Fibroids

I had these. Bled ridiculously heavily and was completely zapped of energy. Oh-I’m anaemic! I thought I was just lazy. At my worst I was taking the stairs on my hands and knees whilst berating myself for having no energy. They shrunk
after I had DD but they caused a “threatened miscarriage” at 14-16w. I was extremely lucky that the bleeding stopped and DD was okay. I know quite a few women with them

@PatatiPatatras
I suspect it's a well kept secret! I'm not sure how many places offer it, we are a modest district general hospital but at least two if the much bigger hospitals in the county don't offer this.
We've a shiny brand new consultant who keeps reminding us that he was doing his GCSEs when we were doing xyz. 
But I'm selling it to him that he train up so we have more than one consultant who can do it as I know the demand is there.

Hope you can find somewhere.

@OldCrone So glad. That's what we like to hear!

And for those who prefer a female gynaecologist I'll just clarify it doesn't involve any vaginal examinations etc. We maintain dignity whilst minimally exposing the groin area on one side for access to the femoral artery.

I had this procedure a few years ago. I'd recommend looking into this for anyone with fibroids. It completely fixed my problems with anaemia and flooding.

I was diagnosed with multiple fibroids, my endometrial surface was almost obliterated and my uterus the size of a 5 month pregnancy. I'd put up with the pain and flooding for years. I chose a hysterectomy just to end the issue for once and for all. I was lucky to have female care both gp and gyn consultant so my care was good, even had a phone call from the consultant to inform me the biopsy results were normal.

I was so disappointed when mine didn't work. By all accounts when it does it is bloody fantastic. And the operation for that is supposed to take about 30/40 minutes. Even with a much longer OP time (3 hours, he was very determined) I felt fine that evening. A bit of discomfort but nothing like even mild period pain.

I would recommend it as the benefits potentially are immense.

There was a thread on MN last year some time about women not receiving adequate - or any - pain relief for gynae procedures. Some of the stories were absolutely shocking. Not sure if I can find it but I’ll have a look.

Yup.

I was losing several days work every month.

Thank God for an endometrial ablation, it was life changing. Had to pay for it though, and I was desperate enough to do it.

@NotBuyingThis thank you! 😊 Why have I never heard of this?

I work in Interventional Radiology.
One of our radiologists does Uterine artery embolisation for fibroids. We are doing about one case a month.
I can't remember his stats, it's not for everyone - you need to have finished your family for a start - and it doesn't work in every case, but for those for whom it it does the trick it's a lifesaver. One woman saw him in the car park and gave him a massive hug saying how life changing it had been.

Our protocol is women come in and have quite a lot of pre-procedure prep, including lots of iV antibiotics, anti emetics, analgesics and setting up a PCA (patient controlled analgesia). It's done under local anaesthetic (with lots of top up from the PCA obv), accessing the uterine artery via the femoral artery under direct real time X-ray control. The blood supply to the fibroids is blocked off and the fibroid will degenerate over time.

Women go to the main operating theatre recovery initially to make sure there is plenty of pain relief on board then admitted to the gynae ward overnight with plenty of ongoing analgesia.

For those on here with fibroids I really recommend looking into it.

Unfortunately it's not widely available. I live in a big county and I think our unit is the only place offering it for a long way around, women come from quite a long way away sometimes.

https://www.rcog.org.uk/media/gw3f4wzc/23-12-2013rcoggrcruae.pdf

@Naunet and make sure those b*stards give you a strong painkiller when you go home!

Can you get a local anesthetic for your procedure. It's better than a general as general anesthesia is more dangerous

I have a fibroid. We found it when I was pregnant but thankfully it’s caused me no issues.

That’s good to know. I’d requested a female doctor/consultant, I’m not sure if that will be possible if I go under, but I can ask - therapy has certainly made me more comfortable with advocating for myself in these situations, and from the sounds off it, it’s a skill all women need when it comes to our healthcare.

Anyway, I don’t want to derail this thread with my own issues - sorry OP 😄

the day units tend to be really nice on the gynae ones

The staff one the day surgery ward I was on were really lovely and it made a huge difference to the whole thing. I tend to be somewhat - okay, very - manic after a GA and tried to discharge myself before the paper work was done and while they quite rightly wouldn't let me do that, they were very friendly and jokey about it.

@Naunet also, I know your concerned about going under, but you'll probably find that the staff in the day units tend to be really nice on the gynae ones. they seem more aware than most that their patients might be stressed not just because of the OP.

By the time it comes round for your turn to go under you'll have relaxed a bit. They tend to be rather upbeat I've found.

They admitted to me that had they actually looked properly at my notes rather than it just being scan says this she needs that and realised which patient I was they'd have never put me through the trauma of it awake.

It's purely to save money, it's nothing to do with women not finding it painful. It's cheaper than doing it under general anaesthetic.

I honestly was shocked at how unsurprised the staff were at the level of pain it caused.

Once the horrible woman who was attempting the procedure had left the room in a huff the two nurses who each were holding a hand trying to calm me down both admitted they would never have it done unless under general anaesthetic.

Now why would they have reached that conclusion if this was an acceptable way to treat women.

I think you’re right - I don’t like the thought of being put under because for me, the vulnerability is my biggest “trigger” but reading what you just wrote, combined with the fact that when I went for the scan to diagnose the fibroid, despite the consultant and assistant being absolutely lovely and doing everything right, I still felt traumatised for about 2 weeks afterwards and couldn’t sleep.

Thank you so much for sharing what happened to you, its absolutely awful and it’s made my mind up on how to proceed.

Women are regularly bullied into having procedures without adequate pain relief or anaesthesia. It's fucking outrageous. We have to stand up for ourselves and say NO and insist that we are not subjected to this kind of unacceptable treatment.

It is all done for their convenience and speed of getting us out the door, and it's not right.

Oh my god, that sounds utterly horrific. I’m so sorry you were put through that

Then definitely no. You cannot do this awake. It was the worst flashback to my childhood i have ever experienced.

They tried to do a hysteroscopic biopsy on my cervix. You may want to take a couple of painkillers said the leaflet.

I take a high level of Oxycontin every day. The phone call to the consultants Secretary the next day I was still so distraught and in that much pain that I had the powers that be on the phone within less than an hour and a general anaesthetic version booked in for as soon as they could slot me on the end of a list. (Days not months or anything).

I have very rarely in my life felt such pain. They tried giving me a stress ball to squeeze first. Fuck me!, what's the gas and air thing?, That was next. But I felt like I wanted to die on the spot.

I couldn't stop crying for hours. I felt utterly violated and tricked.

So I would never want another woman to experience that if there is an unconscious version available.