Can cysts cause menstrual irregularities?

Ovarian cysts generally affect women's menstruation and can easily lead to irregular menstruation. If you want to treat ovarian cysts, you need to decide based on the size of the ovarian cyst. If the cyst is not particularly large, surgery is generally not required and you can take medication to regulate it. If the cyst is relatively large, it is best to have surgery in time, and regular check-ups must be done after the surgery.

Can ovarian cysts cause menstrual irregularities?

Generally, ovarian cysts, even bilateral ovarian cysts, do not cause menstrual disorders because they do not destroy all normal ovarian tissue. Some uterine bleeding is not endocrine, or it may be caused by ovarian cysts that change the pelvic blood vessel distribution, causing endometrial congestion and leading to menstrual disorders; menstrual disorders may also be caused by direct metastasis of ovarian malignant tumors to the endometrium. Menstrual disorders caused by endocrine tumors are often combined with other secretory influences.

Common symptoms of ovarian cysts

1. Discomfort in the lower abdomen

This is the initial symptom before the patient feels a lower abdominal mass. Due to the weight of the tumor itself and the influence of intestinal peristalsis and changes in body position, the cyst moves in the pelvic cavity, involving its pedicle and pelvic infundibulum ligament, causing the patient to have a feeling of fullness and falling in the lower abdomen or iliac fossa.

2. Increased abdominal circumference and abdominal tumors

It is the most common phenomenon in patients with ovarian cysts. The patient realizes that his clothes or belt seem tight and small, and then notices that his abdomen is enlarged, or he feels it occasionally in the morning, so he presses his abdomen and finds a tumor in his abdomen, coupled with abdominal distension and discomfort.

3. Abdominal pain

If the tumor has no complications, there is very little pain. Therefore, if patients with ovarian cysts feel abdominal pain, especially if it occurs suddenly, it is mostly due to torsion of the cyst pedicle, or occasionally due to cyst rupture, bleeding or infection. In addition, malignant cysts often cause abdominal pain and leg pain, and the pain often causes patients to seek emergency treatment.

4. Compression symptoms

Huge ovarian cysts can cause dyspnea and palpitations due to compression of the diaphragm. Ovarian cysts combined with a large amount of ascites can also cause these symptoms. However, the dyspnea of ​​some patients with ovarian tumors is caused by unilateral or bilateral pleural effusion, and is often combined with ascites, forming the so-called Meigs syndrome.

A huge benign ovarian cyst fills the entire abdominal cavity, increasing the intra-abdominal pressure, affecting the venous return of the lower limbs, and can lead to edema of the abdominal wall and bilateral lower limbs; while a malignant ovarian cyst fixed in the pelvic cavity compresses the iliac vein, often causing edema of one side of the lower limb. The pelvic and abdominal organs are compressed, causing dysuria, urinary retention, urgency or difficulty in defecation.

5. Systemic symptoms

If the tumor grows rapidly in a short period of time, and the patient has symptoms such as loss of appetite and weight loss, and the tumor is found to be large and uneven in hardness and softness, be careful that it may be a benign tumor that has worsened. Surgery should be performed as soon as possible, followed by drug treatment.