Vulvar Cysts - Bartholin's cysts.
 

Hello Ladies :)

I'm sitting here gingerly typing this, yet another bout with the dreaded most horrible infected Bartholin's cyst. The description may get a bit icky but maybe this will help someone who may find themselves in a similar situation.

skip back 4 years. very active adventurous sex life with the one partner. we experiemented with shaving. I must have nicked myself. Lots of hot sweaty messy sex later and I was a bit tender but ignored it because that happens.

The next day - agony! My labia was swollen and puffy and down near the vaginal opening I could feel a lump the size of a golf ball. I could barely walk.

I visited a sexual health clinic, I figured that they'd know all about this kind of thing. She gave me a local anesthetic and then lanced my labia - nowhere near the actual lump mind, and sent me home with instructions to sit in a warm salty bath. I did, it got worse, I was in such agony, I felt like I had grown balls my labia was so swollen. I went to a different GP this time and he kindly syringed out all the pus that had accumulated within the cyst. Neither of them at this stage offered an explanation as to what it was. A dose of antibiotics and I was on my way.

2 years later a similar thing happened, but it was a public holiday night and there were no GP's to help drain it so I went to an emergency ward. They did the thing there - I had three nurses just about to cry watching me get drained without a local, that was a bit of amusement for the night. The next day I went to another GP and straight away she told me what it was.. an infected Bartholin's cyst.

The Bartholin's glands are located either side of the vagine and are pea sized glands which produce lubricating fluid. When you get horny that's part of where it comes from. sometimes one of these glands may get blocked and form a cyst. Usually this will just sit there and not cause any pain but you may notice the lump. For such a long time I thought I had just a deformed pussy due to this lump on one side.

Occasionally due to rough sex, or a nick while shaving or any number of other reasons this cyst will become infected and that's where the pain starts. If this happens to you see a doctor straight away! Immediately before it gets worse. If you can't get it seen to straight away go sit in a warm salted bath (I actually don't know what the point of this is but it's meant to help it drain - it's never worked for me).

As mine is re-curring I will be seeing an ob-gyn to get it it properly treated ie. he offered lasering it to prevent the cyst forming again, sounds good to me.

since apparently 2% of the female population will be afflicted by this at some stage I thought I'd share this story so if it happens to you you might have an idea of what's going on.

Cheers,
Julie

wow, that's quite a tale. If i ever experience anything like that, I'll be glad of hte knowledge :) thank you so much for sharing! hope things get patched up right this time!!

Thanks for sharing this tidbit of info. Knowledge is good and I'm sorry you are experiencing this but thanks for giving the rest of us a head's up, so to speak. Hope all is well for you in the long run.

Hope you're feeling better, girlfriend.. :)

Sounds horrible, and I thought a bladder infection was bad...

thanks for sharing that, i'd never heard of what they actually are before.

darksparkles - niether had I! In fact it was three doctors before one of them seemed to have a clue.

Went into surgery last sunday night (pain got to much over the weekend, by passed the process of seeing an ob-gyn and went through the emergency ward). They cut a hole in the cyst and stitched it open so that it will heal outwards (process called marsupialisation).

Thanks Plummie - still feels like I'm pissing razorblades still but hopefully won't ever re-occur again :) - and I got the week off work!

I wonder if your doctor could prescribe you some Pyridium to help you feel better?

Pyridium provides relief for painful urination (especially for urinary tract infections), but it turns your pee orange. :p

I did get one of those glands plugged one time when I was a teenager and before I was sexually active. My mother knew all about them and had me sit in an epsom salt bath and use antibiotic ointment. It eventually cleared and didn't get infected - just a little sore from being backed up. I can hardly imagine it getting infected. Thanks for the info.

Originally posted by darksparkles
thanks for sharing that, i'd never heard of what they actually are before.
___________________________________________________

I've never heard of anything like it! I'm so sorry you have to go through something like that! Thank you for the information! Itz alwayz good to have!

thats sounds aweful, hope you feel better soon. I once had an allergic reaction to yeast infection medication that was bad enough.

it's all better now - still can't shag though!! Another week and I'll be back in action. :)

There are also things known as sebaceous cysts which can occur in the labia as well, thy'll feel like little (or big) lumps and may eventually go away. As a song I was listening today sang "girls get the best diseases" haha

There's so many glands and pores down there it's hard to know what goes on!

great to hear that there are other people out there who have the same problem.thanks for sharing
-Roxy :)

Wow, sorry you had to go through all of that. Thanks for sharing the info. :icare:

Okay, that made me cringe. It sounds so painful! I hope they can get it all fixed up for you!

Yep, very painful! I had one that flared up in 4 days then ruptured.. apparently I was very lucky I didn't get deathly sick.. antibiotics, bruising... never had an idea that these things could happen.

I self diagnosed from the internet and went to the doc, apparently I should have gone to the hospital to get it lanced.. and if it happens again, that's where I'd be going.

bartholin cyst
 

Hello

I am now experiencing these Bartholin Cyst. I know that i have been power walking for
1-1/2 hours 6 days a week for the past three weeks. I now have 6 cyst. They start out small and in 24 hours they large and VERY SORE. Can you tell me how long yours lasted and what you did to make them go away. One of my doctors said to sit in a very hot bath water. The water will shrink them. I have stopped walking and I feel the bath water is causing them to come out more rapidly. It might of been brought on by sex but I haven't had sex for 10 days now and my cyyst keep coming.

I'd love to hear from you
From A very fustrated
Shagado

Hi, curve....

My 17-year-old daughter had one of these cysts about 2 years ago. Poor baby, it was very painful and made her very distressed. She was prescribed a salve and some antibiotics and it cleared up within a week. She hasn't had a recurrence since then, thank goodness.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Having just recovered from my second cyst in 7 years I would like to offer my experience:
The first time I went to a female doctor who prescribed very powerful antibiotics which did not help at all (and caused years of candida since). The cyst grew until I was eventually bedridden in excrutiating pain for days. Then I took a strong painkiller and a hot bath and alternated that with the pouring of cold water over the cyst to try to get the duct to open up(with heat expansion and cold contraction). When I got out it ruptured and drained instantly.
This time I knew what I was in for. I read up about it again on the net with only stories about recurrence after medical intervention. So I had 3 hot sitzbaths a day alternating with the cold water and it took 11 days(only the last 2 days required painkillers) for the duct to open and drain spontaneously. The body really does know how to heal itself -one just needs to be patient....get someone to feed you and run the house and book yourself off for about 10 days and let your body cure itself...

Having just recovered from my second cyst in 7 years I would like to offer my experience:
The first time I went to a female doctor who prescribed very powerful antibiotics which did not help at all (and caused years of candida since). The cyst grew until I was eventually bedridden in excrutiating pain for days. Then I took a strong painkiller and a hot bath and alternated that with the pouring of cold water over the cyst to try to get the duct to open up(with heat expansion and cold contraction). When I got out it ruptured and drained instantly.
This time I knew what I was in for. I read up about it again on the net with only stories about recurrence after medical intervention. So I had 3 hot sitzbaths a day alternating with the cold water and it took 11 days(only the last 2 days required painkillers) for the duct to open and drain spontaneously. The body really does know how to heal itself -one just needs to be patient....get someone to feed you and run the house and book yourself off for about 10 days and let your body cure itself...