Hi Lou1511

i hope you're doing ok with your cyst and that you're getting treatment.

id like to ask a quick question please- I've had my first internal ultrasound as I've been having a lot of stomach pain and feeling full but my bloods are ok.

The lady doing the scan was lovely and said there's nothing to worry about but I need to speak to my GP - is this what was said to you? I wasn't sure if this is a standard reply or not!

Im in such pain since I've had the scan

Hey Jeannie, 

They would say you'll need to speak to GP about the results, report regardless - they won't really discuss with you. 

I had a pelvic ultrasound last Wednesday (wasn't the nicest but certainly not experienced the above thankfully, feel for you all) and the lady doing it said the GP would be in touch to discuss the report. 

Hi there

When I had my ultrasound, both times the lady doing it in hospital told me she just took the photos and once it was analysed I would hear from doctor with results. The first time my doctor rang a week later to say it was a cyst, the second time my doctor rang to say the cyst was shrinking. Both times they gave me no indication of the result in hospital. I had a bit of discomfort after the scan too.

Hope this helps

Lou

Hi there,

I'm sorry you had pain after your scan. Sounds like the sonographer struggled with your scan as the entire appt slot is usually only 20 minutes (for reading the patient clinical history when they book in, performing the abdominal scan, patient emptying their bladder, getting the patient changed, performing the internal scan and writing the report for the doctor). Usually the actual scan time for each of the two scans is usually only a few minutes unless the sonographer was struggling.

The Sonographer can struggle for a number of reasons most likely an under filled bladder (a full bladder pushes bowel out of the way and pushes the pelvic organs into a good position) or bowel overlaying structures (particularly the ovaries). Ovaries that do not have large cysts on them can be very difficult to see and if a patients bowels are particularly full then sometimes a Sonographer needs to push the bowel out of the way to see the ovaries. If the patient is a bit constipated then this can be a little tender - although always tell the sonographer if you want to stop as it can be possible to rebook on another day if needs be when the bowel might be in a different position. Sometimes it is just not possible to see the ovaries though no matter what the sonographer does. 

If the sonographer took such a long time scanning then I'm guessing your ovaries were very hard to see, not necessarily a bad thing though as it usually means there's nothing big that shouldn't be there. It's extremely unlikely (ie I've never heard it happening in over 10 years of scanning) for ovaries (or bowel) to be damaged by scanning but if you're still experiencing pain then perhaps another visit to your GP might be worth it. It could be that you may have had a large follicle / cyst that has started to resolve (follicles rupture to release the egg - usually the cause of ovulation pain mid-cycle). No harm in getting things rechecked if you're suffering. 

Hope that helps. 

Are you a nurse?  Do you have any help on why there would be pain post scan? My scan also hurt on my right ovary last week and i'm experiencing period like pains on that side and sometimes a sharp discomfort.  She said it looked like there may be a cyst or some fluid there, could this cause it?

Hi there, 

I do gynae scans (I'm a sonographer).

The pain could be due to bowel moving or if you've had a dominant follicle / cyst that has resolved (ie ruptured to release the egg) then that can be very tender (often known as ovulation pain - usually mid menstrual cycle).

When the follicle / cyst resolves (ruptures) the process can release some fluid into the pouch of Douglas (can be written as POD on reports, and is just the normal space adjacent to the uterus). It's a bit like having a blister that's full of fluid and then when the blister resolves (ruptures) sometimes the fluid leaks a bit and can hurt. Not usually anything to worry about though. Quite often they may rescan just to check everything has completely resolved (ie the cyst has disappeared and the fluid reabsorbed).

If the pain persist though it's worth mentioning to the doctors because very rarely (extremely rarely) the ovary can twist and that torsion can be extremely extremely extremely painful. If it happens in the middle of your cycle then it's most likely ovulation pain - your ovaries take turns alternate months. The bigger the dominant follicle the greater the chances are that it'll hurt. Sometimes one side grows bigger follicles than the other so it may be every two months that you get the pain. Worth speaking to GP about it though.

Hope that makes sense? 

I had this scan on 11 August, I had no pain before this on my right side, since the scan i have pain still to this day. 

The scan showed a cyst on my ovary and the gyenocologist thinks a polyp is making the endometria look thicker than it is at 22mm . I am post menopausal of 12 years and had a bit of bleeding on 8 August , I am going back for another scan in December but I won't have that internal one again . Personally I feel it is assault on women and my religious belief is that it can carry demonic spirits from previous patients , I will have the tummy scan but that barbaric contraption is not entering my vagina again .

I also will not have a biopsy because I don't trust the NHS I think they go looking for things so they can keep treating people and making money .

Hi there, 

I'm sorry you've had a painful scan. I can assure you that the gynae probe will have had a cover on it and that sterile gel would have been used and it will have been cleaned after every scan. But it is always your choice whether to have any internal scans - you don't need to justify your reasons to the sonographer either.

Your gynaecologist is right that polyps can make the endometrium appear thickened and they can cause a bleed too but it is completely your choice whether you want them investigated or not.

I'm sorry to that you feel the NHS is trying to make money (please be assured that's not the case in the NHS, might be in America but not here). In this country treating patients costs money and the NHS does attempt to save money wherever it can and only treatments with proven positive outcome will ever get the go-ahead from the NICE guidelines. But from a patient point of view, I wouldn't base my decision whether to have treatment or not on the cost of that treatment but rather on what options would give me the better outcomes for me personally. 

With any investigation you have there's always a chance that something will be found but please never feel pressurised to have any investigations. Always worth weighing up what you would do with that information if you do go ahead with an investigation. So if you go to an ultrasound scan and they found something - would you have a biopsy? Or would you consider surgery? Would treatment give you a longer life? Or would the treatment give you better quality of life? For example if treatment could give you an extra time but the treatment will make you feel very poorly then only you can decide if the extra time is worth the shorter term pain. For some the extra years are not worth the pain of treatment - and that's okay to say that. For others it is - and that's also okay. It's a balance. At the end of the day it's about making an informed choice about what you want for your future. Whilst each choice has consequences, there is no right or wrong choices, just which choice you're most comfortable about making and accepting the consequences of that choice. 

Hi, thank you for you lovely reply , i had an CA125 test and it was normal, I am going for the scan in December , but I am not having the internal one , it caused me so much pain . I have latex allergy only for plasters , gloves condoms , I was asked about this before the internal scan and the nurse said she put a latex free condom on the probe, I don't know if all gloves are latex free, but I had an internal by the GP and was very painful with discharge for weeks up until this week , the discharge probably coming from the uterus , I don't know , but I know I wasn't in this pain before the internal scan . I have felt really upset with the pain since that scan . I really appreciate your reply , you're so kind .