The Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Ovarian Cysts
Posted: Friday, March 13, 2009
by Lucas Daniel
The first step to correctly diagnosing and treating ovarian cysts is to locate the cause of the cysts. Ovarian cyst can be triggered by a variety of factors. It's important to understand these different factors in order to seek appropriate treatment.
Primary factors that cause ovarian cysts
There are many factors, which can lead to ovarian cysts. These factors should not be isolated however, as sometimes the combination of these factors can together lead to the causes of ovarian cysts.
1) Genetic predisposition: Genetic predisposition is often considered the leading cause of ovarian cysts. Research has shown that the genetic pattern of women who suffer from this chronic condition is different as compared to women who never get ovarian cysts or PCOS. However, this shouldn't be a death warrant as many times the genetic characteristics can be modified with the help of environmental factors and proper lifestyle related changes.
- 2) Poor dietary choices: Eating poorly can cause hormonal imbalance that can weaken your immune system making you more vulnerable to ovarian cysts. Avoiding foods that are rich in carbohydrates and sugar are important to fighting ovarian cysts. Making sure you're getting enough fresh fruits, vegetables and essential nutrients each and everyday to help your body flush out toxins that can aggravate ovarian cysts problem.
4) Insulin resistance: High level of insulin can stimulate ovarian androgen production, which leads to the production of male hormones. This reduces the serum sex-hormone binding globulin or SHGB. The SHBG can in turn aggravate the ovarian cyst condition to quite an extent.
5) Failed ovulation process: Sometimes, the ovaries fail to release egg on a monthly basis. This fails to produce progesterone and brings about hormonal imbalance. This can then lead to the formation of ovarian cysts.
Besides the above primary factors, toxins in liver and even environmental toxins can aggravate and cause ovarian cysts. Hence, ovarian cyst condition is not a simple to understand or treat.
Diagnosis of Ovarian Cysts
Once you recognize the symptoms and causes of ovarian cysts it's important to get a professional medical diagnosis to determine the seriousness of your ovarian cysts.
Diagnosis Tests
A health care provider may perform the following tests to determine if a woman has an ovarian cyst or to help characterize the type of cyst that is present:
1) Endovaginal ultrasound: This is a special imaging test developed to examine the pelvic organs and is the best test for diagnosing an ovarian cyst. An endovaginal ultrasound is a painless procedure that resembles a pelvic exam. This type of ultrasound produces the best image because rather than a scan through the abdominal wall a small probe is inserted in the vagina and can be positioned closer to the ovaries.
- Other imaging: CT scanning aids in assessing the extent of the condition. MRI scanning may also be used to clarify results of an ultrasound.
- 2) Laparoscopic surgery: A procedure when a surgeon fills a woman's abdomen with a gas and makes small incisions through which a thin scope (laparoscope) can pass into the abdomen. The surgeon identifies the cyst through the scope and may remove the cyst.
- 3) Serum CA-125 assay: This is a blood test that checks for a substance called CA-125, which is associated with ovarian cancer (the CA stands for cancer antigen). This test is used in the assessment of epithelial ovarian cancer and may help determine if an ovarian mass is harmless or cancerous. However, sometimes non-harmful conditions may result in the elevated levels of CA-125 in the blood, so the test does not positively establish the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
4) Hormone levels: A blood test to check LH, FSH, estradiol, and testosterone levels. Checking these levels are used to indicate potential problems concerning those hormone levels.
5) Pregnancy testing: The treatment of ovarian cysts is different for a pregnant woman than it's for a non-pregnant woman. An ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterus) must be ruled out because some of the symptoms of ectopic pregnancy may be similar to those of ovarian cysts.
6) Culdocentesis: This test involves taking a fluid sample from the pelvis with a needle inserted through the vaginal wall behind the uterine cervix.
Natural Holistic Treatment Vs Conventional Treatment
Ovarian cyst disease is a chronic condition that can really take a toll on the physical, mental and emotional well being of a woman. Conventional ovarian cysts methods don't take this into account and don't help prevent this emotional stress but in some cases make it worse. Conventional treatments only use two methods to treat ovarian cysts. These two methods are birth control pills and surgery.
- - Birth control pills have shown to only mask the symptoms by helping to reduce the size of the cysts but not fully curing the condition. Birth control pills can also cause harm to a womens reproductive organs and can cause her to become infertile even after treatment is over.
- - Surgery has it's own health risk too. Although, surgery is necessary in extreme cases it can cause the most harm. It has been proven that even after surgery women are still likely to get ovarian cysts and sometimes make conditions worse.
More Reason To Why Holistic Treatment Is Better Than Conventional Treatment
1) Side effects of conventional medication:
- - Conventional medical treatment can cause many side effects. Women who have to have surgery and lose their ovaries often experience change in their personality due to hormonal imbalance. Also, oral contraceptives, which are used prominently to treat ovarian cysts, can affect fertility of a woman. Pregnant women cannot use conventional medication, without having to endure significant risks of miscarriage and premature delivery.
- - Natural remedies have no side effects. Some forms of natural treatment also put emphasis on strengthening the mental and emotional state.
- - Conventional medicine only provides temporary relief from the symptoms of ovarian cysts. The ovarian cysts often reoccur after the treatment is discarded. Even after surgery, the patient is not immune to ovarian cysts. In fact research has shown that the growth of ovarian cysts after surgery is a side effect of this harsh treatment option.
- - Natural treatment provides long-term relief from the condition since it tackles the root cause of ovarian cysts and is therefore more effective.
- - Conventional medication works according to rule of thumb without paying attention to individual differences. Hence, conventional treatment of ovarian cysts fails to treat certain conditions, as it lays emphasis on the disease and not the patient.
- - Natural treatment is a personalized treatment approach. Each and every course of treatment varies from one person to another. This is the reason why it has such an astounding success rate.
- - Conventional treatment for ovarian cysts is very expensive. Besides expensive surgery, you will have to pay for hospitalization, tests, prescription drugs and more.
- - Natural remedies are comparatively cost effective and therefore women on a shoestring budget can also take advantage of them
Click Here To Learn More About Ovarian Cysts and How to Treat Them Forever
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