Uterine Fibroids - update #2 post #46

[TCRAIG]

I had them and was bleeding very heavily - I ended up having a uterine ablation rather than a hysterectomy-this was 25 years ago. No regrets

 

[cvjw]

I had them. After menopause, they were no longer an issue.

 

[china mom]

I had a small fibroid tumor which my fertility doctor told be would interfere with implantation so I had it removed. Several years after giving birth, my periods slowly became heavier and heavier. Turns out I had new (small) fibroids. I was done with my babymaker anyway so I had an endometrial ablation. It was a quick, painless, in office procedure. Haven't had a cycle since and no other issues.

 

[AussieFan8]

I had them and it was awful. Very heavy bleeding that got progressively worse to the point of some very embarrassing things happening. I didn't know I had fibroids and went to a new ob/gyn to ask about an ablation (my previous ob/gyn had just told me the heavy bleeding was because I was in my 40's), and she discovered multiple fibroids and immediately said I should get the hysterectomy. I am grateful every day for that and very happy I didn't have to continue to endure the bleeding while trying other options. Not having to deal with that bleeding anymore has been life-changing for me.

Edited to add: the bleeding also resulted in some pretty significant anemia for me as well. It was also great to no longer have that constant fatigue.

 

[lisaviolet]

Multiple. Now stable.

Excessive bleeding. Emergency situation with multiple blood transfusions. Had myomectomy and ablation at the same time at that point. Myomectomy was successful and the remaining left are now stable. Ablation was not. They had to stop and I had sepsis - they were unaware for a bit just thinking I was recovering poorly.

They had pleaded with me to sign the papers for a complete hysterectomy, I refused.

Fibroids and ovarian cysts can be completely stable (and somewhat common as you can see here) and then they can be emergency situations. When they're buggers, they are buggers.

All the best with your decisions Christa.

 

[disykat]

Hysterectomy here too. Wish I'd had it years earlier. Even with a few minor complications most people don't have, it was still the best decision ever.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My gynecologist and I discussed the possibility of an endometrial ablation. This is what she told me. (Which could differ from others’ experiences, just putting that out there.) She said it required an overnight hospital stay for pain management (which is interesting given the hysterectomy - and in my case, additional oopherectomy, salpingectomy, trachelectomy, and cystoscopy - was an outpatient procedure!), doesn’t always stop the pain and bleeding, and many people wind up later with a hysterectomy and wish they just did that in the first place. I also know for sure that in my case of having severe adenomyosis, it wouldn’t have helped that, as the tissue abnormalities were very deep. So I’m glad I did the hysterectomy. It sounds like for some, though, the ablation has been a good procedure. If I had it to do over again, when experiencing severe pain and bleeding issues, I would ask about the possibility of adenomyosis. The problem is that it is not always able to be diagnosed before the uterus is taken out and tissue studied - it’s not always picked up on studies like CT scan or MRI. As I said before, I didn’t know I had it until after the surgery. Just adding that for anyone who might be having these issues as things to look into. Good luck to everyone, these are tough issues to deal with.

 

[nicolita3]

My gynecologist and I discussed the possibility of an endometrial ablation. This is what she told me. (Which could differ from others’ experiences, just putting that out there.) She said it required an overnight hospital stay for pain management (which is interesting given the hysterectomy - and in my case, additional oopherectomy, salpingectomy, trachelectomy, and cystoscopy - was an outpatient procedure!), doesn’t always stop the pain and bleeding, and many people wind up later with a hysterectomy and wish they just did that in the first place. I also know for sure that in my case of having severe adenomyosis, it wouldn’t have helped that, as the tissue abnormalities were very deep. So I’m glad I did the hysterectomy. It sounds like for some, though, the ablation has been a good procedure. If I had it to do over again, when experiencing severe pain and bleeding issues, I would ask about the possibility of adenomyosis. The problem is that it is not always able to be diagnosed before the uterus is taken out and tissue studied - it’s not always picked up on studies like CT scan or MRI. As I said before, I didn’t know I had it until after the surgery. Just adding that for anyone who might be having these issues as things to look into. Good luck to everyone, these are tough issues to deal with.

My hysterectomy required an overnight stay.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My hysterectomy required an overnight stay.

When I was in nursing school it was a four day stay.

I actually did stay overnight (when I couldn’t pee on my own) but technically it was still outpatient and I was thrown into a ward with seven other “outpatients” also slumming it overnight, lol. (Took out my own catheter in the morning and went on my way, very glad to get out of there!)

 

[nicolita3]

When I was in nursing school it was a four day stay.

I actually did stay overnight (when I couldn’t pee on my own) but technically it was still outpatient and I was thrown into a ward with seven other “outpatients” also slumming it overnight, lol. (Took out my own catheter in the morning and went on my way, very glad to get out of there!)

Oh my goodness! lol. I would have taken out my catheter as well if I had one. I'm an LPN and hate catheters and do not want a UTI. So when we were planning my surgery I begged my doctor that if I need one can they put it in while im under and take it out before I wake up. She told me she would try her best and thankfully when I woke up it was out. I was scared that they would make me put one back in after I woke up if I had difficulty urinating, so I started drinking water as soon as I woke up and was alert enough lol.

 

[disneychrista]

Let's talk recovery for all the different procedures you lady have had. How long were you in the hospital? Did you have to stay overnight? How long was your recovery? How long were you off work? Anything you wish someone had told you?

I know I may be getting a little ahead of myself but I am one of those people who like to plan and be over prepared for things.

 

[wov305]

I had a myomectomy and was in the hospital two nights three days. I have never had children or surgery prior to this one so recovery was hard but could have been worse. I was off work for four weeks in, bed for about two. If you have ever had a C-section I'm told the recovery is similar just no baby to take care of. I slept a lot and didn't walk for more than 15 minutes in the first weeks and no driving until the fourth.

 

[nicolita3]

Let's talk recovery for all the different procedures you lady have had. How long were you in the hospital? Did you have to stay overnight? How long was your recovery? How long were you off work? Anything you wish someone had told you?

I know I may be getting a little ahead of myself but I am one of those people who like to plan and be over prepared for things.

So my doctor told me recovery would depend on the type of surgery I would have and it would vary based on what they saw when they opened me up. So the plan was robotic laprascopic surgery and pulling the uterus out via the incision with 30 days off work. Plan b was they would have to make a large incision like a c section and pull it out that way with 60 days off work. I ended up having the laprascopic robotic surgery but they had to remove my uterus and fibroids out vaginally. I had to be off 30 days for work and because of the way they removed everything the doctor had me on bed rest with walking only household distances for that month. The only thing I wish someone had told me was when I peed for the first time it looked like pure blood, but the nurse told me after the fact that it was normal and after that it returned to its normal color. Oh and I was in the hospital for only 1 night, my insurance only allowed me to be there for 23 hours so my doctor came and checked on my at 4am and I was out by 6am.

 

[DisneylandFreak2013]

Timely thread!

I've been experiencing severe pain for three or so hours on the 2nd or 3rd day of my period. The pain is so severe that this last time I passed out. The onset is sudden. I'm wondering if it's a ruptured cyst or fibroids or something similar. Such a bummer because I never had any issues previously.

I've considered calling for an ambulance because of the pain, but don't want to go into the ER frivolously. I have a Dr's appt in a couple days, so hopefully I'll find out.

 

[SirDuff]

I had a laparoscopic myomectomy. Like a previous poster, it was considered day surgery but I spend the night in the surgical short stay unit. My surgeon had written me off work for two weeks, but I was ready to go back after one week. Even before that, as long as I was wearing loose elastic wasted pants (so no pressure on the scars), I was fine after the first two days or so.

 

[SMF_mom23]

Timely thread!

I've been experiencing severe pain for three or so hours on the 2nd or 3rd day of my period. The pain is so severe that this last time I passed out. The onset is sudden. I'm wondering if it's a ruptured cyst or fibroids or something similar. Such a bummer because I never had any issues previously.

I've considered calling for an ambulance because of the pain, but don't want to go into the ER frivolously. I have a Dr's appt in a couple days, so hopefully I'll find out.

If you have insurance, is there a nurse triage line you can call? Alternatively, is there someone that could take you to the ER? I hope you're not living alone as if you're passing out from the pain you could get seriously hurt from a fall and no one would be there to know or help you for who knows how long.

I had a hysterectomy done vaginally last November (they removed both my uterus and cervix and put in some anchoring lines, I forget the medial term, to reduce risk of my vaginal vault prolapsing). It required an overnight stay though considered an outpatient procedure, and I am now a huge fan of IV pain meds with the little button to self-dose. LOL! After surgery I was supposed to be off work completely for two weeks, then back part time for two weeks, then MAYBE back full time after that. I work in an office and am sitting at least 75% of my day with no heavy lifting involved. I was perfectly happy to be home for about a week and a half before I felt like I was going stir-crazy. I called the doc and spoke with him and was cleared to go back as long as I backed off if I had ANY bleeding or increased pain (which was minimal at that point anyway). I started at 4 hours a day and by two weeks later I was working full time again. The worst part was sitting in an office chair because of the pressure.

Having a hysterectomy was the second-best surgery I ever had, aside from the incontinance surgery several years prior. I did get a treadmill and started walking a bit before my surgery and then afterward, according to my doctors orders. At the risk of oversharing, the one think I wish I'd been aware of before, is that after surgery things feel "different". I think especially with the anchoring that was done, my anatomy was pulled up into a slightly different position than pre-surgery. I was so upset the first "fun time' after surgery as I was worried things would never feel "right" again. Thankfully, that's all past and all is fine now.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Let's talk recovery for all the different procedures you lady have had. How long were you in the hospital? Did you have to stay overnight? How long was your recovery? How long were you off work? Anything you wish someone had told you?

I know I may be getting a little ahead of myself but I am one of those people who like to plan and be over prepared for things.

There can be a lot of factors at play, like general overall health, situational, how the surgery goes, what problems, if any, occur post operatively, etc.; and every patient is unique.

I was surprisingly debilitated going into the surgery (since I am generally overall pretty healthy) but the months of excruciating pain, heavy bleeding, and anemia had taken a huge toll on me. Plus, as I already mentioned, surgery went a couple of hours over, and I was under anesthesia that much longer, and had some problems from that, the cystoscopy (which they sometimes do to check for bleeding from knicks in the bladder), and the bladder challenge post operatively. So I didn’t bounce back as easily as I would have had I gone into it in my usual state of health. I had been through the ringer with it all. (My advice to people is don’t let it get that bad!)

I tried really hard to do what I was supposed to do (which is to not do much physical work as adhesions can form that cause scar tissue and more pain down the road) but I really wanted to get up and moving. One day I took a walk on my street and got stuck several houses down when I couldn’t manage to walk back. That scared me. I managed to get home, but was like, wth?? A couple of weeks later when I was finally able to walk a mile again, I actually cried. The biggest problem, besides that (which isn’t unexpected), was bladder spasms, though the surgical pain was minimal. Once I got past the spasms I was much more comfortable.

My doctor gives extra time to women who work on their feet, like teachers, nurses and police officers. I also had some issues related to the anemia which caused my heart rate to soar, which caused further delay, so I took the full 8 weeks. (They really should’ve given me blood transfusions, as I’d had after my post partum hemorrhage; this was very similar.) Most people that I see are able to go back a lot sooner than I was.

 

[AvidDisReader]

My wife had them. Her doctor told her she would not be able to get pregnant again. Three month later there was a lot of back tracking when --you guessed it, she was pregnant. The biggest problem is the tumors were growing as fast as the baby. All ended up ok as my youngest is now 34years old. Eventually, the complications resulted in a total hysterectomy.

 

[fivikse]

I had multiple large fibroids. A lot of pain and very heavy bleeding. I had a laparoscopic hysterectomy (my ovaries remained in place). I did stay one night at the hospital. I had a very quick and easy recovery. I was a sahm (and in my early 40s) at the time, but I stopped all pain pills within 48 hours and was pretty much doing all normal activities by about 10 days out. (I did go to an event for my nephew three days after surgery, but that was a little uncomfortable). I don't regret it at all. My friend had an ablation and has also been happy with her decision.

 

[disneychrista]

I had my follow up appointment today for my ultrasound results.

I have one small fibroid and a possible polyp. But the most concerning thing is that my uterine lining is abnormally thick. They did in biopsy today. Results won't be back for 7 - 10 days.