Scarleteen

I have an benign ovarian cyst (confirmed by gyno and 2 separate ultrasounds) thats decently big (5.2cm on the biggest side) but not in the 'concerning and you might need surgery' range. So I've been left to deal with the discomfort on my own, which was fine until I think it started giving me back pain. My posture hasn't been great and I've been trying to remedy this, but I'm pretty sure the cyst is making it worse and I don't really know what to do about it besides ibuprofen and topical heat/ice on my side. The pain has been especially persistent these past few days and I just need any strategies I can get to deal with this

(Side note but I really feel ovarian cysts are a missed topic in sex ed. I thought it was my appendix or just normal ovulation discomfort until my mom explained and I went 'ovaries can do WHAT')

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this pain, table38.

My best advice is to contact your healthcare providers about pain management for this. We just can't offer the same kinds of specialized help they can, and we obviously can't do things like prescribe you medications like they can. The best we can do is suggest some things that are probably pretty obvious.

You say you have been left on your own to manage the pain: I just want to make sure that doesn't mean you already asked them for pain management and that they gave you...nothing when you asked, not even advice about OTC options?

If you want those obvious suggestions, happy to share them!

I'll follow up with my doctors. In terms of pain management, it wasn't bothering me that much before (just like light period cramp feelings and was helped by not wearing tight clothing bands around my abdomen) so I didn't ask at the time and then it completely went away by my last follow up call. I'll reach out again and ask about other pain management if its still bothering me tomorrow

Hi table38,

Definitely let them know about the pain and new impact on your back! Unfortunately, doctors are historically bad at believing women and trans/nonbinary people when they talk about pain so I would encourage you to be prepared to advocate for some assistance. Health is so dynamic so it makes sense to bring it up with them even if it wasn't discussed previously.