Fibroids returning after myo / 4 myomectomies

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Replying to 2 consecutive posts in a recent digest...

I had my first myo about 18 years ago, when I was 31. There were about 12

fibroids, plus some polyps. The doctor recommended that if I wanted to have

children, I should try to do it soon, since possible regrowth of the fibroids

would make it harder. I never did attempt pregnancy, so have no idea if I would

have succeeded.

My fibroids did reappear within about 5 years, but were small and asymptomatic.

I was in wait-and-see mode for about 10 years. There was no need to treat them

as long as they were not causing a problem. When they started growing again, I

began experiencing bloating, frequent urination (including waking up in the

middle of the night), leg pains (which were declared to be unrelated to the

fibroids, but went away after my second myo) and a 30-lb. weight gain over 2

years which was also deemed unrelated, but I don't believe that to be true.

Last year, at age 48, all the doctors I saw (including several internists who I

was seeing for other issues) felt that hysterectomy was the only option to

consider. Which is why I went to Dr. West (in NYC) who I learned about from

this list. He guaranteed me that he would be able to perform a myomectomy, and

he did.

If I had to do it all over again, I would do exactly what I did. I would have

had the first myomectomy, which gave me years of likely fertility. While I

never chose to have a child, it was my choice. I'm glad that choice was not

taken away from me.

The only negative that I see to the wait-and-see approach is that as the

fibroids grow, your options for potential procedures can be reduced. If you are

practicing wait-and-see, it is important to discuss with your doctor what they

feel they can provide for you as later options. The gyno I was seeing all

through my wait-and-see era was an OK gyno, nothing special. When I looked her

up on the website that shows number of myomectomies performed per year, her

number was about 3.

So clearly she would NOT have been able to perform a complicated surgery like my

second one (over 40 fibroids). I was lucky to find somebody who was able to

give me the myo that I wanted. But I recommend that if you're doing the

wait-and-see approach, you make sure that the option you would like, if/when the

fibroids grow, will still be available to you.

--------------------------

To the woman who recently posted about having had 4 myos.... why did you have so

many of them? What were your symptoms? I agree that it seems that many women

do regrow fibroids after they have a myo, but most of us seem to not have them

turn symptomatic that quickly. And where do you live that you were lucky enough

to find a doctor willing to do that? (I suspect most of the doctors we see

would not be willing to do a 3rd, let alone a 4th.) And finally, I don't recall

if you stated, were they all abdominal myomectomies?

R.