girl. So that is pretty exciting. It's definitely time to start planning for things like planning the baby shower planning. Where are we going to put her in this apartment. Where are we going to have all of her baby things? So, yeah, it's it's definitely been a very sweet journey. And me and my husband are pretty excited about it. And it's just been wonderful connecting with certain people in my life and just seeing the support and love come from them. I've also been taking on lots of projects but feeling very creative, going to be finishing up some things around the house that I feel really, really good about. The energy and the vibe and the theme that I'm bringing into my 27th year is completion. I know that I can get very excited about starting new things and new projects and new ideas and get very carried away with it. But it doesn't go anywhere because I just kind of like leave it halfway through. So what I'm focusing on for the last quarter of this year is completing the things that I said I'd do this year, and that's been feeling very, very good. Finally, I have been making Pilates a part of my fall routine, which has been so great. I go three times a week, two days out of the week. I go for like a regular Pilates exercise, which can be pretty demanding. But on the weekend I will go and I'll do a therapeutic stretch for a whole hour, which is just a Pilates class, completely focused on stretching. But the timeless come for me to go and pick up my husband from the airport. So thank you guys for joining this episode. Don't forget to follow along on Instagram at Stellar Cycles pod. if you have a moment, please give this a five star rating. If you enjoy this podcast and if you are feeling extra generous, I would love to read any review that you leave for me. Till next time, Stella cycles out.