Wellness

[aubnwa01]

Fibroids usually shrink after menopause.

I had heavy periods thru my late 30's & early 40's & went to my Dr. who put me on birth control pills, which did nothing except make me even more miserable. Finally, at 43, my Dr. moved away, so I started with a new Dr & she sent me for testing. Had an ultrasound & was told I had fibroids & also scheduled me for a hysteroscopy.

Right after the procedure, the GYN told me he saw fibroids & I had the option of having a hysterectomy or waiting until after menopause, when fibroids usually shrink, but to think of my options.

The GYN called me the next day on the phone to tell me that the pathology report from the hysteroscopy came back & I had stage 1 uterine cancer & I no longer had options & needed a hysterctomy now. I had an open procedure with a gynocological oncologist present at the surgery who found no lymph node involvement & the cancer hadn't penetrated thru the muscle walls of my uterus yet, so I was lucky. I required no chemo or radiation & had to see the GYN every 3 months for the 1st 2 years, then every 6 months until I was 5 years out & now, I just do the annual stuff. It's been over 20 years now with no recurrence, thank God.

Any bleeding after menopause is not normal & needs to be evaluated.

Good luck.

[Lacey1]

My sister is older than me but we have had may of the similar medical issues. She also had fibroid tumors. As with me, it was really affecting her quality of life. Constantly having embarrassing accident's, spending a ton on pads/tampons, chronic anemia, worrying about trying to carry enough pads to get thru a workday-and then trying to dispose of them, and it can affect your marriage, (you know).

After telling her doctor all of the above, he gave her birth control pills and told her to stick it out until menopause. She asked him if a hysterectomy would be an option. He told her that a hysterectomy would be the LAST resort and many women want to exhaust all other options, first.

Well, she lived in misery for years, waiting for menopause. At age 60, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, BC pills were suspect. She had to undergo bilateral mastectomies and a hysterectomy because of a suspicious pap smear. She's doing well, now. Thank G*d.

My oncologist told me that if you are prone to any tumors, benign or not. Cancer should be a concern. Also, taking birth control pills for years can feed hormone based tumors.

Please take care of yourself, OP and keep us posted. Good luck!

[Mmsfoxxie]

For me, the birth control pills did the trick. When I was 50 or 51, I started having heavy periods. Went to the dr. and found out I had fibroids, small. He said I needed a hysterectomy. I checked the internet for other options. Uterine ablation was not covered by insurance then. I opted for bc pills and the dr got angry with me for cruising the internet for another option. Dropped him. I went to another dr for a second opinion. He felt, as I did, that hysterectomy was a last resort, not a first. Since the bc was low dosage, I went that route and it worked. Two years or so later, I was in menopause with no other problems with my fibroids. I am now 66.

[ahoymate]

On 1/5/2014 lacey1 said:

On 1/5/2014 nagrom said:

Years ago I had the same problem. Only I was in my early 40s. Had taken the birth control pills but did not help. Had D&C still no relief. I was not spotting but having menstrual flooding. Went thru pads every hour along with tampons. Back then the doctors did not want to perform hysterectomies so it took two years and a change of doctors to get relief. My new doctor performed a hysterectomy and I returned to work three weeks later feeling like a new person. Got tons of energy afterwards and so worth it. My doctor said I could have a uterine ablation (spelling) but the fibroids could come back. I never regretted the hysterectomy.

Good luck. Whatever you chose to do, know you have options and the final decision is yours.

I, too was in my 40's and my spotting was not spotting-it was flooding! I got in trouble at work because I was doing home nursing and I stained a woman's chair! I would go thru pads every hour and could only sleep with a maxi-pad and a tampon. My doctor gave me birth control pills with no results, he suggested a D&C- I said that I wasn't going to have any more children-I wanted a hysterectomy. After the surgery, he told me my uterus was the size of a 4 month pregnant uterus. Multiple fibroids, he agreed they probably would've only got worse and he said it was very possible that they could have 'turned' after being benign. After living with that misery for so many years-it is wonderful, now.

Personally, I think the doctors would make more money off of years of diagnostic tests, procedures and medications vs. a hysterectomy.

Surgery costs are more profitable. Insurance companies discourage a lot of tests.

[ssfbeagle]

I also had fibroids and polyps that developed after menopause. At first I had a hysteroscopy and the polyps were removed. After a few months I again began spotting. All biopsies were negative for cancer. I had my hysterectomy last June. I am so happy I did. My Mom died of uterine cancer and advised me to have a hysterectomy after menopause so I would not have to go through the same problems she did. I listened to her and it is a relief that gyn cancer is one less thing I have to worry about.

[curlywhitedog]

donor:

In January of last year I started spotting. A routine biopsy in my GYN's office plus the results of a Pelvic Probe Ultrasound plus an Abdominal ultra sound showed a benign Endometrial polyp. A routine D&C was performed on Feb. 22nd and while my GYN didn't see anything out of the ordinary or cause for concern during the surgery, the biopsy results came back that while the polyp was indeed benign, there were cancer cells in the endometrium. As it turned out I had something called ESS (Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma) rare but in a fairly early stage. I ended up with a radical hysterectomy on April 4th, chemo in July and August and now and forever more, CT scans every 6 months.

I hope your bleeding turns out to be nothing but as both Gracie's mom and I and others can attest, sometimes it is something. Please come back and let us know how things go for you. Wishing you the best.

Maria

[jlkz]

In my early 30's I had so much bleeding between periods and three D&C's, that I opted for the hysterectomy. I never felt so great after it was done! Had to take thyroid medication since then, but that may have occurred anyway. Good luck and keep checking with your doctors whenever you encounter symptoms--gyn or otherwise.

[chickenbutt]

Do you do a lot of caffeine? For some of us, caffeine causes horrible problems like cysts that grow to be gigantic, thereby causing HUGE pain.

I learned about this in my late 20s. I ended up having a total hysterectomy at age 28. I kept growing these huge cysts and was in major pain for the longest time. After the hysterectomy I kept growing them and, subsequently, learned that it was the caffeine.

I was drinking gallons of sun tea (remember that, back in the 70s-80s?). Anyway, as it turned out, I was much sicker during the summer and that was when I was consuming all that tea.

I ended up getting off the caffeine and never had these problems again. But, before learning about that, I was extremely disappointed when, even after the hysterectomy, I kept growing those giant cysts. At that point, they were growing on the peritineal walls. It was no less painful, because they were pushing on other organs that were still in there.

Anyway, that was my experience FWIW. It might not be the totality of other peoples' similar problems, but it very well may be contributing greatly.

[Lacey1]

chickenbutt, so sorry to hear of your troubles. I have heard that caffeine is associated with certain tumors. My and my sister's fibroids were associated with hormones. That's also the reason we both have HER2 breast cancer. It's important to have discussions like this forum so people can learn about and discuss their options with their health care provider. I think it's so important that everyone reading this thread, that is having problems to please get checked!

[meem120]

On 1/5/2014 Skylands said:

I would not get a hysterectomy, unless I had no other options. This is old medicine! Fibroids do shrink and go away after menopause.

There are new drugs & techniques. Condolezza Rice had this problem and had uterine artery embolization (UAE) Do your homework and don't be talked into a hysterectomy by your MD unless it is the last choice. Remember, they make $$ on surgery. The UAE, a radiologist performs this and therefore your gynecologist doesn't get the procedure.

Sorry, Drs do not make money on a hysterectomy. In fact Drs don't make money on anything anymore. This is a common misconception and totally incorrect.