No Date: small fibroids..extremely distended abdomen

hi, this is my second post and i'm just very curious...does anyone know for sure if "millions" of small fibroids can cause me to look like i'm 4-6 months pregnant??? i usually start off about 4 in the morning, and then by afternoon, or if i eat, it gets to look about 6 months..the reason i'm asking, is because the tech who did my ultrasound said "absolutely" and the gyno said.."ummmm, probably not"..the tech made a big deal out of it, and said that the largest one is 4cm, and i also have one pressing on my rectum,,and one pressing on my intestine, and i also have too many to count..unfortunately, the doc seemed to think that this is no big deal..the distention is severly altering my life..i'm absolutely miserable..please help!!

Doc's can be so clinical, the techs and nurses and other women are much more real. I was the same way and all I got after surgery was "it was twice the size of a normal uterus and I popped a cyst on your ovary" But, yes, I looked very, very pregnant and it's probably because you have something on your digestive track. The gas is insane! It's was like IBS for me.

On the other side of surgery, my bladder and colon had no idea what to do without the giant uterus telling them! Bladder is full, need to empty? Will I let you poop today or will I simply let you have loose stools all the time, every day because I'm going to press on these two places for 3 years until you figure me out!

Do you have a surgery date? Best I can tell you you figure out a way to make it til then and be happy when you get there!!!

When I got a dignosis and a surgery date I started taking Aleve and it helped so much. I didn't realize how inflamed I was. I was also constipated to total discomfort. I had to stop 2 weeks before surgery and realized it. I wouldn't have otherwise because I was simply so used to bowel irregularities. I literally outgrew all my jeans and moved into Leggings the 5 weeks before surgery. I shoveled snow in my flannel pajama pants!!!

I played around with pain killers that really did help. Ask your doc if he has any suggestions. Literally, the reassurance that it was there and surgery worthy made a huge difference for me. Not in my head!!! Think about the size of the fibroids. Think about how things are packed into your belly and how it all works together. A hard, round fibroid an inch in diameter can really change things that are soft and squishy and working together.

I woke up out of surgery with so much room in my belly and all the hip pain that had been almost crippling me for years was and still is totally gone. use the search engine for stories. there are a lot!!!! I used youtube to search the surgery and conditions and found a great lecture on fibroids. It was great!

Good luck!!! There is a lot of information when you are more able it pin down what you are looking for. Some of it will simply amaze you and make it all make sense!!!

I had endoscopic then colonoscopy done before the overeducated people of medicine scratched their tushies n said oh yea your fibroids on your overies doubled in 6 months n thats why you look like your gonna have triplets n your in pain. I am 47 you bet its bloating gas etc! You know your body better than anyone else..whats it telling you?

yeah, I'm with her, if your doctor doesn't see this, find another one, please!

Yes, what is the problem with some Docs not accepting that fibroids cause problems?

thank you all so much for responding...i'm supposed to be scheduling a hysterectomy this week..keeping my ovaries, because they supposedly look fine, even though the doc wanted to take them also..it's just hard to make up my mind because my gyno is really making me question myself..i just can't explain how my stomach feels, because when i tell her i'm bloated, she looks at me like i'm nuts..it's a very strange feeling, nothings wrong with any functions, it just feels like i have a bowling ball hanging off my stomach, and nobody gets it..i'm just gonna follow through with what i feel, and get the hysterectomy..we'll see...

Oh, no, read, read and read some more. I will find some links tomorrow. I'm full of meds right now.

They try to talk you out of it because sometimes women have their surgery and then regret it. I did not have this problem. Either did my doc but there are many, many women who fight with themselves for years over not getting surgery and it just get's worse and worse and worse.

I kept my ovaries. He popped a cyst while he was in there. He really wanted to keep them in but said he would do what he needed to do. There are many women who have been bloated. I was thinking about this earlier laying in bed. I bought new panties in July. I wore them a few weeks and they haven't fit since. My stomach just got bigger and bigger. Literally had to buy draw string shorts in August. It would go up and down with the cycles a bit. I had ablasion 3 years ago so I don't bleed a lot but I do bleed. The past 3 months the bleeding got worse. The IBS symptoms, just insane. Over the last 2 years I've tried gluten free, gluten free vegan. Lost no weight at all. I've always gone back to "normal" at some point. But not for long.

There are so many posts about women who are wearing dresses by the time their surgery comes around because their clothes no longer fit. I kid you not. You can do a search with my login name. Maybe that will take you to some of the posts I've read because I commented on them when I was done.

I am a very sane overweight woman. I'm larger but this flubby, flubby fat stuff is not me. I'm an active person that used to exercise a lot. Till this stuff started and I had no control over anything anymore. It's a HUGE head game. I understand that. I do now at least.

Huggs! I really have to go to bed!

Can you believe doctors do not think that fibroids cause these problems? I was going to my dr for almost two years. Had a prolapsed everything. They hitched up the uterus, had nerve damage, then amputated a portion of my cervix which prolapsed. I kept saying I still felt pressure on my bladder and had severe rectal pressure. I was so fed up, had a sigmoidscopy because of some bleeding and also alot of bloating and pain, nothing showed up. Doubled up with abdominal pain for at least four days of the month adn looked like I was at least four months pregnant every day. I also noticed my clothes were getting tighter and tighter, and I was eating less and less to try and get the weight of.

I finally went to another doctor. Had a hysterectomy because the mutikation of my cervix was causing severe bleeding problems (or at least I was blaming it on my cervix being mutilated), specifically after sex...that was really frightening. Had posterior and anterior repairs done also.

Well......I have NO more pressure anywere! My bladder feels so much better, and getting rid of the rectal pressure....WOW. My stomach even with the swelling from the hysterectomy is flatter, I feel lighter and thinner. I emailed this to this the first dr and told him I was surprisd to find out from my 2nd dr after the hysterectomy that my uterus was full of fibroids (2nd dr's words).

Turns out the 1st dr kne all along but never told me I had them. He sent me and email saying, " I only diagnosed small fibroids, 30 percent of women have them" .....grrrrrr.....I was so very very angry.

So yes, I think alot of dr's tend to downplay them, and forget that numbers and locations of fibroids can cause different sorts of problems. Mine were definately pressing on my organs. My uterus was enlarged making surgery difficult....I forgot to ask the dr size and weight, but will do that at the post op appointment.

Listen to your body, you know best!

YES Fibroid can totally screw you up! I only had 1, and I had many of the same symptoms as others have replied. I looked pregnant. Doc said I was the size of almost 5 months pregnant. I am short and small, so on my frame it was terribly noticable. My doc actually said it's more noticable on me because I'm smaller. My clothes no longer fit, I spent the whole summer wearing stretchy clothes, nothing that buttoned.
After surgery doc said my uterus and fibroid weighed almost 6 pounds. Mine was outside the uterus pressing right on my bladder, I had terrible bathroom problems, like others said I either went every 10 minutes, or sometimes couldn't go at all. The worst was going in public bathrooms were my pee would trickle out and take many minutes to finish. That was embarrasing.
It sounds like you are doubting your doc, maybe not doubting but not comfortable. I love my doc. He is great, spent tons of time on the phone with me, we had 2 40 minute phone calls....with no charges, I think that shows character. I am so confident with my guy, that if I was talking about mine, like you did yours... I'd have to find someone else. Why don't you at least get another opinion, if for nothing else just to meet and talk to another and see if you get better vibes.
Good Luck.

Where are you Penny? I'm in Indianapolis. I'd be more than happy to refer you to my GYN! Perhaps you can make a post asking for recommendations? I don't know if that's allowed publicly but maybe you can start a post and many will sent private messages. That's how I found mine on a pregnancy board.

I think you may simply be looking for confirmation about the big belly. Unfortunately, I don't think they can do that. It's one of those things that they really have to get in there and look at first and then your uterus and anything else they take out goes to pathology for a firm diagnosis. Silly huh?

The thing about fibroids is they are clinically benign. They don't cause cancer. Quality of life is something completely different. So, if you had a history of any sort of GYN cancer in your family there would be little problem with removing those things. Better remove them then deal with actual cancer. It's a liability issue for the doctors as well. I don't know what diagnosis my doc gave to the insurance company to get me a bladder sling 3 years ago but I got one! Someone on here said she had everything else removed in a surgery but because a bladder sling was a quality of life issue her insurance company looked at if differently.

I have fibroids all over my breasts. Yes, they are benign. I had a mammogram a few weeks ago and I saw the milk I've been producing for 6 months on the x-ray and the fibroids but a mammogram is only to check for cancer so my result was negative. Yeah, lactation and fibroids hurt and they are annoying since I never produced enough milk to sustain either of my children.

Burned out's story has me floored! But, I cold probably tell a lot of the same one.

Actually, the whole subject has been honkerblonking me off to no end for 24 hours now!!!! Yeah! I'm feeling better.

If you are OK with your doc and she will do the surgery I wouldn't worry so much about it. If you are looking for something difinitivey clinical from a doctor concerning fibroids you probably wont find it unless you find an extreamly special person. But, in the end, they will be tilting the information to make you feel better probably making you feel better without actually diagnosing the problems you are having is due to fibroids. Just strongly agreeing with you that it's a possibility. Either way, if they are willing to simply remove them and get rid of them without making you jump through lupron hoops or other hormonal options I'd take it and run with it!!!

I really hope this helps. You feel like my new best friend!!!