Fibroids??

My Dr's appt keeps replaying in my mind... I've never had irregular periods... sure, I am a heavy bleeder but have been forever. I don't have the urge to pee often, don't really feel pressure on my bladder or bowels, just have this pain in my right side that has gotten increasingly worse in the last 3 months. Doc says my uterus is large... could it be that that's normal? I had 2 c-sect and 2 v-bac's, afterall? I am fotunate that I haven't had previous problems... but that makes me even more confused... I am 37 with no history of problems?! I am finding out so much information on this site, and I am wondering if my fibroids just 'grew overnight?' I have an ultrasound today, and might get more answers. I know I am whining... thanks for listening!

I hope everything goes okay with you sonogram. And yes, this is a wonderfull site. It has so many good information. Wished you good luck!!

Whining? No way -- you're not even close!

An enlarged uterus can be the result of many things. In and of itself, it's not necessarily even anything to be concerned with. Many women with fibroids, for example, don't even know they have them until they are found during a routine exam!

Try not to worry right now. The pain could be due in part to the enlarged uterus, or it could be something else altogether!

I know it's hard to relax and not worry -- but there's no point getting all excited over something which is uncertain.

If your doctor does come back and suggest a hysterectomy, then it would be a good time to go to another doctor and get another medical opinion. Unless you have something which is truly life-threatening (which is extremely rare) you will have time to explore your options.

My best wishes to you!

Hi Monday and welcome,

I know how you feel. Last September I went for my annual check-up anticipating all good things since I'd lost about 40 pounds and been exercising regularly .... and within 24 hours I was flat on my back under an urgent ultrasound.

My doctor felt a mass in my abdomen and since I told him I didn't have heavy periods -- a common symptom of fibroids -- he feared I actually had cancer and got me in for an ultrasound ASAP. (He didn't tell me that until later which is just as well .... I was already a nervous wreck since I knew *something* was wrong.)

I'd never even heard of fibroids until he mentioned them. Turned out I had a flourishing collection expanding my uterus to an estimated five month UNpregnancy.

I also felt as if they'd appeared "suddenly" although part of the cause might be that I'd lost significant amounts of weight, so they were no longer camoflagued. And I now understand they do tend to grow as women move into perimenopause.

So you're not alone on this. I think fibroids are the most common reason for a hysterectomy. I've seen figures which suggest 40 to 80 per cent of women have fibroids.

That said, hysterectomy is not the only treatment. If you do indeed have fibroids, make sure to get more than one opinion on treatment options. One option is to do nothing and you may want to consider that if the fibroids are not large enough to threaten other organs or if you have no symptoms.

In my case, the uterus was actually half-as-large again as suggested on the original ultrasound -- up to six month pregnancy size -- and therefore too large for some other treatment options. It was also putting other organs at risk, which justified the hysterectomy although I actually only had bulk symptoms .... no heavy periods.

Fibroids rarely require emergency treatment since they are not malignant, so you do have time to research and consider your options.

Feel free to post questions. I've found the ladies on this site are wonderfully helpful.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Keep well,
IslandScribe

HI Monday314

Yes as others have stated--there are fibroids and then there are FIBROIDS....

The ultrasound ( assume you had internal and external??) will show what is going on or at least give you a better idea.

There are SO many women who have just one or a few small ones and they do nothing...or seek alternative treatments such as a myomectomy (fibroid only removal.) There are also other less invasive options as well as "chemical" options available.

Then there is myself and others on this site who have many HUGE ones and a VERY enlarged uterus which is causing serious problems to other organs and surgery is the only option.

Most of the time fibroids are more inconvenient than serious.

No reason to get upset...once you start asking around you'll see that at some point most women develop fibroids ....they are quite normal and often times not much to concern yourself with.

Hope this helps
C

Hi, read your post...my story with fibroids like yours. Heavy bleeder, no pain/problems. Find out about a fibroid about a decade ago. Doc. says I should think about a hyst, that it probably won't get any better. Since I wasn't having any problems and had just had my first baby at 35, I got a new doc. No problems over the years. In the last year things seemed to creep up (age 44 now) thought I was getting fat...wondered why my waist was expanding. Notice pain different than the pain I was already recovering from. Don't give it much thought. Belly getting larger, periods getting weird, cramps all month, start getting out of denial. Go to doctors get tests, find many large fibroids. Month passes, get attracted to toilets, have harder time eliminating. Pain increases. Notice I can't do the yoga I've done for 40 years as easily...abdominal exercises out of the question. Remember my mom had large basketball sized fibroid, suffered, one grew on a stalk to her lung, got cancerous, died. Remember Grandma, died of sudden uterine hemmorage. Notice knifelike stabbing sensations in my pelvis, find myself bent over grabbing my belly often. Try and pretend it's just a bug. Didn't work, decide to go forward with Hyst. Do not want alternative treatments because I do not want to keep doctoring, and keep maintianing shrunken, half dead fibroids in a diseased uterus. Decide my life can be much better after a decade of severe pms/pmdd and last several months of sharp, relentless pain, bloat, toilet time, etc...If they don't bother you do nothing. If you don't get a good feeling about it, honor that and look into your problem. I have no idea how many years I had several fibroids, but I do know now that they've got to go. Noom

Island, thank you for that information, Yes in my case I do have fibroids. 2 of them in my uterus the size is like a fourth month of pregnacy. I recently lost 49 pounds. I was feeling not to good because of some discomfort in my right size of the ovarios. I should also said that I have a cyst. I went to my gyn in 12/04. For a regular check up. He realized that my uterus was kind of big and at that point he mentioned to me that he could feel something like a fibroid. Pretty big. He send me to a pelvic sonogram. Since them my menstruation they are coming I should said every 2 to 3 weeks. With a heavy, but heavy bleeding. I received a phone call last wednesday from my gyn. That my result were not to good. And that he need to see me. Thursday I went to his office. He only give me 2 option for my threatment. Definitly surgery.
1. Go into surgery to removed just the fibroids.
2. Same thing but removed uterus and right ovaries.
Reading here I really don't know if I'm taking the right desicion of option #2.
But I wished you good luck and my sure to take a second opinion.

I didn't have a whole lot of symptoms (but some things made more sense once I found out about the gigantic 'broid). It grew very fast in about a year and a half. Mine, too, was a bit bigger than they thought when it came out (but maybe it just grew in the two months between when I found out about it and had the surgery. After seeing what this thing looked like--there's no WAY I wasn't about to be symptomatic. It looked like it was thriving! So I just feel like I was kind of lucky that it was positioned where it was because I can't imagine something that big not causing me MAJOR problems eventually. Did they give you the results of the ultrasound already? I had mine immediately (and then had a subsequent MRI that confirmed).
My latest strange thought is wondering what the heck happened when women of yesteryear had these. Or maybe they're a product of the modern age.
Fr-yo

Re: Historical fibroids

I've been thinking a bit about that as well, FroYo, and I think there is a combination of answers.

1. Pregnancy tends to reduce the size/incidence of fibroids and women were more likely to be more pregnant in the past.
2. Hysterectomies have been performed for more than 100 years ... although I imagine the success rate is currently better - fortunately for us ... so that may have been a treatment option for some.
3. Many women died younger or in childbirth, so they didn't live long enough for fibroids to be an issue.
4. Modern women tend to become fertile earlier due to improved nutrition etc. I wonder if that also means more estrogen in the system, which is apparantly one of the necessary elements for fibroid growth.
5. In addition, I notice a number of us are fluffy which means more estrogen in our systems and a higher risk of fibroids. Fluffy people among the general population is a fairly modern situation. For comparison with historical conditions, we'd need to know the incidence of fibroids in a developing country.

One historic case of a woman who thought she was pregnant and who apparantly appeared pregnant but was not actually with child was Mary Tudor (Queen Mary, Henry VIII daughter). There's no way of knowing for sure, of course, but I wonder if she had fibroids.

Keep well,
IslandScribe