Grapefruit size fibroid... ?UFE, Acessa? Or daVinci? UPDATED - having UFE

Sisterduke, By ablation do you mean Acessa or endometrial ablation? I thought they insert the tool directly into the fibroid for Acessa or RFE.

How does the body purge the fibroids once they are dead? How can the purging be accelerated? Does anyone have recommendations for dietary changes to prevent them from growing again?

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Originally Posted by sisterduke You absolutely don’t want an ablation. The reason being fibroids are typically in some part of the muscle. Ablation burns away the endometrium or uterine lining but does not touch the portion in the muscle. Without the endometrium to absorb blood fibroids can and often do grow huge after ablation. You absolutely don’t want ablation if you have fibroids in the muscle.

I mean endometrial ablation where the uterine lining is burned. This is not good for fibroids in the muscle. Fibroids will grow absolutely huge without the lining. I was not referring to Acessa which is another type of ablation. That was not available here during my fibroid crisis.

Fibroids in the muscle shrink slowly over time with a biological process called hylanization (sic) degeneration. It’s where the body absorbs dead tissue. Fibroids in the uterus are a purge where periods are heavy for 4-6 months. How they are absorbed or purged is based on type and location. Hard exercise assists this process. So did sitting in the sauna. At least in my case this is when I noted the most change. Don’t feed fibroids estrogen or any hormone. Xenoestrogens such as those in our food supply specifically plastic water bottles should be avoided. Research hormone disruption and you will most likely see a picture of a plastic water bottle. BPA plastics are super high in bad estrogen. Use glass or stainless. Make up and skin care products are often high in estrogen too. I use clean products as much as I can afford.

Im at 7 days post UFE and feel great. Im down to just 2 advil 3 times a day and plan to d/c that tomorrow because im feeling no pain no cramps etc. one thing ive learned which, i wish i had know 4 years ago, is that - as youre in that peri menopausal time frame, if a fibroid gets so big that it outgrows its blood supply, it degenerates and yes it shrinks some, but not necessarily all the way to zero. 2 years ago i experienced this “degeneration”(painful like labor pains), and now fast forward when i went in for the UFE, the IR told me one of my several fibroids had calcified. I guess this is sort of the end stage for a degenerated fibroid as you approach menopause and calcified fibroids wont shrink any further with UFE. So, in hind sight, wish i had just done the UFE before I was hitting perimenopause and i might have avoided ending up with a calcified fibroid that can no longer shrink. The IR said my calcified fibroid is 20% of my bulk so theres still another 80% of bulk that can shrink. So thats maybe another reason to just do it!!

I'm 55 and just had a LAVH on 2/21. I had an ablation in 2006 with fibroids and it helped with period pain for about 3 months. I "tried to go out naturally" and have (with a different doctor) watched my fibroids since then. I put up with the pain because I really wanted to go into menopause naturally. My periods were like clockwork, but would loose 2-3 days of life a month because of the pain. My uterus started to grow so I was getting ultrasounds every 6 months for 2 years, in January the doctor said it had doubled in the 6 months and it was time to take her out. I dreaded it, but the surgery was a piece of cake. I felt better coming out than I had in years and my recovery was so easy! I wish I had done it years ago. I have Hashimoto's (auto-immune thyroid issue) and was worried that I would have problems due to that, but I feel great 9 weeks out! I had a little set back last week with some mild bleeding (I let myself get extremely constipated at week 8, and the pressure caused a tiny tear in my cuff) but the doctor gave me premarin to use for two weeks and said I will be fine. I was able to keep my ovaries and I think they are working (only a few mild hot flashes here an there). Anyway, what I want to say is I wish I had the surgery years ago. Good luck with whatever you decide!

So am i understanding this correctly- you had a laparscopic removal of your uterus which was the size of a 6 month pregnancy thru the vagina - ie you have no incision? Did they know up front this was a for sure or did your dr say he might be able to do the LAVH but you might also end up with a traditional open incision?

Yes, they thought it was much smaller and she did warn me that it could become abdominal surgery. She laughed and said her assisting doctor said "woah" when he saw it. It was 535 grams and I had three small laparoscopic incisions and she took it out whole through my vaginia. She doesn't like to cut it up to take it out. I read my surgical report and pathology report and they all concurred with what she told me. She said my uterus was the size of a full term newborns head. She did say I tore slightly, but I could not feel any stitches. I have a good friend who's husband is a pathologist and he said she was one of the best in town. Shout out to Dr. Christy Stevens in Kingsport, TN

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Originally Posted by Cakers8 Thank you, this is my first post. I heard recovery is a week. Can u tell me more about what you experienced. My gyno wanted to take my uterus the old fashioned way. I have three babies born without c-section. Cant they go vaginally for these things or burn my uterus and get it out that way instead. Im going to my okd fertility doc on tues to get a 2nd opinion, please help all this is so new to me

Hi,

My uterus was 800g. According to my surgeon, that's about 10x normal!

The original plan was to take it out vaginally but when he tried, it was too big. Fortunately he went through belly. I have 4 incisions on stomach and he had to make an incision at navel to get uterus out.

I have had 3 c-sections in the past, so I knew there was a possibility of him converting, but he was excellent and was able to get it thru bellybutton.

He's an oncologist with over 30 yrs experience, so I think that helped. Perhaps you can find someone with lots of experience and with a very LOW conversion rate (switching from laprascopic to open surgery).

Best wishes to you in whatever you decide to do.

I decided to go with the UFE on tuesday june 12th. I found an IR that will go through my wrist a relatively new procedure versusthe hip. It will be one day in the hospital overnight. Im hoping it works for me. I have three kids at home ages 8,13,16 so im not looking forward to being sick. I have a wedding to go to that sat. Do you think that i will be up for it? I have had three kids vaginally and a miscarriage so doc thinks ill handle the pain better. Im starting to pack my hospital overnight bag. Not looking forward to being in bed all week. Im going to try and walk everyday but i heard you get very tired easily and im worried about passing such a large fibroid etc. i dont want to get an infection or a d and c.

I had my ufe in june 12, 2018 so i am about 5 or 6 weeks post op. The radialogist went through my wrist instead of my groin area and i had no catheder which was nice. I stayed awake the entire procedure and on pain meds after and threw up when i got home. Ive been taking aleve and tummy meds too. I am i my 2nd period and it starts and stops and im seeing some gray tissue supposdly the dead fibroid and clots etc. This one is a little longer lasting 6-7days. My husband and i had sex about 3 weeks after and all okay and im able to have an orgasm because i heard the procdure could interfere with that too. My sex drive is much lower than it used to be but i know my body is healing and working hard to shrink my large fibroid. I will probably ask the doc to do an ultrasound in a few months? I have morning sickness everyday but it goes away after i eat etc but im still on GERD type medicine for reducing acid in my stomach. I dont take everyday only when i feel really queasy. I am very happy with the procedure and thankful my insurance paid my hospital bill they originally charged $63,000 for outpatient? then took off over a third of the bill. I believe most ufe are covered by insurance but please check on all this before you go into surgery cause i think it is a very pricey procedure here in illinois anyway.

I had my ufe in june 12, 2018 so i am about 5 or 6 weeks post op. The radialogist went through my wrist instead of my groin area and i had no catheder which was nice. I stayed awake the entire procedure and on pain meds after and threw up when i got home. Ive been taking aleve and tummy meds too. I am i my 2nd period and it starts and stops and im seeing some gray tissue supposdly the dead fibroid and clots etc. This one is a little longer lasting 6-7days. My husband and i had sex about 3 weeks after and all okay and im able to have an orgasm because i heard the procdure could interfere with that too. My sex drive is much lower than it used to be but i know my body is healing and working hard to shrink my large fibroid. I will probably ask the doc to do an ultrasound in a few months? I have morning sickness everyday but it goes away after i eat etc but im still on GERD type medicine for reducing acid in my stomach. I dont take everyday only when i feel really queasy. I am very happy with the procedure and thankful my insurance paid my hospital bill they originally charged $63,000 for outpatient? then took off over a third of the bill. I believe most ufe are covered by insurance but please check on all this before you go into surgery cause i think it is a very pricey procedure here in illinois anyway.