should I wait it out?

I have many fibroids and one very large one in my uterus. I have had two DRs, both women tell me to have hysterectomy. I have an appt. to talk to my Dr. and set appt. for surgeroy. I'm 49 and have had very high blood presure which is now being treated and got the ok to go ahead with this. My questions is, is it worth the surgerory or wait for menepause, because I have heard the fibroids will shrink. Dr. says I am not premenepausal and may not start for another 6 years, anyone out there with this situation. I really appreciated finding this site and have found it so helpful. My Dr. is the same one who delivered my DD's the last one 22 years ago. She wants me to get the hysterectomy to make my periods better. They come every 28 days but are huge and alot of clotting. Otherwise I fell fine except for the fibroid is big and I would like to see it gone so I can wear regular clothes again. Thanks for any input.

My hyst was mostly for heavy bleeding, long periods (which just seemed to be getting longer) an enlarged uterus and fibroids. I wondered the same thing as you. I finally decided, after trying many other things, to go ahead with the hyst. Once my surgery started, my doctor found I also had tons of endo. I, for one, am glad I went ahead with the surgery. I've had a great year and am looking forward to many many more now. I hope you can find the answers you are looking for.

Fibroids were causing most of my problems too. After a D & C and an endometrial ablation the fibroids did not get smaller, in fact they grew larger. So, I had the LAVH. I am so glad I had my surgery - I have never felt better!

I was in the same situation as you. I had three or four large fibroids that were causing extremely heavy bleeding and the periods were lasting 40 to 50 days at a time. I don't know how long the fibroids were there but the last 2 years the bleeding was getting worse annd worse. I am 50 years old. I was so hesitant about surgury, and i asked about waiting for menopause also but the Dr. said that although I was beginning the perimenopause it could be another 4 or 5 years till I was done and even there was no guarentee that the fibroids would shrink. In the meantime I was so anemic that they talked about tranfusions. I had surgury on 4/10/02. It was the best thing I have done for myself ever. I wish I had it done along time ago. I am 6 weeks post-op and I feel great. Good luck on whatever decision you make. Jackie

Thanks for response and I am still reading peoples Q & A's and am learning alot here. I was pretty much in the dark because I feel like my Dr. was so "matter of fact" and thought she would like to do a hyst and get it overwith. She did tell me about other options tho but the fibroids are to big and to many. It sounds like everyone has the same general opinion, and confirms what my Dr said. That the fibroids may get larger or may shrink, but I still wanted to get some feed back from others. Thanks so much, you are all really helping alot, makes me feel sorry for our mothers and all that didn't have this site to get info from. Thanks and I will read on. Geri

I had fibroids, with heavy periods and clotting. Mine did not shrink with menopause, in fact they continued to grow. I am 58, and should have done this 10 years ago! It would have saved me a lot of pain and aggravation.

I first found out I had fibroids with my hysterectomy...and I started menopause 3 years ago. So sometime they do go away and sometimes they don't. And if you have to go on HRT after menopause they may start bleeding again(mine did)