Scared to be operated on

Hi Gracious

First things first. I can hear that you are feeling a bit panicky. Fibroids are not life-threatening, so you can safely slow this whole process down. Just tell the doctor he will have to wait while you assess your situation for yourself. Not saying don't listen to them. Just make sure that you are in charge here, so if you do go ahead you go ahead fully informed of the possible benefits, the guarantees (are there any?), and the risks and side-effects. Be prepared to ask lots of questions and get second opinions.

Some questions.

How old are you, re peri/menopause? Fibroids usually shrink a lot once menopause happens.

Are there any other conditions present that might be life-threatening?

What are you scared will happen if you do have surgery?

What are you scared will happen if you don't have surgery?

What procedures does the doctor want to do? There are many ways of dealing with fibroids. Have you tried anything else? Check out Dr Christiane Northrup's advice in her book, Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom. Also check out the HERS Foundation, www.hersfoundation.org re hysterectomy.

Is there some pelvic organ prolapse as well?

I am sure that with a bit more information in your hands you will feel more confident about slowing down your doctor and his glittering scalpel. Your fear will lessen, so you will be able to make a wise, cool, decision in your own time. Chill, my dear.

Call back again.

Louise

Hi Gracious

Thanks for the details. I can now see where you are coming from. Yes, I would be scared of surgery too.

I think the first thing you need to do is to visit www.fibroidnetworkonline.com which is an international website about fibroids. It does not appear to be primarily sponsored by a gynaecology clinci. There you will find patient guides and all sorts of information about fibroids. There are also lots of other sites. I found them by googling "fibroid pregnancy "support group"'.

Also check out this page of Dr Christiane Northrup's website, http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?to... . This gives a slightly different approach.

Gracious, once you have informed yourself some more about fibroids and the alternatives that are available to you I am sure you will start to understand better what is happening in your body, and that you will become less scared, and more able to seek further advice from other practitioners.

As you say, there is nothing threatening your life, so you do not need to hurry in your quest to work out what are your best options.

Now you go and do some research, then come back and tell us what your options are, and ask more questions.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can manage your cystocele without surgery, especially as you plan to have babies. Many women with cystocele go on to have pregnancies and vaginal births without compromising their cystocele. Some doctors will want to repair the cystocele and do fibroid surgery, but there is no reason in the world why you would want a cystocele repair now.

Take a big breath, and let it out again.

(((Gracious))))

Louise :-)

Louise is such a wealth of wise words and wisdom. I would like to add my 2 cents worth as a nagging older woman.

Food- central and paramount to our existence- yet it has become a second rate citizen.

My concern for Gracious in the area of conception is regarding where her nutritional status is- and also for her partner.

Your food needs to be really feeding you. If you eat it straight from a garden- Fantastic. Lots of raw food, lots of whole food and only sometimes a sinful indulgence. If your food is highly processed and denatured, it is not really feeding you.

There are many ways you can improve the quality of your nutritional intake even if you do not have a garden.

Gracious, I am not medically trained, and I know zero about fibroid surgery. All I know is that some doctors do a hysterectomy, which is simply not necessary. Others simply cut out the fibroid and sew you up again. I have a friend who had a big fibroid during her first pregnancy, and went on to have three more babies, then had an hysterectomy. I don't know how she is going now. Had she refused the hyst. she would probably have had a lot of heavy bleeding from the fibroid until menopause, unless she managed to shrink it without surgery. She would be post menopause now. It would have been a difficult decision at the time, knowing what I now know about the potential perils of hysterectomy.

I would follow the non- surgical approach and see what you can do with it. You can always re-visit the idea of surgery later. I think losing your fear of the unknown is a major factor. Just keep researching it. You will learn more and more. Hopefully, one day you will post that you are very pregnant. That would be the best result ever!!!

Louise

I had surgery for fibroids in 2008. They did what's called an "Open Myomectomy". That's where they cut like a C-Section, cut open the uterus and remove the fibroids. Basically a C-Section without the baby. My recovery was pretty long--7 weeks off of work. My periods are now lighter and regular. Although I sometimes wonder if the surgery somehow "caused" my uterus to prolapse--by pulling on the ligaments during surgery. After the surgery, I could not wear a tampon because they were painful.
Whatever you decide to do, take your time, do your research and figure out what is best for you. Good Luck!!!
P.S. Shola Osla (spelling?) has some great videos online regarding fibroids.

Wow, thanks Buttascotch, for letting us know about this woman's work! It is one interesting website, with lots of interesting vids.

I never realised that myomectomy was such a brutal operation when done through the abdominal wall, or that fibroids could involve the kidneys and ureters. They are nasty little customers, aren't they!

For those who haven't had a peek, she also talks about the importance of vitamin D, particularly for women with dark skin who live in countries where they don't get enough sunlight for the sun's rays to get through the melanin in their skin so the body can produce enough vitamin D for their requirements.

Has anyone on this site, had experience with shrinking fibroids without surgery? We read quite a bit about it, but how effective is it really? It has to be the way to go, if it really works.

Louise

Hi Gracious,

Are the fibroids giving you symptoms - heavy bleeding, breakthrough bleeding? If not they may not need to do anything. As well as all my other health probs the doctor though I had fibroids when she examined my prolapse. I was sent for an ultrasound scan and I have two, one quite large. When I asked the radiographer what they would do about them she said that unless they were giving me symptoms, probably nothing. If you are going to have surgery can you have key-hole surgery for this? I had a polyp removed from my uterus a couple of years ago as it was causing heavier and breakthrough bleeding and it was done by key-hole surgery with a laparoscope. Good luck :)

pollyanna

Hi Gracious

I'm not a doctor, but I hope that sharing my own experiences of fibroids with you might be some encouragement.

I discovered I had a fibrooid in 1994 when i was 30 and preganant for the first time. I had some ultrasounds because of bleeding in early pregnancy.
( Turned out to be nothing to do with the fibroid and my eldest is now 15 and radiating good health)

However, at the time a radiologist with absolutely no people skills ( and the gynaecologist I saw because I was scared I was losing my baby) both said scary things about the fibroid probably not being likely to cause miscarriage, bit it might well grow to cause an obstructed birth and could well cause me to have uterine prolpase and infertility later on. The doctor even suggested having a combined caesarian and hysterectomy to avoid any problems!

Two years later, living in a different part of the UK, I had investigations for some mid -cycle bleeding. Thre fibroid was still there, but had shrunk right back after pregnancy and the gynaecologist said it was doing me no harm whatsoever. He laughed when I told him what the first doctors had said, and said most fibroids respond to hormonal change, they're rarely a problem after the menopause and "For God's sake hang on to your uterus unless you get cancer. Hysterectomies cause all sorts of other problems." He also told me that he'd never seen fibroids so bad that they caused a serious uterine prolapse. An elderly and old fashioned doctor from Pakistan but he talked really good sense. It has been my only experience of a gynaecologist who has taken the 'surgery should only be a last resort' line.

Anyway, I had another healthy baby at 37 and yes, the fibroid had grown big on the ultrasound, but the radiologist said it should shrink right back after pregnancy. I've no idea what it's doing now ( nine years later) as I have no adverse syptoms and my uterus is exactly where it should be for a woman who's had children.

However, the final twist to my fibroid tale should reinforce the message not to get scared or to be alarmed by the line some doctors still take. When I discovered my urethrocele this summer - big panic- saw an old fashioned female GP in tears. Without even examining me she loooked at my notes and said: history of fibroids and you're forty -six - we should probably go for a hysterectomy as well as a front wall repair. Fibroids weigh your uterus down and cause prolapse.

Interestingly, when she did examine me she said my urethrocele was 'pretty minor' ( but she'd still advise surgery right away to 'stop it getting worse '!). I told her that my uterus seemed to be in the right place and she agreed. So not a case for hysterectomy then, I suggested. Best to have it out anyway if you've had a fibroid, she said, just in case.

There was no logic to what she'd said, but the more I read, ( particularly Christianne Northrup who's useless on prolapse but very good on some other gynae conditions) it seems that gynae's training primes them to be afraid of women's organs and anxious to take them out 'just in case'. They seem to have been trained on the model that our organs are faulty and ticking timebombs, but their solution, cutting us up, should really be reserved for when we need our lives saving.

You seem to be managing your urethrocele which is great, and I'm managing mine and seeing some improvement. Plenaty of women on this site have had a vaginal birth after urethrocele with no probs. I'm also getting very fit generally, and I know I would be scared of lots of activity if I had had surgery. So, because, like you, I was scared of surgery, and unconvinced by the pro surgery arguments, I've probably avoided major prolapse, early menopause and lots of post surgery problems.

I'm not saying that surgery might not be a good option for you if the fibroids were found to be related to your infertility, but please avoid hysterectomy, and please, when you have done your research about the best sort of treatment for you and made a decision, try to stop being afraid of your fibroids. They're incredibly common, they are not cancer, and very often they don't interfere with conception and successful pregnancy.

Good luck

Dounbtful

Thanks for this post, Doubtful. I was hoping that somebody would come out of the woodwork and tell her story. It is so easy for doctors (to whom society gives authority) to plant and fertilise fear in their patients. Then it is so difficult to root out the fear and have a good look at it. It takes hold so strongly, and is very hard to defuse.

I think we become more concerned about the fear we feel than the fibroids themselves, which of course are benign by nature, even if they cause a lot of discomfort!

I agree with you completely about Christiane Northrup. I am always delving into Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom to find answers to questions women pose here and in real life.

Louise

The body is a self-healing organism if we just give it what it needs. Enjoy a beautiful pregnancy! And please keep us posted on your progress :)

That's awesome! Congratulations.
Now that you are pregnant, stay off the sugar! You will be so glad you did.

Oh wow- congratulations! So excited for you! That's the greatest news- big smile on my face!

(Grinning very widely) I am so happy for you! Take care, and hope all goes well. You have a very special reason to take looking after your body very seriously during this pregnancy. I hope you saw my post about my longstanding friend. Woo-hoo!!! YUe, she is the same friend I referred to further down in this topic.

Louise

Thanks for letting us know and take graet care of yourself

Pollyanna x

Such fabulous great news! You sound like you are doing great--keep eating so well and look after yourself. Hurray!
Kiki

I'm so happy for you Gracious. Take care of yourself.

Doubtful

Wow, great news, Gracious! Congrats, and please, keep us posted!
Yay!

Liv

Congrats on your pregnancy!!!! I hope and pray that all goes well and you have a very healthy and beautiful baby. I have never been pregnant, probably due to the fibroids, but I'm totally fine with it. At 45 and a teacher, I get my fill of kids :-). May God continue to bless you and hubby XOXOXO!

Great to hear that your pregnancy is going so well and that you are feeling good. My fibroids were huge on scans with both my children, but only one doctor freaked out about them and wanted me to have a hysterectomy after my first baby! All the others were totally cool about them and I know they shrank back to tiny after my first because I had a scan two years later for another reason. They didn't obstruct the births at all. Having said that, I was told that it's worth having a late scan just to check that they aren't going to cause problems with the birth. I was also told that this is sometimes a good reason for a caesarian. Now I'm no expert on this and I'd go with your caring doctor's advice. Everyone told me that they posed no risk to the pregnancy.

Enjoy your last months of pregnancy. It's a very special time, before you become a family.

Doubtful