I woke up around 1am with such painful cramps that I could hardly stand it. I was curled into a ball on our bed and woke up my husband for commodore and comfort if nothing else. I moved from bed to couch to pacing and back. It was more pain than I had ever experienced before in my life. So much that I could hardly make coherent sentences.
It got bad enough that I actually started throwing up. It was at that point my husband decided we needed professional help and he called the advice nurse at Kaiser to get some help. The lady on the phone determined it was bad enough for me to go to the emergency room.
They drugged me up really good on some morphine and the doctor came in to check everything out. They couldn't see anything particular wrong with me that evening, so they scheduled a follow-up appointment with my regular OB/GYN.
My OB/GYN discovered that my uterus felt enlarged to the touch and sent me for an ultrasound. There revealed my fibroid - a non-cancerous tumor in the uterus. I was 25 yrs old at the time - a fairly young age to have a fibroid, but not completely unlikely. At the time they didn't tell me the size, potential for growth, etc. And I didn't know to ask. I didn't know better. Oh how I wish I knew more at that time. It may have saved me from additional hardships down the road!
My Dr then wanted to do an internal exam, a hysteroscopy, to see if the fibroid was in the uterus or on the outside, etc. This process basically fills your uterus with fluid and the Dr puts a hysteroscope - a small camera with light - into the uterus to look around. During the exam, she found no fibroid coming through the lining/wall, but she did see some odd looking areas. She did a biopsy of the uterus to make sure it wasn't cancer. That biopsy was so intense, I ended up holding my breath and passing out on the table. Not fun. Thankfully, the biopsy came back negative.
So, that left us with just the knowledge that I definitely did have a fibroid and that that we would start managing the symptoms (i.e, cramping) with regular Ibuprofen during my menstrual cycle. I wasn't thrilled about being so medicated, being such a 'natural' type person, but anything is better than that obnoxious cramping that will be forever burned into my mind. She also recommended that I take continuous birth control. She let me know there were no side effects and it would be fine for me to take continuous without any repercussions. Continuous birth control was actually kind of nice since that meant I only got my period every few months. I was taking 3 packs of pills before I took the 'water/placebo pill'.
If you've been diagnosed with a Symptomatic Fibroid - What to ask:
- What size is it?
- Is it growing? (if so, how quickly)
- Should we treat it now?
- What are my options for treatment at this time?
- What options for treatment will be available if we wait?
- How will we monitor the growth or appearance of additional Fibroids in the future/over time?
My tip... Research. Research. Research! And get a second or third opinion. It's your body. Your right.
A great article from Kaiser on fibroids
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