don't know what to do--bleeding and hyst rescheduled--fibroids

Hello,
I don't really know where to post questions, i guess i
can ask here. In June I had to have blood transfusion
from loss of blood, passed out in floor so husband took
me to emergency room. They told me I had fibroids.
Well, I don't have insurance, so I had to make appointment
at State Run Teaching hospital. It is so hard to have
timely appointments with the qyn. When I did go
the waiting room was so full, I had to wait forever.
When I finally got in the Dr. or intern put me on
40 mg of megace, and make me an appointment for
the 11th of January for internal medicine clinic before he would do a hysterectomy (my birthday). Had to cancel that because of emergency gallbladder surgery.
So they rescheduled for February 3. I live 30 miles away
That morning i left an hour early so I could be sure to
make it. Well there was a wreck on the freeway and I was 40 minutes late and they wouldn't see me. The next appointment is in April. I am so depressed, I
called the gyn clinic and told them so they scheduled me
to go in the 21 February. I have been bleeding since
the begining of January. It's not as heavy as before
but everyday. Today I was bleeding alot worse with
clots and very bright red blood, I am so weak and cold
and cramping bad. My husband says its 90 degrees in the house but i have to wear a coat. I am wondering
if I should go to the er just to see a dr, if its better
than nothing. Maybe it would speed up the process.
I am so depressed. I need to work and its almost
impossible because i am a housekeeper at a hotel,
which is strenuous work. I'm sorry to be so whinny
and rambling. Any suggestions?

Love, Lisa

I have moved you over here to Pre Op where you will find more support for your concerns. I am so sorry about your situation. Yes, if you need to, you have the option of visiting the nearest ER. in there!

I too had the same problem as you do..I had to have a transfussion last Feb. and a few months later moved across country. I did fine for acouple months..but than WAM I was right back where I started..We do not have insurance here yet either so I feel your pain hun..
I ended up in the ER and admitted because of an infection in my uterus a week ago Thursday..Well...The doctor who took care of me scheduled my TAH for Monday the 13th..She says a person can not go on that way..
I thank god for her being on call that day in the ER.
Please dont wait..I would never wish this pain on anyone that I have had with this..I have been dealing with my problems for too many years.
Good luck!

Hi Lisa,
I hope you're feeling better today. If you are thinking you may need an ER visit you should go. I had 30+ days of heavy bleeding/clots ("golf balls" as I call them) last July - was feeling cold, faint and very week - I didn't know at that time that you can actually become anemic and need a transfusion from the blood loss. Called my doctor and they gave me an appointment for 3 weeks out. By the time I got in I was feeling better. Had I known then what I know now I would have insisted on a an appointment right away. Take care of yourself and get seen if you're not feeling better!!

Hi lmoses
You poor thing. It sounds like you are becoming quite anemic with the blood loss. I went through this myself and struggled to decide if I should go to the er. I think the guideline is that if you are filling a pad front to back, side to side in an hour or less you need to be seen. It is considered hemorrhaging.
If you were to go to the er it would draw attention to the severity of your problem. I'm so sorry you're having to struggle so to be seen. In the meantime I don't think you can go wrong by taking some much neeeded iron supplements to try to counter balance your blood loss. I was seeing a naturopath for a while before my surgery and she had me go buy the Slow Fe time release iron at WalMart. She said it is a nice high dose and it is gentle to the system. Some of them will constipate you. You also need to be drinking a lot of water. When you have blood loss the extra fluids will help your body replace your blood supply. You should also be thinking about eating good sources of iron in your diet. Red meat is good and Total cereal is very high. I was amazed at that one.
You really need to have a dr's opinion on what to do for your bleeding. If this continues with the clots and is heavy I hope you will go in and be seen. Another week of this going unchecked could be very serious for you. Please take care and let us know what happens.
's, Rita

I bleed everyday for almost 2 yrs. My family dr finally suggested I go to a gyn. He found that I had several fibroids that were causing my bleeding. He gave me a prescription that stopped it and the clotting in 2 days. I'm sorry but I dont remember the name of it. I can call the pharm or his office for the name of it if you like. He scheduled me for a LSH and said I had to STOP bleeding before surgery and they WORKED.

Vicky

My doctor gave me Norethisterone (a progesterone) tablet and it stopped my bleeding. I haven't bled while I have been on them (7 lovely weeks of sheer heaven). I too had to have iron tablets because of anaemia and ate as many iron loaded foods that I could. Don't drink tea with your meals it prevents iron being absorbed from the food you eat! The tablets are not a long term solution but if you can get them and they work for you at least you won't feel so miserable and ill. I really hope things work out for you. Take care x

lmoses,

I had lost about 40% of my hemoglobin and red blood cells by the time I went to the gynocologist (7.1 hemoglobin and 25% hematocrit- they should have been around 13 and 40% respectively).

You might call and see if you could get a blood test done. This usually just takes a nurse to do, so you could probably get it scheduled before your next appointment with a doctor. It is very possible with that amount of blood loss that you are anemic. A local medical clinic or women's health clinic should be able to do this is if you don't want to drive to the hospital.

This happened to me because once I started losing blood, I had less iron (hemoglobin contains iron), and then the endometrial lining, once it started shedding, wouldn't stop shedding as it normally would because the newly exposed capillaries wouldn't clot the blood.

This needed to be stopped before the surgery, as you need to have adequate blood for surgery.

I was put on iron pills (don't take these without a doctor's approval- they aren't fun).

I also had a very high iron diet. Iron absorbs better with orange juice so I had liver and orange juice for breakfast, red meat and spinach for dinner. Omaha Steaks ships liver if you can't find any- they ship frozen.

This isn't the easiest diet to live on, but it did solve the problem. I had my red blood cells tested every 2 weeks and the hemoglobin came up each time, until it was normal by the time of the surgery. The bleeding lessened considerably by about 3 weeks into my 'iron diet'.

But don't go on an iron-enriched diet unless you are sure that that is the problem- so you'd need to get a blood test to make sure. Too much iron can be a problem as well.

So try to get a blood test to make sure that you aren't anemic, and if so, call and ask the clinic where you've made the appointment in April if it is OK if you go on a high- iron diet. Warning- while this will probably help slow the bleeding, it is likely to cause constipation as well, so make sure to check with the clinic where you've got the appointment in April before undertaking it.

-Torrie