Hello & fibroid growth question

Hello! I posted for the first time yesterday under Introduce Yourself. I'll paste what I wrote below, because it contains my question. Oh, I also added a little more info in the "Did She Mean Hysterectomy?" thread. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone

What a great web site! I have already learned a lot! I will soon will be meeting with a surgeon who is very experienced doing lap. hyst., but I am not sure whether or not I will schedule it.

I have fibroids growing on the side and in the cavity. They are making my belly look pregnant (but not to the point where people are asking me embarrassing questions), pushing on my bladder, and causing a bit of bleeding. The GYN who did the ultrasound (not my regular GYN) seemed shocked that I wasn't having more bleeding and pain. Fortunately, I'm not (yet?).

My mother tried to wait until menopause and avoid surgery, but her fibroids kept growing until they resembled a 6 month pregnancy. So she had an abdominal hyst and then went through a late, natural menopause. My grandmother went through menopause late too. I'm 40 years old, so I expect I have many years to go until menopause. Future fertility is not an issue for me.

All of this is making me think that I might choose to have surgery (keeping my ovaries) in the near future rather than waiting until the fibroids get so big that I pee even more than I do now, I have to buy all new pants, I have worse bleeding, etc. But that leads me to this question -- before menopause, do fibroids ever NOT keep growing? Because if I were ten years older I would probably just wait and see if the fibroids would shrink after menopause. Right now, at age 40, the symptoms are negatively impacting my quality of life but not destroying it. (Part of the problem is psychological, because I'm constantly worrying about the fibroids and whether they're growing. I've even had nightmares about them.) My GYN says there is no way of knowing how fast they might grow. But if the odds are extremely high that they're going to get progressively worse over the next decade, then I would want to have the surgery before they become so big that laproscopy is no longer an option as it is now.

Thanks for letting me share my story. I look forward to learning more from you... You Sisters rock!!!!

I too had fibroids and didn't want to have surgery. I was diagnosed with them officially in 2003 (probably had them before that) and they finally started pressing on my bladder in late 2005-early 2006. That's what made me decide to have the surgery. I was able to have a LAVH, but just barely, and the surgery took longer (about 4 hours) and I lost about 1,000 cc of blood.

All I can tell you is to not wait too long! 's

Jana, thanks for your reply!

How scary to lose all that blood. I'm glad that you got through the experience safely. How long did it take until you felt healed?

Your message means a lot to me. It is a huge relief to hear someone validate my feeling about not waiting too long, because part of me feels like I should tough it out -- my symptoms seem minor compared to what so many women on this board are going through. And of course I realize that it is major surgery. I'm going to get more info before making a final decision, but right now I feel I want to schedule the surgery while I am still a candidate for the less invasive procedure (and before the symptoms become really hard to cope with).

I'll send an update after I am able to consult with the laproscopy specialist. Thanks again for your support! It truly does mean a lot to me

Hi Rainbow.
I love your purple text.
Readyness for surgery is personal and different for everyone. I would have saved myself a hellish year if I had had the hyst a year earlier, but I would have regretted it and felt I chose unnecessary surgery. Sounds to me like you're taking a reasonable position in wanting to give minimally invasive the best chance.

I chuckled to see that you have nightmares about the fibroids. Much as I didn't want surgery, I also hated the idea of the alien residents. I hope you're approved for the LSH.

I went back to work after 7 weeks post-op, but I really didn't feel back to myself until about 6 months post-op. Thanks for asking!

I'm feeling well now, sleeping better, and dealing with the hot flashes etc. It just takes awhile to adjust.

It was a good decision, and the vaginal surgery is the way to go if you can.

Hi Rainbow67,

I was 46 when I had a couple large fibroids grow between two annual exams. What a surprise that was!!

I got 2 opinions and both Drs felt that if I did a ~wait and see~ my fibroids would have kept growing. Like you, I was a candidate for a laparoscopic hyst so I saw it was a window of opportunity for a a less invasive hyst, instead of waiting and then being a candidate for an abdominal hyst since my fibroids most likely would have kept growing.

I am 3 yrs. on and still pleased with my surgery results. And my ovaries are still working so I have not gone through menopause yet.

Mary

I started noticing my growing fibroids at about age 30. My Mother had fibroids so I thought I would follow her example and ignore them and wait until menopause to take care of it. Well, despite the growing evidence (I got as big as a 7 month pregnancy) I kept holding out. Finally at age 52 with menopause just a few months away (as I would later discover) I had UAE. But by then it was clear that the only way to get rid of all the massive fibroids I had was to have a hyst. So a year later at age 53 I had TAH/BSO. I was in the hospital for about 48 hours. Minimal pain. No pain medication after 10 days. I took six weeks off work and managed most of that time living alone, without any help. Started exercising again at 4 months post-op.

I'm so happy now. No pain, no pressure, no bloating, no bleeding, no questions about due dates!! My energy is back. My appetite is back. I'm single so I can't say much about the sex yet, but I think the libido is okay. I'm not taking any hormones, just vitamins. I have some hot flashes and night sweats but not as bad as before surgery. Looking back now I know I wasted a lot of time not making the decision sooner. But I did it in my own good time and felt really secure when I finally found the right doctor after doing a lot of research and asking a lot of questions! That's my story.

Good Luck With Your Decison!

Rainbow -

My fibroids (including my alien) arived 'overnight'. The big one was the size of a golf ball when I felt it in Feb (and then coudln't find it for several nights so forgot about it) and when I 'found' it again in May it was large enough to cup my hand over. I didn't have major bleeding issues but did have bladder issues and was never hungry as things were pushing up.

I had just my uterus removed in Sept. I am 36 so I want my ovaries and the paps were go so I saw reason to remove my cervix. I was converted to a SAH from an LSH because instead of the 2 fibroids we knew about I had over 15 (some marble sized) that I think of as what was to come had I waited. Mine were also forming in places where they couldn't get a good view of the arteries/primary veins and were at risk of hitting one of them (which would have guaranteed a Blood Transfusion which I didn't want) so they converted.

Honestly, I think it was about 12 weeks before I 'felt myself' and I don't mean 100% but maybe 85% and feeling things were really back to normal. I returned to work at 7 weeks and was tired that first week (6 hour days) but by the following week able to work full days.

My moms surgery was at Menopause (if that makes sense) and since she had never had any issues with her fibroids (although I now appreciate the tummy she always had) she decided to wait them out. She had such issues with blood loss and her went into a new growth phase, she didn't really have an option with her surgery.

Then again, that was 15 years ago. There are other options now that there weren't then that you might look into.

Best of luck in your search,

Julie

Thanks to all of you who shared your stories & experiences in response to my post. I am feeling a sense of relief and really appreciate & value your support. Isn't the Internet cool?

I have a similar story re fibroids in that mine are causing me difficulties but I'm mostly able to live with them. The trouble is, no one can tell you whether the fibroids will grow or not. In deciding to go ahead with a hyster, i considered the following:

Have it now when I'm younger (42) and will hopefully recover quicker
Have it before it becomes an emergency (as as happened to a few women I know)
Have it now so that I can get on with the rest of my life!

I'm booked in for June 6 and after several years of indecision am well and truly at peace with my decision.

Good Luck!