Chocolate Cyst and Menstruation
Chocolate cyst disease is a frequently chronic disease that occurs as a result of the cells found in the inner layer of the uterus, known as the endometrium, settling in the pelvis (the pelvic bone; the area where the uterus, the ovaries, the bowel and the bladder are located).
Chocolate cyst disease is a frequently chronic disease that occurs as a result of the cells found in the inner layer of the uterus, known as the endometrium, settling in the pelvis (the pelvic bone; the area where the uterus, the ovaries, the bowel and the bladder are located). The shed cells settle at any point in the abdominal cavity and, by imitating the menstrual cycle, cause painful bleeding. Endometrial cells can also settle inside the ovaries. In this case, the cysts in the ovary that contain fluid of a chocolate-like consistency and chocolate colour are given the name chocolate cyst (endometriosis). It should not be forgotten that chocolate cyst disease does not only involve the ovaries, but can also involve other organs and tissues.
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Do Not Take the Severe Pain You Experience During Your Period Lightly! There May Be a Chocolate Cyst Behind It
This insidious disease can cause very loud complaints, but it can also progress without giving any symptoms and may appear before us by chance during a routine check-up, sometimes as a chocolate cyst (endometriosis) on the ovary, sometimes only on the membranes lining the bowel, or as a painful nodular lesion behind the uterus between it and the bowel. One of the important problems caused by chocolate cyst is, very typically, very severely painful menstruation.
A significant proportion of women with endometriosis cannot leave the house, cannot go to school or to work during menstruation because of this severe menstruation. Nevertheless, many women can think of the cramps during menstruation as normal, saying ‘it is quite normal, every woman goes through this, my friend has the same thing’. But in reality these severe menstrual pains, which lower quality of life and prevent a woman from getting out of bed, may be a sign of chocolate cyst and should definitely come to mind.
Especially in our country, because women may first look for help from the internet, from those around them and from many alternative suggestions heard by word of mouth for problems ranging from severe menstrual cramps to painful sexual intercourse, they can be late in consulting a doctor.
In conclusion, if a woman is suffering very severe cramps and pain particularly during her period, and sometimes heavy bleeding is added to this as well (it is not essential), chocolate cyst disease should definitely come to mind.
Another type of chocolate cyst is a disease that occurs as a result of endometrial tissue settling deep into the muscle layer of the uterus, which we call Adenomyosis. These cells in the muscle layer of the uterus can show bleeding characteristics similar to menstrual bleeding itself. While adenomyosis sometimes causes no complaints at all, at other times it can cause long and severely painful menstrual bleeding. In addition, by preventing the embryo (the baby) from settling inside the uterus, it can also cause infertility. Apart from this, adenomyosis should also come to mind in cases of severe menstrual cramps, groin pain outside menstruation, pain during intercourse and bleeding between periods.
Examination is of great importance in the diagnosis of adenomyosis; a uterus that is larger than normal and painful should bring adenomyosis to mind. In diagnosis, vaginal ultrasonography is the most important and most frequently used tool. Another imaging method with a similar diagnostic sensitivity to ultrasonography is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A definitive diagnosis is made by examining the tissue. But we frequently do not need a tissue diagnosis thanks to today’s high resolution ultrasonography devices.
What do our patients say?
I am very lucky to have come across the sweetest, the most “caring” doctor in the world, who does his job in the best possible way! Many thanks for everything.
Hello and WELCOME to March, endometriosis awareness month. One in 10 women has endometriosis, some are aware of it and some are not. Pain that is generally accepted as normal may sometimes not be normal. If you are experiencing severe pain you should definitely see a doctor. Do not listen to anyone. What seems normal to everyone may not be normal for you. I too am an endometriosis patient. I had an operation in July 2018, and how glad I am that I came across @drtanerusta. ✔️ I had a cyst inside my abdomen. I was experiencing pain every month, and life is very short, so why should you spend a few days of every month lying down? For now, thank goodness, I am better, but there is no definitive solution for endometriosis. Become aware of it. Do not neglect it.
I had chocolate cyst disease too. Thanks to you I was freed from it. Now I have a 6-year-old son.
My dear doctor, I too was freed from this disease thanks to you, God willing. Many thanks for everything, may God be pleased with you, hocam
You are a wonderful doctor, I am very happy to have met you. Doctor, how good it is that you exist, I wish you to be always at the summit.
Thanks to @drtanerusta and his masterly hands I was freed from the terrible pain I had lived with for very many years, which no doctor could find the cause of. Thank you again and again, doctor, my joy in life has returned. It has been 6 months since the operation. To live without taking painkillers, without pain – what could be better than this? How glad I am that I met you, how glad I am that you came into my path. You are always in my prayers, stay with love.
I had an operation 2 months ago; I cannot describe what pain I suffered for years, what I went through up to the day of the operation! I came running from İzmir; I cannot describe how good, how excellent my doctor @drtanerusta is… I had laparoscopic surgery, the cyst was 9 cm, my abdomen had become so swollen that I had been harmed both mentally and physically. When I went to hospital because of the pain nobody understood me. I was surrounded by people saying cyst pain cannot be this bad. I left my most terrible times in the hands of my doctor @drtanerusta and now I am well, no cyst in my hand, no pain, I still cannot believe it, but they are gone.
As of the diagnosis, counting the 10 years before the diagnosis, I had had endometriosis for 15 years. My dear doctor, the one who relieved my pain and my suffering, the reason for my gratitude, one of the few doctors not only in Turkey but in the world when it comes to endometriosis, with masterly hands just like his name.
I had an operation on 20 April 2015. My operation was carried out by A. Taner Usta and his team. Extremely successful in his field, Taner hoca is truly an excellent doctor and an exceptional person. His team, in the same way, are successful and high-quality people who value others. I offer my endless thanks to all of them for their efforts. I wish everyone a speedy recovery and the chance to be treated by this team.
I had an operation on 16 June 2014. May God be pleased with him, he is a good judge of things. Bless your hands, I wish you success, Taner hocam.
Even though it was at a state hospital and it was very busy, I loved DR. TANER USTA, an excellent, attentive, solution-focused doctor who makes the patient feel special.
I thank your whole team, above all Dr. Taner Usta, who did not withhold their care and attention after the operation I had.
I thank Dr. Taner. I am very pleased to be his patient because of the care and attention he has shown.
It would not be enough just to call Altunizade Acıbadem a good hospital; it is as elegant as an A plus hotel and comfortable at the same time. The staff were young, bright and helpful, and my check-up doctor created a feeling of trust in me. The information he gave was sufficient for me, and I would like to state in particular that I was very impressed by the knowledge, the approach to the patient with professional warmth and the experience of Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctor Prof. Dr. Taner Usta, and that I have already recommended him to all those close to me.
In my research about my illness we came across the name of Prof. Dr. Taner Usta. When I called him on his personal telephone he took care of me straight away and I reached him urgently. When he welcomed me in his room at the hospital and examined me, I understood for the first time in my 7 years of illness that a doctor understood me and would relieve my pain. He was so experienced that he explained to me one by one the causes of my complaints, which no professor I had been to until then had understood, and he carried out my operation very successfully. I thank him endlessly both for his medical knowledge and for his approach to patients and his cheerful face.
First of all I was extremely pleased that your new hospital has opened in this area. Prof. Dr. Taner Usta is a very, very attentive and knowledgeable doctor. I was also very pleased to meet him. I believe I made a very right choice. I will definitely recommend him to my friends around me.
If you suspect it, don’t put it off
Chocolate cysts can progress silently. Let us clarify your situation with an examination and imaging.