How I Am Dealing With Cervical Cysts

About a year after my hysterectomy, I noticed that sex started to hurt a bit where it hadn't before and that my cervix, in general, felt sensitive.

When I felt inside myself, I could feel a small bump at the opening of my cervix. I didn't recall ever feeling this before.

It freaked me out, so I decided it was time to see an OB-GYN again.

Being diagnosed with a cervical cyst

During my pelvic exam, the midwife confirmed what I suspected: I had a cervical cyst, known as a nabothian (nuh-BOW-thee-un) cyst. These occur when normal tissue on the outer part of the cervix grows over the glandular tissue on the inner part of the cervix, and fluid becomes trapped.

Mostly, they are harmless and shouldn't cause any pain. They are often considered just a part of normal cervical anatomy.

Rarely can the cysts cause pain or complications, according to my midwife.

In my case, the midwife said the cyst was very small and didn't look unusual. Since I didn't show any signs of pain when she palpated the cyst during the exam, she didn't think that was what was causing my discomfort during sex or on other occasions.

Instead, she thought that might be referred pain from my pelvic floor.

How I am treating my cyst

Even though these cysts can often occur for no apparent reason, sometimes trauma to the cervix can be a contributing factor, including an infection or inflammation, or childbirth.

I have read some articles suggesting that those with hysterectomies can form the cysts if they didn't have them prior. However, I don't know if that's been formally studied and couldn't find any peer review studies analyzing the correlation between the two.

The midwife offered that if it seemed to bother me, they could remove the cyst, or I could wait and see. She suggested pelvic floor therapy and prescribed a lidocaine gel I could put in on the cyst before sex or if I feel it's irritating to see if that helps.

So, I will try those methods and see if they help.

Have you ever had cervical cysts? Did they cause symptoms, or did you not even notice them? If they were symptomatic, what did you do?

Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.