Recurring Bartholian Cyst (Update)

I did go ahead and have part of my cyst removed. However, it kept coming back after my good doctor removed as much as she could. Although, now that it has been removed for the what? 5th? time, it is much smaller. About the size of a golf ball. Much better, however the pain is still there and so far nothing can be done about it.

After much debate, lots of doctor's appointments at the last minute, and little to no option - we have come to the conclusion that my cyst acting up might actually be a varicose vein in my labia. Apparently during sex, walking, and even just sitting on a couch, your vaginal walls fill with blood. This is called blood pooling. The newest theory is that I have a varicose vein in the same spot as my cyst, that is constantly filling with blood and basically spurting it into the incorrect place. It could also just be rubbing the wrong way, the same way a hemorrhoid would do (except it's not a hemmorrhoid).

In order to "fix" that, we have two choices. This is called bullet vs. shotgun option list. The "bullet" option would be to see an intervention radiologist to do a rare proceedure normally used on people with kidney problems (in order to become an intervention radiologist, it is supposed 3 extra years of schooling that most people do not do). While in their office, they give you local anesthetic and wire a tube through your femural vein/artery up to the vein that is causing the problems. This is the option I have picked to do for now.

If that does not work, then we are going to try the "shotgun" method. This would include the intervention radiologist, cleaning and destroying any active cyst, and killing nerve endings. This is considered a rash form of treatment and should only be used as a last resort. I have discussed killing my nerve endings before, so I will not go into detail about that now.

The only problem with my "bullet" option is that hardly any radiologists even DO this proceedure on people with kidney failure, let alone for a bartholian cyst. It is widely believed that varicose veins occur in pregnant women (in their vaginal walls), and CAN become into a bigger problem such as having painful sex. However, trying to find someone who WILL close off a varicose vein (since there are literally over 100 thousand veins in your labia), is problematic. Not only do doctors almost never do this for people, it is considered very dangerous, but it is very hard to find someone who is trained to do so. There is risk of poisoning your blood and risk of closing off the WRONG vein. There is obviously risk of infection and death.

So, for now, I wait for the call to go into surgery. Yet another "out patient" proceedure. They say I should be up and walking within 24 hrs, I highly doubt that though. I am just hoping we can find SOMEONE who will do this for me. This vein issue is not so new, but according to my female doctor, most male doctors refuse to even consider that there might be some sort of vein problem down there.

We shall see...if it doesn't work, we'll go with the "shotgun" option. At the moment, we are hoping it isn't a bartholian cyst recurring (we are basically taking a stab in the dark for treatment at this point). If it IS recurring, then I am in for the "shotgun" and praying that somehow it will fix it. If it turns out to be the vein, then I will never need to take pain medication again nor go in for any additional surgeries. So, here's hoping.

Edit: My doctor says that a lot of pregnant women come into her office with basically the same "interviews" of their symptoms. Pain during sex, swollen for over 2 hrs afterwards, and issues walking for the next 12 hrs. Although I am not pregnant, this might be an after-effect of my having a cyster during my two pregnancies. This is NOT something that is easily spotted, nor is it something easily fixed. Either way, if you have this vein issue, you are in for the run around trying to find a specialist that will do this proceedure for you.