Other Causes of Pelvic Pain Besides Fibroid Degeneration

A common complain of women with fibroids is abdominal Pain. This pelvic pain can come from from fibroid degeneration, when the fibroid outgrows its blood supply and dies, but that's fairly rare and there are other possible causes of pelvic pain including (an incomplete list):

Appendicitis

Constipation

Adenomyosis -- endometrial tissue grows into the wall of the uterus and can form pockets that bleed each month

Endometriosis -- endometrial tissue grows on other pelvic structures outside of the interior of the uterus and swell and bleed with the hormones produced as a part of your menstrual cycle

Ovarian Cysts -- mature follicle that does not rupture and can grow pretty large, if they rupture they can be quite painful. Some cysts are normal and most of the time they are just reabsorbed. There are other forms of cyst which require medical intervention such as dermoid cysts, endometrioma, and sometimes chocolate cysts.

Ovulation -- mittelshmerz is pain that is felt around ovulation, perhaps from the release of the egg or perhaps from irritation from fluid released from the follicle

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease -- bacterial vaginosis, gonorrhea, and chlamidia can all cause infections in the pelvic cavity

Pelvic Adhesions from prior abdominal surgery or infection -- a d&c or IUD can sometime result in an infection as well

Fibroid Pressing on blood vessels or other abdominal structure

Cystitis -- bladder infection

Kidney infection

There is also a diagnosis in traditional chinese medicine/acupuncture called blood stagnation which can cause pelvic pain and is generally associated with gynecological conditions such as fibroids. Liver stagnation is usually part of the diagnosis as well, the liver being the major detox organ in the body and one that is also associated with emotion and grief in chinese medicine. I've found acupuncture to be helpful in managing my pelvic pain, as well as breathing exercises that promote movement in the abdomen. Here's a link about blood stagnation that you might find useful.

All About Blood Stagnation
http://www.acupuncture.com/Herbology/bloodstag.htm

If your doctor checks you out and you are still having problems then
you might consider the blood stagnation possibility.

Dermoid Cyst for my Sister

My sister's MRI last week indicated that her right ovary is twice the normal size and that she has a dermoid cyst. This was the first MRI she has had done. Her doctor didn't do an MRI prior to her abdominal myomectomy last Spring where they removed 6 fibroids totally the volume of a grapefruit.

She continued to have pelvic pain after the surgery and didn't know what was up. The doctor told her she would feel better after the myomectomy and that wasn't the case. She started having ovarian pain when she was in high school. The dermoid cyst was probably the thing causing her pain and not her fibroids.

She will have to get more information before deciding on when to schedule the surgery.

Dermoid Cyst Facts:
* Dermoid cysts contain cells that are fetal in origin. They can contain hair, teeth, skin, sebaceous oil, and even eye tissue (I don't know what that means). One website said that it was from a self-activated egg that was trying to start growing in the absence of fertilization but I'm not sure if that is true or not. Otherwise it might just be left over from when you were a developing embryo.
* Ovaries are fairly adaptive and even a portion of tissue remaining will continue to function
* Sometimes the dermoid cyst will take over the ovarian tissue, this sounds rare
* There have been cases where dermoid cysts have turned cancerous, but it is a small percentage of the time.
* The medical term for a dermoid cyst of the ovary is a ovarian teratoma.
* The name of the procedure that doctors do to try to save the ovary is called ovarian cystectomy.

Related Links:

Will dermoid removal affect getting pregnant?

Dermoid Cyst

What are ovarian cysts?

Ovarian cysts ~ treatment
"If you are under forty, s/he is likely to recommend leaving the ovary intact, particularly if you want children. Even if the ovary is badly damaged by the cyst and only a small part remains, that part can still go on working normally."

Ovarian Cysts

Laparoscopic surgery of dermoid cysts--intraoperative spillage and complications.

LAPAROSCOPIC OVARIAN CYSTECTOMY: SELECTION OF PATIENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF RUPTURE OF OVARIAN MALIGNANCY

Ovarian Teratomas: Tumor Types and Imaging Characteristics

Teratoma, Cystic