It is a common age-old problem that women who are worried about their reproductive system ask: is nausea and vomiting a symptom of ovarian cysts?
The answer? YES, but not
always.
Let’s dig into it.
Nausea and vomiting as ovarian cyst symptoms
Mayo Clinic lists these two as
symptoms. So does WebMD and so does Patient.co.uk which files it under unusual
symptoms. And so does the US National Library of Medicine. These are leading
medical publications, reviewed by real doctors with real-life experience. They say
so and so they are right.
But how do cysts really lead to nausea and vomiting?
It all has something to do with the
role that the ovaries play and the fact that these cysts usually affect the
ovaries. Simply put, ovaries usually play a huge role when it comes to
determining the hormonal balance of a woman. They produce estrogen and progesterone.
Now, since ovarian cysts develop
on or in ovaries, they interfere with the hormonal-producing function of a
woman’s ovaries. This is bound to cause some abnormalities. And for follicular cysts, they themselves may end up producing abnormal amounts of
these hormones.
These abnormalities are
therefore bound to flood a woman’s body with unusual amounts of hormones and
one of the side effects of this is vomiting and nausea.
What about the “Not Always” part of the answer?
The cysts that some women have
are too small to cause any symptoms. In fact, in most women, this is the case.
And since most ovarian cysts usually shrink and disappear, most women usually
end up not having any cyst-caused problems.
It also has to do with the fact
that to a degree, genetics has an effect on how a woman’s body reacts to the presence
of cysts. Some women end up experiencing nausea and vomiting symptoms. Some
experience other symptoms but not these. And some end up experiencing
almost none of the common ovarian symptoms, even in cases where they have cysts that are large
enough to trigger these side effects.
Anything in the forums about nausea as a symptoms of cystic growths in the ovary?
Yes, there is.
There is this response by a
doctor in response to the question “can fibroid and ovarian cyst cause nausea”.
The conversation is in Health Tap.
There are also these women in
the medhelp.org community:
Ovarian cyst and pregnancy
These nausea and vomiting symptoms are similar to pregnancy morning sickness symptoms. Some women have even confused these symptoms with the onset of pregnancy. This is because of the fact that ovarian cysts affect the hormonal balance of the same hormones that are usually active during pregnancy.Now, read this
