When you have an ovarian cyst that ruptures, you may feel like you are dying. The pain is such that some people can no longer walk or lose consciousness. But even if it’s very painful, it’s often harmless, reassures a gynecologist.
“I felt like I had been impaled”
Sara Michèle had two ruptured ovarian cysts in two months.
“It happened to me both times while I was sleeping. I woke up feeling like a sword going through my stomach. I felt like I had been impaled,” she says.
When the cyst first ruptured, she had to crawl to the bathroom, where she vomited before fainting.
“I lay on the bathroom floor for hours. At one point, I managed to call 811. They told me to take Tylenol and I lost consciousness again,” she says.
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The second time, Sara Michèle managed to get to her parents’ room before losing consciousness. After spending 24 hours in pain, she went to an emergency clinic, where the pelvic ultrasound detected nothing.
“They didn’t give me an explanation, so I did my research on the internet. I saw testimonials from people who had an ovarian cyst that exploded and it sounded like what I had experienced.
What is an ovarian cyst?
An ovarian cyst is a lump that grows on the ovary. Basically, there are two types: functional and non-functional.
- Functioning cysts normally form on the follicle (the part of the ovary that releases eggs). They may still bleed, but will go away over time.
- Non-functioning cysts, on the other hand, are abnormal clumps of cells created by mutations. In short, they are tumors. They are benign in the majority of cases, but some can be cancerous.
What causes a cyst to rupture?
The rupture of a cyst can be caused by ovulation itself, in the case of functional cysts, but also by trauma or pressure, such as shock or sexual intercourse.
The pain is mostly caused by blood leaking from the cyst, which is very irritating to the stomach. In some cases, the cyst can cause pain before it ruptures, when it becomes engorged with blood and puts pressure on the organs around it.
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Most of the time, it is not dangerous, assures Sarah Maheux-Lacroix, gynecologist and professor at Laval University.
“Most of the time you just have to control the pain and do an ultrasound to make sure the lump is gone. There is a risk of hemorrhage or peritonitis, a severe inflammatory reaction, but it is rather rare.
When that happens, she suggests taking painkillers. “If the pain persists, you continue to have a fever or you can no longer function, you have to go to the emergency room,” she adds.
And how to prevent them?
“When we see that someone has a tendency to have cysts, we often prescribe hormonal contraception, such as the pill. When ovulation stops, there is much less risk of having functional ovarian cysts”, specifies the gynecologist.
It’s common, but little known
According to studies, between 8% and 18% of women have ovarian cysts. Although it is one of the most common reasons for gynecological consultation, ovarian cyst ruptures are often overlooked.
“I didn’t know what was happening to me. At first I thought it was because of my IUD. I learned that it was common afterwards, but no one had ever experienced it in my entourage, ”says Juliette, who has experienced two ruptures of the ovarian cyst, including one barely two weeks ago.
During the first, she went to the hospital, where she was taken care of. The second time, however, she stayed home.
“I had a fever and was covered in sweat. My boyfriend had to carry me into the bath because I couldn’t walk,” she says.
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Even though health professionals told her it was common, Juliette would have liked to know why it happened to her. There may be genetic predispositions to the formation of ovarian cysts, but there are many other factors that influence them, explains Dr.re Maheux-Lacroix.
Ruptures related to endometriosis
Julia only learned years later that her ruptured ovarian cyst was caused by endometriosis.
What is endometriosis? It’s when “endometrium-like tissue begins to invade other parts of the body besides the uterus, where it’s supposed to be,” says Dr.re Sarah Maheux-Lacroix. This disease can cause the formation of endometriomas, cysts filled with old blood.
“I had big cramps, but the worst was the blood. I kept bleeding, with big clots too. At the hospital they checked to see if I was having a miscarriage. I was panicking and I didn’t understand, because I was taking the pill,” says Julia.
After a very unpleasant experience in the hospital, she was prescribed blood thinners to which she had an allergic reaction. It was a gynecologist, much later, who gave him the diagnosis probably at the source of this incident: endometriosis, a disease still little studied and difficult to diagnose.
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