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Ovarian cysts, what are they all about?

By April 6, 2013 - 12:38am
 
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Hello, I am a 16 year old girl who has only had 4 periods in 2 years. I am not sexually active, I am not obese or diabetic- keep that in mind. I have just recently went to the doctor to find how why I have not been having regular periods, I got multiple blood testes done and all my blood work is normal, I also got an ultrasound done to see if all my 'woman parts' are working and if not, what was wrong. The results came back that I may have polycystic ovarian syndrome. (I'll also be going to a gynaecologist for a pelvic exam, kind of nervous for that, yikes) My doctor didnt really explain it very well and I was wondering if anybody had any idea or answers for me to help me better my understanding of it all. Can it lead to infertility? Can it cause cancer? Will they just go away on their own, or can they grow to a bigger and more painful size? It's very unusual that I have this because I am a healthy and active person. Of noone has answers then that's alright, thanks for reading anyway :)

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EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Hi Emily,

Thank you for your question and I am sorry to hear that you are having this issue. I am keeping in mind that you are 16 years old so I will try my best to explain this so it may help you better understand.

Women have male and female hormones in our bodies...hormones tend to be these little messengers that talk to our organs and can affect our moods, growth, etc. Do you have a friend that becomes a mean person while on her period? This is the hormone talking....

Ok...now that we understand the hormone issue, it is not known why some women carry the male hormone more than others as we call have both male and female hormone in the body although with POS, the male hormone is found to be high in the ovaries and does not allow eggs to flow through it to release and have your menstrual cycle. Instead, the ovaries create little fluid sacs which are called cysts. Typical stubborn men! :-)

This is not uncommon....it is estimated that 1 out of 10 women have POS. It may be genetic so talk with your family members. It is definitely possible that pregnancy will be an issue as you must ovulate in order to get pregnant and since you are not ovulating - this will be an issue but your doctor can certainly help with this and you are young so don't concern yourself with infertility just yet. Doctors can help along the way and it appears they are already working on this.

Some things you can do now to help yourself: eat right, exercise, DO NOT SMOKE and follow up with your OBGYN.

I hope this helps you understand a little better. Good luck and don't worry as there are many things that doctors can do to help you get pregnant in the future.

Missie

April 6, 2013 - 6:27am
(reply to Anonymous)

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer in such detail, I really appreciate it :) I'm not worried at all, I was just wondering and wanted to get a bit more information about it :) I already knew a bit about the hormones, but it's good you have me a bit more detail about it :) thank you very much!

April 6, 2013 - 8:23am
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