For the past year I have been battling uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids are hateful, non-malignant tumors that grow within the uterine wall. I have eight of these bizarre things growing inside me. EIGHT! You can read about the symptoms of uterine fibroids from the Mayo Clinic and let me just say I have every freaking symptom listed (plus a few that the good old Mayo is not aware of yet) including, but not limited to, bitchiness and murderous thoughts of family members. On most days the world is a giant chalk board and humanity is scraping their fingers down it all day long. Does that paint a clear portrait of how irritable I am? I am told if I can live with these body growths until after menopause, they usually shrink and symptoms decrease. I am also told the average age for menopause is fifty-one. I'll be forty-six on my birthday. That's five years people! My GYN has given me a few options: (A) Try birth-control pills for a few months; (B) Endometrial ablation wherein they burn the endometrial walls; (C) Partial hysterectomy (taking out the uterus but leaving the cervix and ovaries). I'm on my second round of birth-control pills and thus far have seen no improvement. In fact, some of my symptoms are worse. I've heard from some that the ablation procedure works well for a few months but risks involved with this procedure (though rare) are serious. A partial hysterectomy initially sounded appealing until I began reading on the topic and the sexual side effects that the procedure can cause. I'm getting old, but am not dead. I still enjoy my sexuality so ripping out something that might change that appeals not to me!
Dear readers do you have any experience with this problem? If so, would you please share your experience here with me? I value the opinions and experiences of other women (men too if your wife, mother, sister, girlfriend, etc. has gone through something similar). I'm also open to holistic procedures if you have experience in that area. Any thoughts are welcome.
Thanks for reading, Rosie.