[sarahyu]

I've put on 20 pounds in the last few months and it's not because of a slow metabolism or any other lame excuse.

This past year I've been fighting horrible boughts of exhaustion, no energy, falling asleep as soon as I sit down. I finally went to the doctor after a few months of feeling this way. She thought it had a lot to do with my uterine fibroids and went on to list a bunch of symptoms associated with fibroids....oh, my gosh! It was me to a tee. She sent me on to a GYN.

After he examined me and checked the results from several sonograms he informed me I was full of fibroids and that I needed a hystorectomy.

For some reason that great pronouncement affected me greatly . I said "but that means I can't every have any children" My hubby and I kept thinking maybe we'd like to have kids but "not right now."

And after 17 years of marriage it's not like we really will have kids but ocassionally I imagine that perfect child who is well behaved, brillant, well mannered, talented etc, etc, that would bring nothing but perfect joy to our lives, who grows up to be successful and emotionally stable and wants to take care of us in our old age and only marries the person we both like who is also equally successful and emotionally mature. (Yes, I know laugh it up. It was a nice dream!)

Well anyway, the GYN said, "even if you did get pregnant- which at your age is very difficult-there's no place for the baby to grow." I left his office in tears and basically haven't stopped eating since.

I have gotten into a fibroid tumor clinical trial at NIH.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NC... 90251?order=1

Hey, I figure if I'm doing something with these things I may as well do something that will help others in the future

One of the first things I have to do is get out of the habit of eating all the time for reasons other then hunger. The depression is getting much better, now that I've realized the tiredness is part of the fibroids and not me just being lazy.

So fellow Chickies-if you are having unusual menstural cycles- long and/or heavy periods. Pelvic pain or pressure, bad cramping, frequent urination, constipation, Abdominal distension/swelling, lower back pain, pain during intercourse get checked by your doctor. You may not have all the symptoms and you may have no symptoms.

This is a good website that gives a lot of information:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/uterinefibroids.html

If your fibroids are smaller then mine there are several non surgical ways of taking care of them. I waited too long and surgery is the only option.

Today is a new day and I'm not allowing this to affect my life to this extent any longer. I know that we weren't planning on having kids for various reasons, so I need to get over being this upset that the choice has been taken from me. It's a normal feeling when faced with this situation.

Sarah in MD

[Mini-Me]

You should get a second opinion on the hysterectomy. It's my understanding (from the surgeon who performed my myomectomy) that too many doctors are too quick to perform hysters on women with fibroids when there are other surgical options.

Try visiting hystersisters.com (I think that's the website) to see if anyone else can offer advice on possible options.

BTW, I had a full recovery from my surgery (and my fibroids were HUGE), and was told I should have no problems carring a baby to term.

[Schmoodle]

Sarah, so sorry that you have to go through this. Surgery is never something to look forward to. You seem sad, but resigned. I think you should focus on taking care of you right now and not worry about what the scale says. I imagine you can look forward to feeling so much better afterwards though! And I am impressed that you're thinking of a way to use your experience to help others through the NIH study, as well as sharing your information with us here.

[sarahyu]

You should get a second opinion on the hysterectomy. It's my understanding (from the surgeon who performed my myomectomy) that too many doctors are too quick to perform hysters on women with fibroids when there are other surgical options.

That is very good advice for anyone contemplating surgery. I wouldn't have even considered it without getting a second non biased opinion.

I chose to do the fibroid tumor clinical trial as my second opinion.
My fibroids are too big, one large one is blocking the opening of the uterus. They couldn't even do a hysterosonogram-where they insert a thin catherter into the uterus to fill it with saline to get a better picture. Both doctors had the same thing to say.

I still have the option of doing either a hystorectomy or the myomectomy where they remove the fibroids only if they can get into my uterus or to only take the study drug and no surgery.

Like I said, get them checked before they get as bad as mine. There are many non surgical ways of treating fibroids before they get too big/block the opening of the uterus.

Sarah in MD

[beachgal]

Sarah, what a tough experience you've been through! You know, if you and DH ever do decide to have kids, you can always foster or adopt...I have a friend who started fostering at 55 after her own kids were grown up! She and her husband actually started adopting their foster kids and now have 4 adopted kids and 2 foster children living with them! Wow! So you never know. I know it's not the same, but losing your uterus doesn't have to mean the end of all possibility of children in your life.

I'm so sorry that this has been so hard and I can certainly understand how tough it must be to go through the process of losing such a vital part of you and your femininity. You are very brave and such a good soul for participating in the NIH study. Sounds like you have a great handle on why you overeat, and with the help of a plan like SBD, I think you're on your way to a future of GREAT health!!!

[KO]

Sarah first of all
secondly I have all those symptoms and indeed a minute fybroid in my uterus! Thanks for the heads up!
best of luck and health
kier

[dixied]

I'm sending hugs and happy thoughts your way.

I've also been diagnosed with Uterine Fibroids and am biologically childfree (I have a stepson who is the perfect child you described, but only because I can send him home). Mine are much smaller in nature, about the size of a pencil eraser, but there are hundreds of them. The two doctors I've seen about the problem are taking a wait and see approach, but I have another appointment on the 17th.

Are you currently on birth control pills? One of my doctors mentioned that it might help my symptoms, if not the actual fibroids. You mentioned depression, are you having any stonger than normal mood swings around TOM? I'M asking becuase I've noticed that for my last three cycles, during PMS I've been practically bipolar, for lack of a better description.

Please keep us updated on your progress.

[sarahyu]

The study drug has shown to work in post menapausal women to shrink the tumors, now they want to check with pre-menapausel women to see if it works as well. The thinking is that post menapausal women already have less hormones in their systems so was it the fact the estrogen dried up or did the drug actually shrink the tumors.

I'm excited, but it's a double blind study so I may get a placebo and not the study drug. But I still get all the great scans for free-MRI, Bone density, several sonograms. Three times- baseline, middle and at the very end. If I do get the study drug and they notice they have shrunk then I'll definately go with the myoectomy.

I'm not currently on the pill because of the study. I was previously and for a long time it did help but the last year it wasn't helping so much with the fatigue, pressure and bloated feeling. And if I missed a pill or took it late I would start a full period-not just spot.

I don't mean to scare every one, most women have some and don't have any symptoms. I only wanted to point out the fact that there are treatments if you are having problems.

I went to a different insurance plan and found an independent doctor that I learned how debilitating they can be. In fact that the reason I left the HMO, the dr kept telling me it was my fault I was having such bad break-through bleeding. "You have to take your bc pills exactly the same time every day. If you take them at 7:00 M-F then you have to take them at 7:00 on Sat and Sun. Not 7:30, not 8:00." I was furious because I've never had that problem before.

When I went to my new doctor with the fatigue and various symptoms the first thing she asked me about was my fibroids and why hadn't I had them taken care of previously...I'm like, "what? you can do something about them? and why?" she went on to list all the symptoms I had listed earlier. and I'm nodding my head yes to just about all of them. wow!

If you are symptom free don't fret.

[NotTheCheat]

Have you looked into UAE at all? My fibroids were too big for myomectomy and other than that my only option was a hysterectomy. I had one large one (over 8cm) inside my uterus and several smaller ones besides. The UAE seems to have worked since it took care of my major symptoms, which for me was constant bleeding.

[KO]

What is a UAE?

[sarahyu]

uterine artery embolization It's one of those cool non-surgical ways treat the problem.

http://www.fibroidoptions.com/embol.htm

There are several places fibroids can grow in your uterus. Some grow between the layers of the uterus-right under the lining of the uterus, others grow on a stalk inside the uterus, some grow on the outside etc.

This technique doesn't work as well with the types of fiboids I have...well at least that's what my first GYN said.

But it is a really exciting treatment.

Sarah

[Kim_Star060404]

sarahyu - I will be sending happy thoughts your way as you go through this tough time! Sounds like you sure are finding some good options!