Please, i need some advice to give my sister regarding a lump found...........

[SomethingAboutMary]

My sister has been having problems for a while now, with constant needing the toilet, bloated stomach & constipation, she has been back & forth to the doctors week after week, had loads of tests until finally the doctor sent her for an internal scan.

She went for the scan today & they found a lump in her womb, they did not say much to her but said they think it could be fibroids & were not 100% sure.

She now has to wait until the information goes to the doctor & take it from there.

She is very very scared, she has been crying today as she has been reading about fibroids & said that it is not an easy procedure it quite a "big" operation or whatever route she decides to take.

So my questions are has anyone else had this? what treatment did you have & also has it made you infertile?

TIA she will really appriciate me getting some views.

I developed a fibroid during my first pregnancy. The pregnancy hormones caused it to grow and it outgrew its blood supply and disappeared. It was quite painful when the fibroid started to die but I was given pain killers and told to rest and it was fine within a week. It didn't affect the pregnancy or my fertility at all.

I had another fibroid with my second pregnancy. This one didn't outgrow its blood supply but did shrink down after the baby was born. As far as I know it's still there but it's not causing any problems so I'm happy to leave it alone at this stage.

I remember reading up on them when the first one was discovered and I know that there are various ways of removing them and it doesn't always affect fertility. I think the biggest risk is the fact that part of the uterus is being removed and therefore the remaining parts will need to stretch further in a pregnancy. There's also the scar tissue which could make it more difficult for an egg to implant, but these things are also true for cesarean births and the affect on overall fertility is minimal. It does of course depend on the number, size and location of the fibroid but it's not always a complicated procedure or the end of fertility.

I hope your sister gets some clear answers soon. Not knowing is so hard. Have they given her any other possible diagnosis? All the best to her.

SAM - sorry to hear about your sister - I posted on a thread of yours a while back when you were feeling down. hows it going?