jinnyann, I had a big cyst for about a year. It was very painful and was excruciating when I would ovulate on that side. The pain would knock me out and I couldn't walk or talk, would just lie on the floor at my office and moan if it happened at work. The pain could just come so unexpectedly, one minute fine, the next on the floor. Apparently, it was caused by my cyst rupturing periodically and bleeding out into my abdomenal cavity. All the blood and fluid in the abdomen is very painful apparently and it takes the body a couple of days to resorb all the fluid.

There are different kinds of cysts. Some are the normal, periodic cysts you get due to the ovarian cycle. Some cysts are not of this type and are not normal.

My problem went on for about a year. My doctor and I were very patient and waited for the cyst to go away on its own, as some types of cysts do. I had scans about every 6 weeks to measure the size of the ovary. Imaging of ovaries is very primitive so they can't really "see" what the ovary looks like very well, just get some measurements of size and density. Another thing I did was start talking birth control pills. I did this to get a rest from the pain, and to give my ovaries a rest from ovulating, as my doc thought having a vacation might help the ovary heal. No such luck. Preventing ovulation did remove the pain but did not help the cyst heal or go away.

Finally we did surgery and the ovary was huge and didn't even look like an ovary, according to the pics my doc showed me. It was swollen to the size of a satsuma or larger, lol, and a deep purple-red (filled with blood). My other ovary was perfectly normal, a light yellowish-pink almond shaped thingy. So out came the bloody satsuma. There was no way to separate the ovary from the cyst, they were completely entwined. I had that surgery in January and although my wound took over a month to heal due to infection, I have been able to go off birth control pills, my remaining ovary has resumed ovulation, and I have had no ovary pain at all. I do not miss that alien ovary-thing that was in my body at all. (I am done childbearing.)

Anyway, that was the conservative approach. Many people would not have waited a year to see if the problem would resolve, but I often go for the least aggressive intervention.

I really like not having to worry about the surprise incapacitating pain and carrying around vicodin in my purse to deal with that.

Good luck to you!