Fibroids in Pregnancy and 'Red Degeneration'

[Bubalie]

Hi all, I wandered if any of you have experienced problems in pregnancy relating to fibroids. I had a fibroid before I conceived and it was around 2cm, GP said it shouldn't cause any problems in pregnancy or stop me getting pregnant and he was right - I got pregnant straight away. On my 20 week scan a couple of weeks ago, my fibroid was measuring around 6cm, so obviously grown, but was told it shouldn't cause any problems as it was not blocking birth canal and it was well away from the baby on my right side.

On Friday I ended up in hospital with severe pain on my right hand side, the consultant felt my stomach and said she could clearly feel the hard lump on my right hand side which she thinks is my fibroid, apparently they cannot do anything about this in pregnancy and I had to stay on bed rest and take Codeine and Paracetamol as pain relief. I was discharged from hospital on Friday night and have had a pretty painful weekend, luckily the pain has started to subside a bit now, so I think I am getting a bit better. I think what I had was called 'red degeneration' and it basically happens when fibroid's blood supply gets cut off by a growing baby and it bleeds into itself which causes all this pain.

Anyone else experienced this, I am a bit worried as all they did in hospital is felt my tummy and listened to baby's heartbeat, no ultrasound or examination?!

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading.

Brilliant news Hazbo at least you can relax now and not worry about it. I have a private scan booked for week after next to check on my fibroid as NHS will not do anything about it.I had it checked privately a couple of weeks after I had my degeneration, and it looked ok and I haven't had any further problems so far, but I am living in fear that it's going to happen again. The thing that scared me the most is that the private consultant said that the pain from degeneration could have easily started off an early labour! Now I'm completely freaked out about it and hate this waiting for it to happen again.. I had some sharp stabbing pains on the side where my fibroid is (but very low down) on and off yesterday and was worrying that the fibroid is playing up again, but had a good night last night so am hoping it was nothing and will keep an eye on it today. Glad you can relax now Hazbo and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy!

Hi all, thanks for posting. I had an identical situation so this is reassuring. Just wondering if anyone got any info on PREVENTING this thing from happening again. Can I do yoga? Will a cold trigger it? (I actually had a form of sore throat and runny nose for that painful week)

Not sure if you can do anything to prevent it happening again. Luckily I have made it to 35 weeks now and it's not happened again to me, I was living in fear for most of this time as I've read somewhere that if it happened once in your pregnancy it's more than likely to happen again. My baby also likes being on that side and I was constantly worried if the pressure would cause fibroid to degenerate again, but so far so good. Good luck, and hope it all goes well for you!

Wow its taken me quite a while to find people that are going through this aswell, I'm expecting my 4th child and am now 21wks far, at my routine 12wk ultrasound all was fine. I then arranged a private gender ultrasound at 16wk with peekaboo to find out the sex of my baby but also a little reassurance as I had been experiencing some pain on my right side near my pelvic bone, I was informed to great delight that we are having a princess but also found to have 2 fibroids on my right lateral wall measuring 4cm by 3cm and the other 2cm by 3cm, the staff there were great and told me it's very common some lady's go on with a good healthy pregnancy but some experience the pain that I have there wasn't much more that could be said. I spoke to my midwife who also said it's very common and booked me in for my routine 21wk scan and said they will be able to see more if they had grown or shrunk or even moved. I have been experiencing pain like I never had before this is my forth child so I certainly wasn't being paranoid all of my pregnancys were different but this was knew to me, not to mention my size I'm only 21wks and I'm huge all my children have been small and by measurements of our 4th baby she also is small but I look 9mths, don't get me wrong after 3 babies I do tend to have issues with weeing myself on the occasional laugh,cough,sneeze but I am constantly wetting myself its very frustrating, I can't bend to put on my shoes and yes I have also had trouble getting in and out of bed, I've never experienced this so early on and I've had the comment it could be my age!! Well I'm only 32 granted not a spring chicken but ive gots loads left in me yet lol. so I anxiously wait from 16k to 21wks for my scan and the sonographer was so rude,she said ok so there are 2 fibroids but they don't matter its irrelevant I'm looking to see how baby is developing I responded pardon well what does that mean ? Why is it irrelevant? She said we'll there lateral wall fibroids and carry no concern, so I asked if they had grown she said yes a little so I asked well how much she said we'll one is 5cm by 4cm she was making me very agitated not giving me a straight answer she even had the chance to say she couldn't get a clear photo of our baby becase of the layers I said layers? She said yes because you are overweight what a cheak! She was prodding and poking me on my tender right side and it was obviously painful. By then I just wanted to go.so the have both grown which I found after looking at my notes by a cm each.The next day I have woken up in great pain. I took the children to school and walking home my legs were turning to jelly I had an awful pain in my lower back and lower abdomen its a very strange feeling and also if I coughed or snezzed it felt like something was tearing on my right side the pain was so bad by the evening I couldn't walk I went to accident and the emergency where I was told it could be my fibroids and was sent home with advice of taking paracetamol but also go to my gp to be referred for an investigative scan of my fibroids. I do feel better now but am worried for what I have ahead of me, at one point pain was so severe I thought I was loosing my baby but all through this she is kicking away its me that's terrified. Lisa would be grateful for an insight even though previous posts I read were very reassuring

I see these posts were all along time ago so what advice would you give me 21wks pregnant with our fourth child and 2 fibroids on right lateral wall still growing one 5by4cm the other 4by3 cm. Made to feel like im over reacting by hospital and no advice just a great deal of pain xx

Hi Lisa - you're right this is an old thread, so the ladies may not be actively checking pregnancy threads - hopefully they are all dealing with some snuggly babies.

Do you have your own midwife or gp that you could talk to if you are not happy with the hospital or sonographers? The key is to feel informed and hopefully you can find or get referred to someone that can talk to you properly about this.

My gp had referred me for an ultrasound because I was concerned that I wasn't getting pregnant because of my fibroids that had been found after a colposcopy years ago. In the end by the time the appointment came round I'd got pregnant naturally, so it was an early 5 week scan when I saw my little bean and they got the first measurements of my fibroids - I have 2 that I believe are medium sized but to be honest I don't know much more.

The midwifes/sonographer were great at 12 weeks, and confirmed that there had been no extra growth, but I'm now 18 weeks and am counting down to the 20 week scan. Comparing with other ladies at this stage I think I may be showing a bit more so I am keen to know if its the fibroids that are growing and as I learn more I'd like to understand where they are positioned. I get odd random twinges but generally put them down to pregnancy, but would be helpful to be aware if they might be linked to my fibroids.

Sounds like you are feeling pain and its worrying you - so please follow up. Seen numerous times on this board that you get some individuals that can be abrupt or not helpful, but that doesn't mean everyone is like that - maybe your gp can offer some reassurance or at least point you at someone more specialist - maybe a gynacologist rather than an obstetrician might be more knowledgable about fibroids?

Thankyou for your reply i am going to see my gp hopefully she can refer me so that this can be investigated further. My midwife is loverly but also told me that fibroids do not usually cause pain hmmmmm well that's the total opposite to what others have told me so now im wondering perhaps there is another cause its very frustrating when proffesionals all have there own opinion and give you different advice. I see what my gp says she is wonderful im sure she will be very helpful xx

My mrs had red degenation and a 14 cm fibriod. I come in this to research the topic because she was in agony!!! Pain I've not seen in people to be honest. The oral morphine helped though.

Anyway, it eased me listening to people saying they got through it and had their child.
I always thought Id take the time to add our post to this to put others at ease.

It is very painful for a week or 2 (I could only watch ) yet we have our little boy! Funny enough he was 8.5 a week early and is healthy . He's now 9 weeks old and is a resilient little man!!

We've lost 1 before so know it is unnerving ! Keep your chins up and think as positively as you can. When you've got a little fighter , you've got a little fighter .

Paul - on Danielle's behalf