Fibroid pain

[Runaround50]

Can anyone share what fibroid pain might feel like please?

I've had awful pain on my left side for a good few months. I was meant to have a pelvic scan yesterday but the GP didn't make the correct referral, so I've got to go through the whole rigmarole of speaking to a GP who can do a correct referral.

I do have a fibroid on the left somewhere, which was small
last September. I'm wondering whether it's grown and pressing on a nerve / disc / organ? The pain is almost like a burning stabbing pain. I cannot lie on my left side as it is excruciating.

Apparently I also have a bulky uterus?

I'm on Hrt and post menopausal.

Hopeful bump

Hi OP, when I had (truly horrible) fibroid related pain for many many months, the gynae consultants said it was likely my womb trying and failing to expel it from my body. The fibroid was not particularly large.

Hot water bottles were lovely, TENS machine was game changing.

Once the fibroid had been removed, the pain totally disappeared and never came back.

Many thanks for replying.

What was the fibroid pain like?
How was it removed eventually?

It was evil! Twisting, gnawing pain that made me feel faint. Absolute torture. It sounds dramatic but I’m not the same person I was before experiencing that pain!

It was removed surgically under GA.

Ah yes, this is what I am experiencing. A twisting burning stabbing pain.
God I'm sick of it.
I am going to have to wait ages for it to be dealt with aswell!

How long do you have to wait before you had yours removed?

I had a few fibroids with the largest measuring 20cm. The pain was like extremely strong period pains. I had a hysterectomy 5 years ago and was the best decision ever. The biggest issue for me was excessive bleeding.

No bleeding but god awful pain 😥

It was only a few months but pre-pandemic

on December 3rd I thought I’d walked on hot coals feeling going upwards with each step I took, (at the time they thought I’d done my spine in) a pain though experienced on a period three weeks ago.

For the past week I have awoken early hours with a dull pain on lower right hand side always and only ever, it was so bad other night I had to take painkillers. I even madly started thinking it’s my rise and recliner bed where I had the feet up part
(I had my appendix out 1997) and have grown insulted that I must only be rolling about in pain.

My biggest problem is walking it feels like at least half a ball if not a whole one is trapped down there. Sudden uncontrollable urges to go toilet and what I have to be rolling around in sharp pain exclusively?!

I had a spinal compression (I think that is better then injury when I saw it explained this week in my support group for that particular condition) and the amount of time of times they tried to treat me like I was mad will haunt me. Now I could understand if left fully paralysed and unable to feel my stomach/down below in any way.

I vowed never to go near my gp surgery and as soon as diagnosed with Fibroids, I took out beneden health for help when it reaches 6 months paying in, best thing I could do for myself in long run. I only hope I did not have a needless operation six months ago for a spinal condition/compression when even a hospital did not explore gynae issues. Women’s health totally understated beyond giving birth.

A fibroid was pressing on a spinal nerve? Oh my gosh! Women's health is totally fucked up. That's bloody terrible.

My fibroid pain when pregnant was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life - worse then childbirth. It was very sharp, constant, intense, pain and worse when I moved. Now I get occasional flare ups that are much milder and feel more like a sharp stitch although sometimes the pain is more dull and niggly

@icecreamisforwintertoo sorry about the pain. Do you know what size they were before and during pregnancy? Did you have any pain before pregnancy from the fibroids?

@Dontknowwhyidoit 20cm is huge. Did it make your tummy noticeably bigger? Are you sure it was 20cm? Why did they wait so long before removing it? Did you carry a pregnancy with it? Any idea what type of fibroid it was?

@Delectable, I had two pregnancies where the fibroids grew due to the hormones and my stomach was massive anyway as I had polyhydramnios. I'm not sure what type they were but it was the radiographer who measured it during my last scan and said it was 20cm (2 years after my last pregnancy). It was pressing on my bladder and bowel and I was constantly constipated and occasionally could not pass urine. That was when I agreed to the hysterectomy as I had been putting it off for a couple of years.

@Dontknowwhyidoit thanks.

@Delectable thats ok it’s much better now although I’ll never forget the pain! They must have been there for a while but I wasn’t aware - I first became aware in a pre pregnancy / fertility scan when I think it was about 5-6 cm. When I was pregnant it grew to about 10cm and I could see/feel the bump through my son. It’s shrunken down again now but still there. I had the option to get it removed but it sounded like a big op and the symptoms are minor now.

I had intensely strong period cramps all month long plus very heavy periods, no idea it was a fibroid.

Then I went on a diet and lost a lot of weight and noticed that my belly was out of proportion with the rest of me.

By then I was also feeling just a general dull ache low down all the time and a regular pressure on my bladder. But every so often would be doubled up in such intense cramps that I couldn't get out of bed.

Turned out to be a 30cm fibroid - gynae said the biggest he'd ever seen. Full hysterectomy was a blessing.

I have a tiny submucosal fibroid. My GP is adamant that it cannot possibly cause me any symptoms... and yet, here I am with my hot water bottle having hideous cramps and bleeding (unsure if I'm having periods as I have mirena which had successfully stopped my periods for the last 9 years). I personally experience the pain as ramped up period cramps and a sort of drawing down feeling?

Fibroids can be evil. Don't underestimate the pain and bleeding they can cause! Keep monitoring it. Fibroids can grow.. they can attach themselves to anything.. as long as there's blood supply, they will keep feeding.

Nah not period cramps, just weird to explain, heavy sensation. Problems peeing. I’m surprised they do not test your bowel or bladder. Surely a trans vaginal scan 18 months out of date can’t give any confidence what they are dealing with and is not that effective.
no one in family in menopausal time has suffered with a ‘weird stomach’, not that the nhs test until you are finally 45 years of age. My cousin not a childless woman had a belter of a beast removed saying same thing of strange feeling.

I can’t be doing with the nhs and waiting a further 18 months so next week seeing a private gynae for Q&A on the very subject. They might be harmless but after 10 months I want back to normal or a good reason why this happens.

I just feel sorry for the miscarriages people suffer, amongst all misinformation and really it’s no way to live.

Hi - it's been a few months since your post - I am currently trying to get helo and hopefully a gyne referral for my multiple fibroids. I have had an Ablation 7 years ago as periods extremely heavy and anemic (and couldn't have coil) and it was v successful. But now peri-menopausal and getting a lot of chronic pelvic pain which become difficult to manage these past few months and really struggling. I pushed for another scan and had that this week: much the same as before with multiple fibroids, largest about 1.5cm. I wish they would give est of how many fibroids there were as surely many small ones will equal a large mass and could cause pain?? (I did ask once but radiographer said there were too many to count!). So I am very interested in what your gyne said to you - getting some validation really helps doesn't it, otherwise you really think they think you're making it all up. Also, I was looking at a TENS machine in Boots the other day and was tempted to buy - any particular type worked for you?

Lastly - do you / anyone get pains down into thighs as well with their pain? (I do but not sure if that another cause/peri-meno related maybe) and also I have IBS , not sure how much one makes the others worse.

Thanks Kc

I had no problems with fibroids until I started taking HRT. The hormones fuel the fibroid growth. Normally once you hit post menopause they should start to shrink back.
Mine cause major sciatic pain. Since I stopped HRT the symptoms have all disappeared.
I take Anastrazole for breast cancer. Anastrozole is used to shrink fibroids when surgery is not indicated.
Gynaecologists have moved away from hysterectomy and prefer to use less invasive techniques.

Hi, thanks for your reply . Interesting info about the affect of HRT . My problem is that I don't know how along I am with the menopause as the uterine ablation op o had 7 yes ago was so successful that I stopped bleeding completely. But still have my ovaries/hormones . I'm not sure if any of the leg pains are menopausal related . I have been anti HRT because my mum died breast cancer 40s but I have been wondering if would be helpful ....but not from your experiences. Sorry to hear that . Maybe the pains are them shrinking. Kc