I’ve decided to make this post because, before I myself was diagnosed with a Bartholin Cyst, I had never before heard of them – which is wild considering how common they actually are in women.

I was in Cambodia, at the start of a 10 week trip that would have seen me travel from Cambodia, through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and then to Indonesia, where I would have finished up by volunteering on a marine conservation project with a charity. Unfortunately, I flew home after just 3 weeks.

I had experienced a Bartholin Cyst, which had caused me great discomfort and then eventually agonising pain when it developed into an abscess. I’d never heard of such a thing before, and neither had most of the women that I met and talked to in the hostel that I stayed at during my time as an outpatient.

And I was staying in a female only dorm room, too.

The only individuals that had heard of it, were either training to be nurses and doctors, or were already nurses and doctors. I took it upon myself to notify every single woman that I met about the condition, especially – shockingly – because Bartholin Cyst’s are apparently incredibly common in women aged 20-30. And yet, nobody knows about them.

Firstly, a cyst is a small build up of fluid, or pus, that forms a lump. Luckily, these are often benign and harmless in nature, but they can become problematic and require treatment if they get infected.

The Bartholin’s Glands are two very small-sized glands that are found near the opening of the vagina. They secrete a mucus that lubricates and cleans the vagina, but they can cause issues when blocked.

I’m not a hundred percent sure what caused the development of a cyst on my Bartholin Glands, but I do know that I happened to have food poisoning, diarrhea, and was on my period all at once whilst being in a very hot and humid environment. Something happened; the right boxes were ticked, and a blockage to the gland formed.

Allegedly, bacterial infections such as Escherichia (more commonly known as E. coli) can cause a Bartholin Cyst. Escherichia can be contracted from contaminated water or food, and often, undercooked meat or unwashed fruit and vegetables is to be blamed. I’d argue that this was what caused my own Bartholin Cyst development as I’d eaten some food with my tour group at a local Cambodian restaurant before I began experiencing the symptoms. I know, for sure, that the other common cause of a Bartholin Cyst – which can be linked to sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea – absolutely could not have been the cause, which makes me more inclined to believe that contaminated food was to blame.

The blocked glands, coupled with just how hot and humid it was (I would be dripping sweat just by standing outside) was not a good environment to be in. Add to that that I was on my period and had a case of untimely food poisoning – which, might I add, had given me quite a serious case of diarrhoea – meant that the cyst quickly became infected.

The abscess that developed on my vagina was as big as a baseball. Seriously – I was trying to walk with a lump that had expanded to the size of a fist between my legs. It was agony. 100/10, do not recommend.

I was beyond relieved when I underwent the surgery to get it removed. Healing took some time and I remained as the hospital’s outpatient for seven days after the five that I had already spent in one of their rooms. I received check ups at the local GP for quite some time after that when I returned home, and now, just over three months later, I’m still feeling the after effects.

Scar tissue apparently takes quite some time to heal, go figure.

But my experience of having a Bartholin Cyst only raised in me some other rather worrying questions about women’s health.

There’s this book, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, that brings up some serious issues about women’s health in a world designed for men.

For example, did you know that most medical trials conducted only contain and test male cells? Even when researching conditions that mostly, if not only, effect women?

Hell, before 1993, women were rarely included in clinical trials at all.

Helen O’Connell only mapped the clit in 1998.

And, shockingly, car safety crash studies were solely based off of men and, today, a woman is still 73% more likely to be severely injured than a male is in a crash, and is 17% more likely to die (they didn’t start conducting female crash studies until 2011).

I strongly recommend adding Perez’s book to your reading list, although it may be a frustrating and angering read. But it really is astounding, and not in a good way: we are 51% of the population, and yet, so little is known about the women’s body and not enough is being pushed to start researching it fully either.

It’s ridiculous.

And infuriating.

But yeah – Bartholin Cyst bad.