Ovarian Cyst

💙STILLLL in #ovariancancerawarenessmonth SO now we discuss WHAT HAPPENS when you’ve FOLLOWED @biglovefiercejuju dictum of “it’s LIKELY NOTHING BUT LETS CHECK IT OUT!” After you’ve noticed 2 weeks of PERSISTENT “bloating or pain or pressure” in your pelvis and you’ve GONE to your doc, asked or been offered a pelvic sono (NOT as a “screening” test but now as a “diagnostic test” since you’ve had symptoms and…
‼️your doc says “SO you DO have an ovarian cyst BUT bc it’s “simple and clear” OR bc it looks benign based on its “size”, our next step is to Repeat the sono in 6 to 8 weeks to ensure that the cyst has either gone away completely or has stayed the same size”
⁉️should you freak out at this point? (Hell no! First of all because this is nothing to freak out about, ovarian cysts are incredibly common and in fact every single ovary-toting human will probably experience them in their lifetime whether or not they knows it because it’s merely a function of ovulation- There are many other kinds of cyst as well, some of which need to be more aggressively followed up on depending on certain features… But please remember another ism of mine: “NEVER in the history of EVER has freaking out helped”
‼️ instead, you should call me listen to what she has to say and then appropriately follow up at whatever intervals she suggests (again typically if we see a cyst that we’re not worried about we will suggest a short interval like 6 to 8 weeks to allow one or two periods to pass As most cysts will regress in… Those that do not may need further just “watchful waiting” or occasionally they may need other radiology tests like an MRI and occasionally they may even need surgery…
⁉️ it can be very easy to be proactive about your discomfort, go have an ultrasound done, then be frustrated at the fact that someone has found a cyst that needs follow up when in the end MOST of time that cyst will not mean anything dangerous, & the tendency will be to think “then why did we bother now I’ve had to miss work , now I may be even had to pay for this test, all for nothing because it turned out to be nothing“…BUT it’s not ALWAYS nothjng so the best way to SURVIVE is to find the SOMETHING!