TTC with a 7cm subserosal fibroid?

[AndyBerrick84]

Hi ladies,
I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has experience with fibroids while TTC, particularly larger subserosal fibroids.

I recently had a Well Woman scan and was surprised to find that a small fibroid I knew about from a scan around 10 years ago has now grown to 7cm (apparently about the size of an orange 😮).

I’ve had no symptoms at all, and the scan suggests it’s subserosal, so it’s growing on the outside of the uterus rather than into the uterine cavity. I’ve read that these types of fibroids are generally less likely to affect fertility or implantation because they don’t directly interfere with the lining. However, mine is causing some downward displacement of the endometrial cavity, which has obviously made me a little anxious.

We’ve been TTC for 10 cycles now and are also in the process of looking into IVF, so the timing of finding this has been a bit of a shock. I’ve sent the scan report to my GP and will be getting their opinion, but in the meantime I wondered if anyone has had a similar-sized fibroid and gone on to conceive naturally or through IVF?

I’d really love to hear your experiences — especially if you’ve had a 7cm-ish subserosal fibroid and whether it caused any issues with getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy.

Thank you!

Hi @AndyBerrick84 ,

I have! Reading your message this was quite literally me in 2018.🙈 I discovered a large subserosal fibroid just before we started TTC. It was actually protruding from my abdomen, which is how I first discovered it. It wsa about 8cm then. The GP and consultant didn't think it would cause any problems with conceiving, but unfortunately we didn't have much luck TTC, so after lots of tests etc we ended up doing IVF. They diagnosed us as having 'unexplained' infertility, so they didn't put it down to the fibroid as it was on the outside of the womb.

The fibroid did cause a few issues with IVF (they had to use a special catheter and they struggled to see my uterus properly a lot of the time, and they could only take eggs from my left ovary because the fibroid was pushing on my right one, and it obviously grew with the hormones) - BUT our first round was successful and we have a 6-year-old miracle boy!

The pregnancy was quite eventful - some of it due to the fibroid and some of it not. But I was closely monitored by an amazing consultant who delivered my son by C-section at 37 weeks. He was squashed up into the top corner of my womb because the fibroid had taken over all the space but they got him out eventually!

After that, the fibroid laid low for a while but then started to grow again and my consultant advised me to have it removed. So I had an open myomectomy in Nov '23 - they removed the fibroid at which point it was about 14cm!! It was major surgery but 'touch wood' there's been no sign of it since!

Hope that helps in some way! I don't think I'd have done anything differently, for what it's worth. Fibroids are more common than you think and a subserosal is the best of a bad bunch.

Good luck! xx

Thank you for replying ☺️

I’m so glad to hear you had a successful pregnancy after everything you went through! I have a follow-up appointment with my GP this week to discuss my options. From doing my own research, it sounds like it’s one of the better types of fibroids to have as it’s growing on the outside of the uterus, but even so, it can still come with its own complications!

Hopefully they’ll be able to offer some sort of treatment, and I’ll definitely be pushing to explore that option while weighing up all the potential risks. 🤞