Anemia

Hello,

This is my first post - hope I do it right. I have found posts on this site to be very encouraging. I have fibroid tumors and have been having "abnormal" bleeding for appx. 11 months now. I was scheduled for an LSH Sept. 10th but it had to be cancelled due to anemia. I even went through the entire admissions process only to find out that day they couldn't do it. Since then I was put on b/c, which I've been on since Sept. 10th and was given a shot of Depo Lupron on Oct. 27th to try and control the bleeding. I started my last menstrual cycle on Oct. 13th and I'm still going strong. The cycles usually last at least 14 days, this is the first time it's gone on this long. I know this isn't "strange" considering the site I'm posting to and I've read about much worse cases, but I'm wondering if others have tried b/c to control the bleeding and it didn't work? And if Depo Lupron helped anyone? It may be that I'm being impatient and it takes a while for it to kick in but the way it's going, I fear I'll always be anemic and never get a chance to build my blood back up to re-schedule the surgery. Has anyone else had to deal with anemia interferring with surgery and if so, how long did it take you to build your blood back up and were you bleeding at the same time? Thank you, Erin

Hi Erin! I am totally understanding of the endless periods! I had a TAH on 9/27 just a little over 5 weeks ago and I am as my Dr. has said - his Postergal for Hysterectomies! I am feeling so good now and OMG why I waited so long to have this is beyond me. I know I am still early in my recovery - but I take it slow as I just returned to work - 3 weeks ahead of my Dr's schedule. I go for my 6 week internal exam and Blood test next Tuesday. I hope to be fully cleared and I know I made the right choice and now look forward to my newly re-charged self. The rest and the pampering the past 4 weeks, and the fact I did take time to heal - helped me tremendously. You will find this site so healing, and I hope you find answers to some of your questions. But please do consult with your Dr. with your questions.

My case of anemia was not really severe as I had always been slightly anemic pretty much for the past 10 years - but in the past 4 years - (after I turned 40 !) I began to have endless (lasting like you 10- 14 days straight and very heavy periods - 2 years ago I had to have a DNC to stop the bleeding and was given more Iron pills to take! I was never given the Lupron shots. I thought I had beat it by eating all the green leafy veggies, and almonds, etc but my blood levels hovered around 9 or 10 not getting back to a normal 13 or above HGB level. It was then 2 years ago that my Dr. suggested I think about having a hyster! I was in denial at that time and really did not want to be out of work for the recovery time because I didn't think too much of my own health over my job! How insane I was! Fast forward to 2004 - I started a "Mega" period in May and it lasted until August! I was originally placed on progesterone but after 9 pills it did not stop (it only got heavier) and I ended up in the ER on a business trip. Not good! I was then placed on a mega dose of BC pills (4 pills every 4 hours!) Dr. told me it would stop in 48 hours - it sure did - I thought RELIEF! But he said I would have a reg. cycle 1 week from the end of taking the whole pill pack - I did - the first couple of days were fine and light - then I had uncontrollable hemmoraging (literally 2 pads or more within the hour) and so my Dr. scheduled emergency DNC to stop it! It was the followup appt that my Dr and I started to discuss the Hyster -I was scheduled 3 1/2 weeks later! He was the one who recommended this site to me and I am so thankful! He gave me Pre-natal vitamins to increase my blood count and stamina and maintain my energy along with my Iron pills. I don't know if you have suffered the heavy fatigue due to the anemia - I certainly did. I didn't think I was ever going to feel "normal" and not tired! I even got my last "Aunt Flo" about 1 1/2 weeks before surgery - but it was not bad! Not heavy or long - it lasted only 4 days! Even if you have your period - it is up to your Dr. if they go on with surgery - the team is not unfamiliar with this (I was bleeding so heavy during the last DNC) Please check out my Princess story and see my bit about my miracle jalapenos. At my pre-op Admissions the nurse marched me back to my Dr's office since my HGB count was now even lower than before - 8 and she cautioned me that I may have a blood transfusion if my levels dropped lower before surgery. My Dr. calmly explained that my HGB levels were probably lower since I had just had my period. I would take another blood test before surgery and he would decide what to do. But for some reason - (maybe my jalapenos stirred something up in my blood -woke up those tired cells or something!!) my levels on day of surgery soared to 12.1 - the highest I had seen in over 2 years! After surgery I was told I had 5 fibroids another possible explanation of the excessive bleeding. Plus I had tubal issues on my left tube and that was the most likely reason.

I wish you the best Erin! I am sure others have similar stories such as ours. You may want to search the archives or keywords with anemia to check out some of the other posts. It is very frustrating and this is time where you and your Dr. should really be communicating and YOU have to be proactive with your questions.

I hope you will feel better and will have your surgery scheduled soon. The wait is the hardest part - but knowing you have this site is always a comfort. Keep on posting and I hope that you become a when it is right with you and your Dr.

Sorry so long - it's all this energy I have!

CJ

Hi CJ,

Thank you for your post. It sounds like you really know what it's like to be a bleeder, tired and anemic all the time. I haven't gone through as much as you have (it was an amazing story) but I feel like I'm not far behind and am following in your footsteps. My doctor would like me to try the Hydro-ablation procedure. I'm in the process of getting more information about it now. He's done other ablation procedures but this will be his first hydro-ablation and that makes me nervous. Because the b/c and Depo Lupron aren't stopping the bleeding, and he refuses to do a blood transfusion, I almost feel like I have no choice because of the blood loss daily. I will post again to see if anyone has had the hydro-ablation. It just seems with all else tried, in the end most posts I've read have ended up with some form of hysterectomy anyway. That's really what I want but I don't know if I can build up my hemoglobin on my own. Even if the hydro-ablation works only temporary, maybe that's what it will take to allow my blood to work back up. I'm just not sure what to do. I truly appreciated your email and thank you for taking the time to respond to me. I truly hope you continue to do well and feel I will too once the bleepin' uterus is gone. (I haven't figured out yet how to attach smiley faces) Thanks again and take care, Erin

CJ,

I hit "post" instead of "reply" when replying to your message so it's "out there" entitled "CJ". I had just wanted to thank you for replying to me. I'm sure you'll be able to find the post and read it. I'm a dork! Take care, Erin

I had anemia as well, and for five years we tried different types of birth control pills, with iron pills on the side of course. No pill made a difference to me, and I wasn't regular so I'd have a period every 9 days or two weeks or whatever the hell it wanted to do, it wasn't till this summer we decided to go ahead with the hyst because I was bleeding 30-45 days at a time 9 or 14 days in between.
My dr put me on a pill called cyklokapron three months before surgery , you take them when you start to bleed, its supposed to "dry it up" so that you don't bleed so much with me taking my iron pills and eating loads of foods with iron, I was good to go by the time my surgery came up two months later,(i got called in early) I didn't need a transfussion. I'm 5 weeks post op and feel like a women for the first time in many many years. NO more hiding in the bathroom, or wearing black, no more DIAPERS those extra thick extra extra long pads, god I'm finally free , and best of all no more chafing from the pads
life is grand

I got "lucky". The second BCP my doctor tried me on hasn't stopped my bleeding (I'm still bleeding on average about 15 days a month), but it has lightened up the flow enough that my blood count has gone up from 9.2 to 11.2 in a couple of months (with the help of lots of iron supplements and iron-rich foods). My doc says that's high enough that he'll go ahead and do the hyster w/o me having to take Lupron.

Now if the surgery coordinator would just hurry up and call with my date . . . .

Hi Erin,

If the bleeding subsides, your doc has you on iron supplements and you each iron rich foods like red meat, spinach and liver, your blood count should go up. My doc told me it would take about 1 month when mine was around 10; she wanted it to go to 12. It started to go up, but then I had a problem, so since you're already anemic, please watch the bleeding as it can (in rare instances; mine being one) become serious.

I had a not so large submucosal fibroid that had a life of it's own when it came to bleeding. I had one lupron shot, but it didn't help at all. After almost 3 straight months of bleeding, one day I started hemoraghing and ended up in the ER with an emergency TAH and 6 units of blood.

I am now 6 weeks post op, back to work part time and amazed that I am not exhausted. I realized just a little while ago that it is because I'm not anemic anymore. I had been anemic for so long, I forgot what it felt like not to be.

I hope that your blood count increases and that you can have your surgery soon. It is wonderful when the bleeding stops!


s
Natalie

Thank you Natalie and to the others who posted to my thread. You guys are really great! My blood count was 7.9 when I was supposed to have my surgery back in September and it took about a month for it to go to 8.8. Then I had a terrible time the beginning of October and it went back down to 8.1. My doctor now wants me to try a procedure called hydrothermal ablation where they basically go in and "cook" and destroy the endometrium lining to stop all the bleeding. I've heard of endometruim ablation but wasn't too familiar with hydrothermal ablation. It sounds kind of scary but at this point I'm ready to try anything. I have been on iron since September taking one twice a day, and also eating foods rich in iron (as well as being on b/c and Depo Lupron at the same time) but I guess with the continued blood loss, it's not getting a chance to build the iron back up. Anyway, I was told with the hydrothermal ablation, they use a scope so they can see inside the uterus the entire time, and also another aperatus that will put a saline solution inside the uterus (all done through the cervix) and once inside, the solution is heated up to about 90c, which I think is about 190-195 fahrenheit and they swoosh it around for about 10 minutes. My doctor told me the benefit of having the saline solution is it can get to any "cracks" or crevices that other ablation methods may miss. This is all what he's told me so far, and I am in no way an expert in this, and maybe I'm leaving important details out so don't quote me on it. I was so looking forward to my LSH but now maybe this will be the answer. At least temporarily and enough to get me ready for the LSH. I just don't know. Anyway, thank you again and I wish all of you so much health and happiness. Erin

Hi Erin,
I tend to bleed most of the time, right now 23 days in a row after only 3 days not. I tried several different types of BCP and they didn't help, I think they actually made it worse. In May I had a Novasure endometrial ablation where the run a laser ballon into your uterus and expand it then zap your uterus for 90 seconds to destroy the lining, this lessened the amount of bleeding per day but did not stop the daily thing. However ablation has worked wonders for many, many women who have gone without periods at all or had theirs reduced to just 2 days of scanty bleeding per month. I am scheduled for SAH on 11/22 and was referred to this site by another support group for EA...check it out, it is Endometrial Ablation Discussion Group. There are many people on the site that have had hydrothermal and can really be a big help. Good luck with your procedure...may it work wonders and prevent a major surgery.
Cindy

I hope you don't get this twice but I'm just learning how to post here. But anyway I tried several BCPs to stop my bleeding and they didn't work, then on May 24 I had a Novasure endometrial ablation where they run a laser balloon into your uterus after D&C and hysteroscopy, expand the balloon, then zap the lining of your uterus for 90 seconds to destroy the lining. After the ablation my flow was less but still daily so I'm now scheduled for SAH on 11/22 and was referred to this site by my sisters on the Endometrial Ablation Discussion Group. You may want to go their site as there are many women there that have had successful hydrothermal ablations and either don't have periods at all or have been reduced to 2-3 days of scanty bleeding per month. It is also a much easier recovery than a hyst. You may want to look them up as they can give you much advice about anything to do with an ablation. Good luck with whatever you decide on...I am really glad I tried an ablation, just disappointed it didn't work.
Cindy