Fibroids

[ArabellaScott]

I had no idea this was such a big issue.

Apparently fibroids affect 80% of black women, and 70% of white women, by age 50.

'Mr Narendra Pisal, consultant gynaecologist at London Gynaecology, says more awareness needs to be raised.
"I don't think there is much awareness of fibroids, even in the African-Caribbean community," the expert, who has practised gynaecology in London for over 21 years, tells the Mirror.
"I see women and they are often shocked. It does become a taboo, kept a secret, it is a private thing for a lot of women, they won't talk about it.
"The more awareness we increase, the better it will be."
He has called for every woman at the age of 25 to have an ultrasound - which can pick up conditions like fibroids, Endometriosis, and polycystic ovaries.'

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/beverley-knights-battle-fibroids-affects-29542491?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Here are a couple:

Review of findings:

'The expansive body of literature in this area clearly suggests that men and women differ in their responses to pain, with increased pain sensitivity and risk for clinical pain commonly being observed among women. Also, differences in responsivity to pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain interventions have been observed'

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3690315/

'Changes in autonomic indicators, to isolate the impact of sex, in response to pain have been measured and indicate that females have greater response to painful stimuli10. Sex-based differences that impact pain perception include the influence of sex hormones on pain-signaling pathways and anatomic differences in the organization of these pathways11.'

https://journals.lww.com/jbjsjournal/fulltext/2020/05201/sex_and_gender_issues_in_pain_management.7.aspx

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

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

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

Thanks for the info, Notbuyingit.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

@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 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