Removing cysts while pregnant

ltjchicklet · Newbie Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

For the past few months I'm pretty positive I've had cysts. I did some research on the symptoms and came to the conclusion on my own because once I had gone in to the doctor to have it looked at and all she did was due a pelvic exam and send me on my way. The cyst always dissolved with every menstrual period and I'd be fine. Now... I'm pregnant, which has not given the cyst an opportunity to dissolve, and it hurts real bad during intercourse sometimes like it did before.
I already have an OBGYN and I'm about to make my first appointment at 6 weeks. I was wondering if anyone else has ever had cysts removed while pregnant and how that worked out for them? What is the procedure like?

ImmortalOne · Gold Member Joined: 05 Jan 2007 Posts: 437

You need to let your doctor know your concern and have an u/s done immediately. While cysts in pregnancy are not uncommon, there is actually a cyst called a corpus litum which helps to maintain a pregnancy up till the first 14 weeks (sometimes earlier), they are not always needing to be removed. Usually it goes away on its own after the first trimester when the placenta takes over production and support.

Unless the cyst is more than 6cm they will not remove the cyst during your pregnancy. If it is more than 6cm they need to monitor the cyst every 2 weeks and check the size to see if it is growing or not because the safest time to remove the cyst is between weeks 13 and weeks 18 of your pregnancy (some doctors told me narrower 13-16 weeks).

There is risk of pre-term labor any later, and miscarriage previous. More so there will always be a risk of you losing your baby during the surgery and post-op, I do not want to scare you here, but these are the facts. Also they will not want to give you any medications (anesthesia, morphine, vicodine) unless the baby reaches 12 weeks because for the most part after that it just needs to grow (per my doctors during my personal situation).

Also depending on the size of the cyst will depend if you are considered high risk or not, and will (should) be transferred appropriately. If the cyst does get larger than 6cm, you want a doctor who is familiar with these situations, for me I was lucky that mine had done many of them and were confident.

As far as having one removed, I had one that was 20cm x 18cm x 18cm removed when I was 12 weeks 5 days pregnant (Feb 17, 07). It was horribly nerve wracking not only because of how much pain I was in by that point, but because of having major surgery while pregnant. The incision is still healing and I am off work for another 3 weeks to heal. I couldn't do anything on my own, and even now I am not allowed to do housework, just fold clothing. I can tell you more about the procedure itself, or what happened, and so forth if you need. It is my hope your cyst however goes away on its own or is not larger than 6cm.

On the good side of things, even though I am not 100% the removal of my large tumor (which it was classified and luckily it was not cancer), my baby is doing extremely well and I am 15 weeks 3 days pregnant! Everytime he/she moves around I feel comforted that things are still "okay".

ltjchicklet · Newbie Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 13

Thank you soooo much! I had no idea there was a cyst that actually helped along a pregnancy. That's amazing. Thank you so much for your advice.... that helps a million!

ImmortalOne · Gold Member Joined: 05 Jan 2007 Posts: 437

I'm glad that this helped you. I was so scared during my experience, for 2 1/2 months we didn't want to do anything that might "jinx" things, except pick out a name for our baby. Make sure you talk to your doctor, so they can monitor things! Keep me posted on how things go and if you need anything else please let me know!

Removing cysts while pregnant

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