Shrinking fibroids pre-op with drugs.

I am having my STAH on Jan. 12 to be done by a Gyne. that I have met once. She is the 2nd specialist I have seen about this massive fibroid I have (17 cm plus) as the first Gyne.; who incidently brought both of my two children into the world by c-section, was in my opinion not being proactive enough about my situation and I just couldn't relate to him as a human being. So I fired him. Two family physicians and my new Gyne. were all alarmed at the size of this growth and how it felt to them protruding through my abdomen and all more or less said to me "what are you waiting for?" whereas Gyne. 1 (who never examined me after the ultrasounds I went for) said "you have a fibroid; it will go away at menopause". So I am convinced that hysterectomy is the right way for me to go. My first Gyne., who is unfortunately the head of the Ob/Gyn dept. at the hospital where I will have my operation did go so far however, to state that I would require a course of fibroid shrinking drugs before he would consider performing a hysterectomy on me. When I asked the new Gyne. about this she stated that "no amount of drugs is going to shrink that fibroid of yours". Do I need a third opinion? I would prefer to go the route of no drugs but obviously don't want to be put into a more dangerous situation during the operation because this fibroid is difficult for them to work on, have a greater chance of losing too much blood and so forth. Gyne. no. 1 also said he didn't want to do the operation unless I lost some weight whereas Gyne. no. 2 said she thought it would be tremendously difficult for me to lose weight with the fibroid and that as long as my blood pressure and general health was okay that it was not a big concern to her. I really liked this new Gyne. and would like to be able to have faith in what she is telling me but should I?

Hi Margo,
trusting your doctor is very important.

That being said, there is no harm in getting another opinion if you are in doubt.

My dr. offered me a choice of going on a GnRH agonist (which would be something like LUPRON) which would "maybe" shrink my fibroid collection enough to have a vaginal hyst rather than an abdominal. --- maybe was enough of a doubt for me to decide that I didn't want 3 months of "lupron" (I live in Europe so it is probably called something else here) just for a possibility.

The meds they would put you on for reducing the fibroid put you into a temporary, immediate menopause.
Some women do well with the medication, others do not. There can be side effects, some of which go away after you stop taking the meds, some don't.

I saw a total of 5 drs (ok, three because I was admitted to hosptial, but there were still 3 over the course of 1 stay!).... my regular gyn (a woman) and the gyn who did my surgery, (a man).
The choice of final treatment was discussed with the final gyn, after I'd already been through hearing from 4 others that surgery was recommended....

I had a lot of confidence in my doctor, plus I did a lot of research on the options he offered me.

I think in order to feel you are making the best possible decision, you probably need to do some more research for yourself, and to ask your own dr, or indeed another (new) dr some more questions.

I know this is not an easy process to work your way through, I've been there.

Please keep coming here with your questions, and we'll try to help.

Hi there sis,
My fiberoit is 21 cm by 12 and I just got Lupron on Friday. My doctors told me even with 3 courses of the shot, my fiberoid would not shrink enough for me to go vaginal.....so abdominal it is. I have been fighting with this for 5-6 years and am so tired of all the side effects..........I need to move on and get my life back. Please know you are in my prayers.
Ameeramimi
Detroit