Fibroids- Leave Them in or Take Them Out

After speaking with friends who had hysterectomies, I decided to leave mine in. They caused no problems, and after menopause, gradually shrank. At first they shrank slowly, so I had to have ultrasounds fairly often, but they finally disappeared, and I'm happy I made that decision. I'm still "intact" at 75!

My first question, besides the size, and the weight gain....do you have any other negative side effects? Like cramping of other organs? Bowel issue? Sex is OK? Urine output is ok?

It's my understanding that once the fibroid tumor goes beyond the size of a cantaloupe, or roughly 14 weeks gestation size, you run into the mere size of it causing distress to surrounding organs.

So, can you watch the size of if over the next few months to a year and then decide what it is doing? Since this is your first news of it, and if you are not particularly bothered by it, you could watch for a bit.

But if it continues to grow, I would opt for removal. Surgery techniques are so advanced now and you will probably feel better knowing it's out rather than wondering what it's up to.

mine was the size of yours & i had 4 smaller ones.....mine grew rapidly in less than a year.....my uterus was the size of a 6 month pregnancy & a lot of weight gain along with abdominal pain & heavy periods & long periods.

i ended up having a myomectomy which is only removal of the fibroid......the Dr said that is very doubtful that it would grow back since i am closer to perimenopause........so i took the chance of just removing it with the hopes that it didn't grow back.........this november will be 2 yrs & i no longer look pregnant, after 1 year of surgery i lost 20 pounds.......

my surgery was done laprascopically with 4 incisions.....it took 4 1/2 hours & i had to have a 1 day hospital stay but normally it's an outpatient procedure.....today i feel great & much healthier

if it wasn't for the insane weight gain & looking 6 mo pregnant & all the other symptoms, I would not have had the surgery.....so depending on your age you might want to consider waiting it out.......best wishes

I haven't been bothered by mine. Mine is much smaller. Mine grew when I was pregnant and went back down when I had the baby. General consensus of my doctors is if it's not bothering me, to leave it alone.

My mom had several large fibroids- between orange and cantaulope sized. She declined a hysterectomy, because that was the only treatment offered at the time. Prior to menopause, she had about two years of very heavy periods- the lower hormone levels were allowing the fibroids to slough off. Now, after menopause, they're quite small and cause her no problems at all.

She's very glad she didn't have unnecessary surgery to fix what was never broken in the first place.

When mine were first diagnosed, the drs all said, "You're not using that uterus, are you? Well, then, we'll just take it out." My sister had the same experience.

My sister shopped around for a dr who would remove just the fibroids. She was in her 40s then. She's 56 now, and has had no recurrence, probably due to age and decreased hormone levels.

My specialist took a "wait and see" approach, which worked for me. :) Lately, though, I'm having pain during sex, which is VERY annoying. There's usually a lot of pain during my periods, too. My specialist says that sometimes, the fibroids are slow growing and will pretty much just sit there. Sometimes, they'll be faster growing and will cause almost constant pain and bleeding, and then they definitely need to come out.

I think what to do about yours will depend on how uncomfortable it makes you. I would just caution against making any quick decision or allowing yourself to feel pushed.

I generally agree that if it's not bothering you to leave it alone, although that sounds awfully large and if your abdomen is protruding b/c of it, I might consider that "broke", as you say. Anyway I know a few people who have them, smaller ones, and they experienced heavy bleeding as well. One friend just had an endometrial ablation, which I understand to be almost like a hysterctomy but less invasive (and it leaves your uterus inside your body). Anyway, she said that was easy and has been very happy to do it. I dont' know if that's an option for your situation but you might ask about it.

would you be willing to drive to WLA?? Had them and now I don't email me and I will explain non invasive no meds

I have a lot of fibroids in my breasts. I had no idea what they were until I went to get a mammogram and I told the lady that my breasts really hurt. She explained it to me. I just got used to them and the idea of surgery was never mentioned. I think the same way about it as you do.

For 20+ years I had gas, cramps, bowel problems, menstrual cramps that were worse than any pain I have experienced, etc. No doctor ever found anything wrong with me. Finally- after a miscarriage, I found a great doctor who found 3 fibroids- one the size of a three month fetus, and two tennis balls :). I had them removed because I couldn't carry a pregnancy otherwise. Gas, cramps, etc went away, and I must admit, my energy level is so much better since I had it removed. My surgery was outpatient, done laproscopically and I went home later that day. It was the best thing I have done!

Every woman should have Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, Dr. Christiane Northrup. She talks about all sorts of methods for working with this and other issues.

By the way, IMHO, if a doctor ever said to me that I am not using it /let's take it out, is not a very well informed nor educated doctor unless he and I both knew he was just making a joke and would never have even meant it

Hi Teri,

I have 2 kids and had a huge fibroid the size of yours. I had a successful UFE procedure at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles with Dr. Marc Friedman. I wrote a blog post about my experience on BlogHer. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I had some symptoms, but not terrible. I was told it was unsafe to have a mass of that size left untreated. email: csimon2007 at gmail dot com
Here's the link to my blog post:
http://www.blogher.com/uterine-fibroid-my-experience-uter...

good luck!

C.

I have a small one (7 cm). My doctor is monitoring it, but he won't do anything to it unless it becomes painful, I experience heavy bleeding, or it starts growing too large too quickly.

I chose to have mine removed, I had 3-the largest the size of a lemon. I didnt have periods for over a year because of them (for some odd reason) but once they were removed I got them again, and got pregnant years later-the proceedure for me was just as if I had a C-section. Its been about 8 or 9 years and they havent grown back-I just had an ultrasound done recently and they didnt find any.