Last year I found I had multiple fibroids in my uterus, after the joys of extensive and excessive bleeding. This horror show essentially ruined my life and made me severely anemic. My iron levels dropped hard and took forever to creep up (hard to improve when you wake up in what could pass as a crime scene), and though they’re getting back up, they’re still not in the normal range. This made my depression worse, and made it harder to deal with arthritis (which was diagnosed the previous year), and on top of that my daughter developed severe anxiety. So it’s been a complete shit show.
My doctor has been great about it, doing what he can to make things better. The waiting list to get to the gyno clinic at the hospital took a while, and I only got seen there last week. They gave me a Pap smear and took a sample of my lining, because it’s thick (14mm as of the last scan). I go back for results on the 19th, and if they’re normal I’ll get a Mirena IUD put in. This doctor wants to try conservative measures first, as she’s had a lot of good results with the Mirena for fibroid patients. My GP thought thermal ablation done with an epidural might be best, and ideally everyone wants to avoid a hysterectomy, even though I’m done with using my uterus.
She said that due to my weight and the lining thickness that hyperplasia and the potential for that to develop into endometrial cancer is a possibility, but we’ll wait for the results.
The bleeding is horrific when I have it, and can last up to three weeks. I went about 8 months with no bleeding, but had LOTS of pain and cramping. I’m 41 and I know fibroids are really common in this age bracket, and that my weight probably contributes to that. Has anyone else here dealt with it this, or other similar uterine issues? The combination of being a super fat with fibroids means some surgical options aren’t as good, but I’m not worrying about it now. I’m hoping that the Mirena will work and keep my uterus from trying to kill me.
My doctor has been great about it, doing what he can to make things better. The waiting list to get to the gyno clinic at the hospital took a while, and I only got seen there last week. They gave me a Pap smear and took a sample of my lining, because it’s thick (14mm as of the last scan). I go back for results on the 19th, and if they’re normal I’ll get a Mirena IUD put in. This doctor wants to try conservative measures first, as she’s had a lot of good results with the Mirena for fibroid patients. My GP thought thermal ablation done with an epidural might be best, and ideally everyone wants to avoid a hysterectomy, even though I’m done with using my uterus.
She said that due to my weight and the lining thickness that hyperplasia and the potential for that to develop into endometrial cancer is a possibility, but we’ll wait for the results.
The bleeding is horrific when I have it, and can last up to three weeks. I went about 8 months with no bleeding, but had LOTS of pain and cramping. I’m 41 and I know fibroids are really common in this age bracket, and that my weight probably contributes to that. Has anyone else here dealt with it this, or other similar uterine issues? The combination of being a super fat with fibroids means some surgical options aren’t as good, but I’m not worrying about it now. I’m hoping that the Mirena will work and keep my uterus from trying to kill me.
