Adenomyosis, fibroids, and fatigue???

I've battled fatigue most of my life, attributed to extreme iron deficiency (as in dr said "it's amazing you can function!"). I'm on 600% DV iron and not currently menstruating. I'm generally fairly active, run about 10-12 mi/week, give or take. The last couple weeks or so, the fatigue has been ridiculous. I'm napping whenever I can, going to bed early, dragging everywhere. One of my fibroids is large enough that I can feel a small "lemon" under my skin. Iron deficiency aside, can adenomyosis and/or fibroids contribute to fatigue, in and of themselves? I haven't been able to run or anything, climbing stairs has me winded. I've also noticed an increase in other issues - near constant "contacting" of the uterus (reminds me of Braxton hick/early labor), low back pain, etc. Constant migraine and such. Can all of this be attributed to adeno? I'm hesitant to call dr until my appt in September bc I've become SO disenchanted with the medical community. Blah. Last time I was seen for fatigue they wanted to give me antidepressants - which was truly not my issue.

I can't answer any questions about the adenomyosis, but I have found you can look it up on the Mayo Clinic site, among others, and I think there is also an article on this site about it.

I also have iron deficiency anemia due to years of heavy bleeding, partly from unknown causes and currently from fibroids as well, have been borderline anemic since college at least, and that keeps me fatigued. Having a big, heavy fibroid uterus gives me backaches; just going grocery shopping leaves me in need of a nap.

So, I'm pretty sure having to lug around fibroids would account for some of your fatigue.

I'm disenchanted with general practitioners (my gynecologist is superb); my former gp allowed me to get severely anemic by overlooking it on my labs, and my current one apparantly thought borderline was good enough, didn't do anything until my hemo slid down to 10 and I regained 26 lbs.

In spite of all the talk about "preventative medicine," in my experience, gp's don't take action until symptoms are severe. I can easily imagine this conversation:

"Am I vitamin C deficient?"
" No."
"How do you know?"
"You don't have scurvy."

The canned response I like best (not): "There's nothing physically wrong with you, it's just anxiety." That happened right before my first grad school voice jury. I had real laryngitis. I was not in the habit of getting sick before my juries.

Man, my level was 10. I've gotten it up to 19 with the iron. Hoping once the bleeding is a non-issue, I'll really be able to get some better numbers there! Good point about the fibroids... Makes a lot of sense. Thank you for taking the time to answer!!!

Hi Ladies. I had my TLH BSO on June 6th. Before my surgery, on top of the intense pain I had each month with my period due to severe endometriosis, I was also exhausted. Everything felt like it took so much effort. It was difficult to get out of bed each morning, and I drank caffeine all day long just to try to function and make it through the day. It was awful. When I got my pathology report, I found out I had numerous fibroids, endometriosis all over my intestines, along with adenomyosis.

Since my surgery, I'm still not a morning person, but I have energy again. I feel amazing. I had no idea how awful I felt prior to the surgery until now. I'm 9 weeks post op, and there's no stopping me! I'm back to working out, and completely pain free. The surgery pain only lasted the first week, and my periods were far more painful than my surgery pain ever was. I had a some bleeding and clots (week 3 of healing) when the stitches were dissolving (which freaked me out, but the doctor said was completely normal). I cannot tell you how the surgery has changed my life.

I started hormone replacement a little over a week ago, sex is pain free and better than it ever was prior to surgery. I do not miss the pain each month, I do not miss having a period, and I'm grateful for a wonderful doctor who listened to me.

Oh this gives me so much hope! Thank you for sharing your story! I have at least a half pot of coffee every morning, and still feel just wiped out by lunchtime. I'm hopeful that my story will be similar to yours. Thank you!!

Wow...this gives me hope...a late night for me is 9.00pm! I drag myself out of bed every morning at 5.45am (and I literally have to drag myself out) otherwise I will never get ready for work...I start the day with a cup of tea...if I don't get that cup of tea I am one tired and angry woman! I go to work, struggle through the fatigue, go home for lunch and have another cup of tea to try to pep myself up, go back to work, get home and instantly complain that I am tired...my DH then says "You are always tired!"...I just can't wait to not be tired any more...I want some energy back!

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Originally Posted by tggr Wow...this gives me hope...a late night for me is 9.00pm! I drag myself out of bed every morning at 5.45am (and I literally have to drag myself out) otherwise I will never get ready for work...I start the day with a cup of tea...if I don't get that cup of tea I am one tired and angry woman! I go to work, struggle through the fatigue, go home for lunch and have another cup of tea to try to pep myself up, go back to work, get home and instantly complain that I am tired...my DH then says "You are always tired!"...I just can't wait to not be tired any more...I want some energy back!

Me too, tggr; it used to take me 30 minutes to get ready to go out, now it takes 45-60 minutes, I move so slowly! I can't concentrate on what I'm doing, even things I enjoy. I took a "me day" last spring to go to a couple of museums; by lunchtime I was exhausted and my sides and back were hurting from muscle strain.

The good news: my Dr. says I will feel loads better after this is done and I've recovered. Sisters, there is hope!!

Whatsit, my doctor says I should feel less tired too...I guess we won't realise just how much strain has been put on our bodies until that strain is gone!