I just wanted you to know that you are not alone. I don't know why they think these things are so uncommon when they really are very common. I'm 37 and this year, I have had 3 surgeries for bartholin cysts. I have had both of them marcuplialized and one drained after it was marcupilaized. I am now suffering with the same one swollen again.
Rest assured that you are not alone.

I too am suffering again from yet another abcess. I have had the cyst drained in the er, and also had 3 surgeries for marsupilization. I think this is the worst yet. I was in the er two days ago, but, because of my prior surgeries they were afraid to do anything. I was taking cipro, but had an allergic reaction. (the hives really add to my discomfort) I am starting to feel a bit better, but have been absolutely miserable :cry: . My previous gyno moved, and I was between doctors, so I have to wait until thursday to get in with a new doc. I really wish I could have broken a wrist or something instead of going through this again. Good luck to you.
Tara

I had problems with my bartholin gland for years. Very, very painfull. Found out much later from yet another doctor that they don't recommend to marsup anymore for women who have repeated infections. There is a sack inside each side of your lips. It can become twisted inside there and cause infections. They cut me open and removed the sack on that side only and I have never had another infection. No more problems and the other side is fine. When my doctor went in and did the surgery, he said my sack (i don't know the exact term) was so twisted up, he couldn't believe it. I had to bug and bug him at first for the surgery because they always want to try other methods first, but it worked like a charm. Have them do it before the cysts damage something down there.

I believe the 70's with no underware and tight, tight pants are the reason I had a problem, but you could have just been born with it slightly twisted.

Just to add, you are not alone or weird! I'm 27 and have been having recurrent cysts for 10 years now, before I was even sexually active I had one, so it's not stds and it's not cancer. I get it about once a year but this year so far i'm now on my 3rd. The first 2 were this spring and the gyno finally did a minor operation in office with four sutures to hold it open. Well, that was six months ago, i'm five months pregnant now, and it's back. :( i'm going to ask her about doing the surgery immediately after delivery, if that will be an option. It doesn't hurt yet and if it doesn't start hurting in the next 4 months, I can deal with it and I pray to god she will do the surgery at delivery, since i'll already have an epidural and iv lines in, and I have my mother in law coming to help after the baby is born. I'll need the help 'cause I was told after the surgery not to lift anything over 10 lbs for 2 weeks, and I have a 2 1/2 year old! I'm so tired of this thing. I hear that 2% of women get it once, and only a tiny percentage of that 2% get it recurrently. :(

It's sad to know that this is so common. I know how excruciatingly painful that this can be. The first occurrence for me was years ago and I had no idea why it was so painful "there" and couldn't walk, stand, sit, nothing. I have had it reoccur about 4 times since...Each time requiring my obgyn to lance it, drain it and put a word catheter in. Each time the catheter fell out within a few days (rather than staying in a few weeks).
My worst experience was a year half ago...Laid off, lost my insurance and went throughmy husband's hmo. The Dr. There put stitches in that required her to physically remove the stitches a few weeks later,...That was the most excruciating experience ever. I ended up going back to my obgyn a few months later at another reoccurence and just paying cash.

It's a year now and it's back again. I want to cry at the thought of dealing with this every year...Or more for the rest of my life.

To tawt: what is the name of the surgery you had? If I understand it right, you had the entire bartholin gland on one side removed?? Was this surgery that required anesthesia and the works? How long did it take to recover? Stitches?

It's sad, you're right bwmalts, but at the same time i'm in a way glad to hear of other women having it.... Because none of my family or friends seem to know what i'm talking about when it comes to this thing! My sister-in-law said she had it once, when she was pregnant, but that was it. I've never met anyone else in real life who's had even a 2nd recurrence, you know?

I have been told that any permanent solution involves surgery - that the amount of pain and potential blood loss (though rare) required to really 'dig around in there' as they put it (ugh!) would require either spinal or general anesthesia. I'm terrified of being knocked out and my ob/gyn told me that she would be willing to do it with a spinal block in place if I prefer.

I pray that when I ask her next week about doing it after delivery, she will agree. From my perspective, that will be a great time to have it done.

You're right because no one I know has any idea what i'm talking about when I say that I have a bartholin gland cyst. Made me feel like a freak til I started reading up on the internet. It's weird that as common as it is, nobody I know has heard of it. Lucky them.

I don't understand why there isn't technology out now that allows the surgery to be done with lasers rather than scalpels. I have endometriosis and had to have laparoscopy for that a few years back and they used lasers.

I don' tknow, I really wish there was something else we can do about this.

I wouldn't worry so much about being knocked out -- I wish I could be knocked out for the lancing procedures i've had done.... With my endo surgery, being knocked out was nothing...Coming out of it was difficult for some reason...I wasn't able to wake up....Just kept falling back asleep. Other than that...Everything went well.

Hello all! I am in the uk, I am 35 years old, healthy and no history of std. I have just had surgery after a 6th bartholin cyst!!! The first cyst was on the right and marsupialised. The 2nd and 3rd the same - in three months - 3 cysts and 3 ops!! The fourth I sought a second opinion - my gyn attempted to build a new duct from the gland, unfortunately though this didnt work, so the fifth op, 6 weeks later I had the gland removed. This, although I had to have general anasthesia was preferable to the constant recurrences and the affect it was having on my sex life!! For two years i've been clear..... Until now!! I then had a new cyst on the left. New gyn said "no" to gland removal but wanted to try marsup first - I agreed after all I know what I am talking about...Anyway, when I went for surgery - complications... A benign tumour wrapped around the one remaining gland. Result - I now have no glands, am still recovering but am glad these darn things wont come back to haunt me. Of course I still have questions - what if benign becomes malignant, what if a tumour comes back - where will it appear, what next etc etc - but hey....Please dont be afraid of surgery, it really does work, look at me, no glands, no cysts!!

I have never been sexually active when I first had my bartholin cyst at my right gland in 2002, nor have I been sexually active when the cyst came back almost three years after I had the first removed thru marsupialization. It's a case of simple bad luck for me, I guess. I was horrified the first time I had it, thought the problem will be gone and forgotten after I had it removed... But naaaah! When it came back after almost three years, I finally decided to have the gland removed thru excision. Of course my ob-gyn was against it, she wanted me to try the conventional way of solving the problem (hot sitz bath and antibiotics) but I over ruled her, after all...It is my body, thus it is my choice. Reading thru the messages in this forum helped me make my final decision. Indeed, word catheter or marsuplialization will not permanently solve the recurring problem of bartholin cyst. You have it removed and it will come back again. I was depressed when I felt the cyst the first time, and was doubly depressed when it came back three years later. It felt that my whole world stopped and I felt so unproductive till I had the gland removed. Prior to the surgery, I did some sitz bathing for almost 10 days. Sitz bath will help eliminate the odor and reduce the number of bacteria that may affect the cysts. Less infected cyst would make surgery and recuperation easier. So finally, I had the gland removed on nov. 1, 2005. I was placed under general anaesthesia. I would suggest that you discuss with your anaethesiologist how you want to be put to sleep... Since I am afraid of spinal injection, I asked my doctor to put me to sleep first, which he did. Hours later, I woke up in my private room. My ob-gyn told me that she removed an odorless 3 centimeter cysts, uninfected. She had the gland checked out out thru histopath- so we would know what could have caused the cyst...That way, we can protect the remaining left gland. Recuperating from excision can be painful. I was taking pain relievers every 5 hours for almost 3-4 days... Then, it was reduced to 2 in a day. I continued the sitz bath, but this time...I made use of the traditional herbal method which was handed over from one generation to another. Instead of salt, we used guava leaves extract. It's simple. Take 7-9 clean guava leaves and put them in a pot of boiling water. You will see the extract when the water turns into brown- the color is very similar to a betadine antiseptic. It will heal and dry the stitches faster. Remove the leaves and pour the extract in a bowl and proceed with your sitz bath.
Remember, it is your body...Thus it is your choice. One thing is certain, I do not want to be depressed. I will eliminate anything that will make me depressed and unproductive. :lol:

I am 40 and went to my gyne today. I knew I had a cyst but wasnt sure what kind. It ended up being a bartholin cyst. He has scheduled me for surgery this cominig tuesday 11/15/05. I heard that the recovery is painful, but I am happy he is removing it and not draining it. He said that when they drain them it tends to reoccur. How long is the recovery process? I have had alot of vaginal surgeries for fibroids and was wondering how this compared. Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

Hi, most probably your surgeon will perform a marsupialization to solve your bartholin cyst. If it's marsupialization, then you need not worry about recovery period. I had my first cyst removed thru this procedure and I was able to walk without any discomfort that same day. Good luck.

I have had 2 surgeries to have my bartholin glands removed. I am going to a doctor tomorrow because one of the incisions never healed and now there's a lump under it. Its in such a bad spot that I have to wear a bandaid on it every day b/c its right on my panty line. Its awful. I can relate to pretty much everything you ladies are going through. It can definitely cause depression and frustration! I just recently got engaged and I can't even focus on planning my wedding until I get this resolved. Keep your fingers crossed that I will find some relief from the new doctor tomorrow!

I'm 46 yrs old with the b. Abscess- this is h---. I'm an rn and never had so much pain and discomfort in my life until now. I've been with this problem for 2 weeks. The 1st week, I tried solving it on my own with sitz bath and antibiotics. Did not work; 2nd week, the gyn drained it and inserted a word catheter. It is a good thing I read up on the subject or I would have been screaming- because no explanation was given to me prior to the proc. I was just told he had to drain it and insert a catheter. To hear him say I have to have the catheter for 4-6 weeks didn't really sink in until 5 days later. I am in so much discomfort with this catheter. I am also afraid of more infections through the catheter insertion site. Now I have doubts if this cath is going to resolve anything. I think it is just prolonging my agony -the inevitable would be surgery-removal of the gland.

I understand how you feel about the cathater. My doctors told me to leave it in for one week and then have it removed at the follow up. They then told me and I quote " well there's nothing that can really be done to help you. All we can do is keep stabbing at it until it stops on it's own.". I just stared at him thinking it was some kind of doctors joke I wasn't picking up on , but he was totally serious. He then told me that giving me antibiotics would just make it worse for me because they sometimes cause yeast infections.And that would just get the incision infected. He said to do the sitz bath 3 times a day and everytime I used the bathroom.
The whole time I listened to him talk all I could think was "is he serious!".

So far I have had around 9 cysts lanced. And 4 rupture on their own. I'm 26 yrs. Old and i'm currently trying to deal with one the size of a large orange , but since it's not infected or abbcessed like the others the doctor said there is nothing he can do about it. It makes it hard to sit and walk and stand but mostly it makes it hard to pee, because it is so big I have to actually move it out of the way. My entire left labia is swollen almost an inch past the rest of me.

If anyone has any advice to help I would greatly appricate it.

I discovered my first cyst when I was 18. The dr did not operate or attempt to drain it until recently ( I am now 20, almost 21). The first time my dr attempted to drain the cyst, I was in so much pain. The catheter had forced it's way out of the incision and fallen out on the second day. Within the month I had had another dr attempt to do the same procedure.

This time the balloon end of the catheter was filled with water and blown up a lot larger than the first time. It wasn't as painful as the first try, but painful none the less. Dealing with this all has made me very depressed and not want to do anything sexually. Not curious to find a boyfriend or anything, and later finding out that 3/4 women have to live with this for the rest of their lives didn't lighten my depression.

I just had the catheter removed today, and I was told to keep up with the 3 30 minute baths daily.. I wasn't given any information on this surgery except for what I could find out online. I thought that inserting the catheter would make a permanent opening so that this problem would never occur again.

What I don't understand is why isn't there a permanent cure for this? All the drs and nurses have told me that it is so common, but I don't know of anyone else having to deal with this on a daily basis.

Why do we drain the cyst if they keep coming back? I had thought that inserting the catheter reopened up a closed gland and fixed the issue.

And to the ladies that had the glands removed (sorry if this is graphic but..) do you have issues getting wet? Maybe i'm misunderstanding the whole gland cyst, but can someone please help me understand.

I'm on my fourth cyst, having the past three lanced. The last one was two weeks ago and when lanced, was enlarged by that night. I was then sent to a gynoligical oncologist who is removing it in october.

My question is this: how do I make it till then? He told me to do soaks with sea water, which don't seem to help. I'm to take advil for pain/inflamation, which doesn't help.

I teach first grade and i'm not surviving this last cyst very well. Some have said their's popped on it's own. How did that happen and what would could I do to encourage my own cyst to pop on it's own. I also have a one year old and four year old which means I can't simply lie around :(

any advice for pain relief would be more than welcome!

Hi there! I am sorry that you are having to deal with the pain, I understand as I deal with pain 24/7 for different reasons. My only suggestion I have for you is to talk to your dr about giving you something to decrease the pain. Nothing wil probably ever help 100% but at least it will give you some comfort.
All the best!

[spam]

Hi all,

i've just finished treatment with a word catheter (i wore it for six weeks). I was wondering if anyone else had had this done and what the experience had been in terms of recurrence.