While virtually all hemorrhagic ovarian cysts are in no way indicative of disease or an underlying ailment, they do need treatment on occasion. The cysts in this category occur naturally and can be a normal part of the menstrual cycle for most women. They can disappear before you are even aware you have one. This is the case for most lucky women. However, there are women out there who not only know they are prone to troublesome cysts but are desperate to get help when dealing with the effects.
Typical Treatment
Most commonly, if a woman presents to a medical doctor with a sharp pain on one side right before her period, a benign cyst is to blame. It is very common for doctors to treat hemorrhagic ovarian cysts with a prescription of oral birth control pills. These will typically cause a cessation of ovulation. The general thought is that if the ovaries do not ovulate producing an egg, there will be the formation of cysts.
There is one flaw in this thinking for some patients. Birth control pills are not a long term option for older women or women who smoke. Actually, for a lot of childbearing age women, wanting to have a child in the near future outweighs using birth control pills to manage cyst issues. Birth control pills are also made differently depending on the brand. Some prescription versions are so low dose when it comes to the hormone levels that they really do not entirely prevent ovulation. If they do nothing to prevent ovulation in an ovary that forms painful hemorrhagic ovarian cysts, it is a pointless management option.
At times, treatment at home or with prescription medication is not helping with the pain and discomfort. This may be a time when the doctor considers having a close up look at the cyst to better help a woman. Even if the cyst is only around 1 cm in size, it can be seen through an ultrasound. Even if the cyst grows to be over 6 cm, the doctor may still decide that it is likely to go away on its own.
Size alone will not determine whether a doctor will remove hemorrhagic ovarian cysts or not. Naturally, there have been very rare and unique cases where the size of a cyst has led to emergency surgery. This is not common for any women who have regular appointments with their doctor.
Rare Cases When Typical Treatment Will Not Do
While these emergency surgeries involving hemorrhagic ovarian cysts are so few most doctors never see such a case, they do exist. There are situations where a ruptured blood cyst can cause such severe blood loss that the patient suffers from anemia. This scenario would certainly necessitate emergency surgery.
Sometimes the pain alone can be the reason for a doctor to surgically remove the cyst. If over the counter or prescription medication does nothing to ease the pain, a doctor can turn to surgery. An unusually painful hemorrhagic ovarian cysts problem can interfere with daily life and cause a woman to actually feel incapacitated for days. Nausea and vomiting can also be a reaction to severe pain. It is easy to picture how this level of pain would lead a woman to want the cyst removed as soon as possible.