Has anyone in the collective had successful uterine fibroid treatment and what did it entail?

My wife had fibroids. They made her pretty miserable. Eventually, she had a hysterectomy and they were no longer a problem. However, due to taking a lymph node for a biopsy during this surgery, she ended up with lympedema, as it stopped her lymph system from working below the waist. Now she has to wear very tight support hose every day and massage her legs and she can’t go on long plane trips, or all her fluids puddle in her feet.

Everything else was find, though. No cancer. But the moral of the story is to be careful about biopsying those lymph nodes.

I had a partial hysterectomy 2 years ago because of fibroids. The postop biopsy also found endometriosis. The odd thing is that I didn’t really have symptoms, because I’d had an IUD. Five years before the surgery, I’d had the IUD placed because I was having wicked PMS, which I blamed on birth control. At the same time, I transitioned to a younger Gyn in the group, because the one I’d seen for years was scaling back his practice.

It was a few years after the IUD was placed that the fibroids were diagnosed because they’d grown so big – I had been fairly asymptomatic to that point. However, the new Gyn and I speculate that the psychotic mood swings I’d had before may have been early symptoms of the fibroids and were aggravated by the hormones in the pill.

So it is best to discuss with your Gyn – and consider getting a second opinion – to determine what is the best course for you beaded on you age, health, family plan, and potential risks. Good Luck!

They told my mom to have a hysterectomy for years because of her fibroids, she refused. There was one that was very large, and some other small ones, and she had some heavy bleeding in her late 40’s, but nothing extremely scary, just annoying. Anyway, she finally went through menopause and they shrank up to nothing. She is so glad she did not listen to any of her doctors that suggested the surgery.

I have multiple fibroids, the biggest one is the size of a golf ball, they don’t give me any trouble. I don’t plan to do anything about them. I am 45 I have had them at least since I was in my late 20’s. Well, I might have more now. Not sure.

I had a friend who had a fibroid that was in a bad place, she didn’t know she had it, and several years ago she found out because she was in excrutiating pain and they did emergency surgery. I am pretty sure they only removed the fibroid. She recovered with no problems.

I saw a procedure on TV once where they cut off the blood supply to the fibroid and it shrinks, that seemed effective and is supposed to leave the uteris intact if done right. Not sure what it is called.

Are you having bad symptoms?

I had two myomectomies for fibroids about two years apart. I was in permimenopause at the time and did not want the complications of a hysterectomy. I was treated in the hospital on a day stay basis and was off work for a few days after with minimal discomfort. I would recommend going that route if it is an option.

I had very bad fibroids for a long time. My (male) GP kept telling me there was nothing to be done (“I can’t stop your periods”). I finally had to be picked up off the floor and driven to the ER because I had no blood pressure and therefore could not stand up. They gave me four pints of blood, for which I thank my community.
I felt better right away.
The trouble with massive fibroids is that the lining of the uterus becomes very convoluted and every surface in there develops a welcoming environment every month for the egg it hopes to nurture. That tissue, full of rich blood,sloughs off if there’s no implantation ( and I was 57 with a husband who’d had a session with Dr. Snip years before, so there wasn’t any implantation), and so you lose massive amounts of blood. Hence the low pressure. Anyway, I was then sent to a surgeon (female) who said, “If a man were bleeding this rapidly he woulda be in the ER and then the ICU years ago.” I had everything whipped outa there the next morning and within ten days I felt better than I had in eight years.
But that’s my story, not yours.

@susanc That story is shocking. I generally think of male doctors being more likely to want to cut everything out. However, my MIL had an experience where she was bleeding excessively all the time, I am not clear if it was from fibroids, but I assume so, and her old Catholic doctor told her nothing should be done because she could have more babies. She went to a Jewish doctor amd he gave her the hysterectomy she wanted, and by the grace of God left her ovaries, she was only in her mid 30’s. She did not even know he left the ovaries, she didn’t understand all of it at the time. Then in her 50’s she went through menopause to her surprise. She still flashes in her 70’s.

@figbash I meant to comment that I have taken Lupron during fertility treatments. I had not heard of it for fibroids, but it makes sense it might shrink them. How long would you have to use it?

The whole thing is pretty daunting, mine are large and need to come out immediately. I’ve researched it extensively and the options are:

* Hysterectomy (i am not ready for this and I feel like it’s a little barbaric at my age)
* Lupron – sends your body into Menopause for 6 months and the effects only last 1–2 years
* Myoectomy – will require 6 weeks out of work, a blood transfusion and all of the side effects of a major surgery
* Embolization- renders you infertile

OR

go out and get pregnant tomorrow, have a difficult pregnancy and have them all taken out upon C-Section.

Ugh. This has been a very, very hard time. I wanted to see if anyone knew of anything new or had a great experience with embolization, or another method. Thanks for all of your input!

Have you had any children yet? Are you still of childbearing age?