Re: Pregnant/fibroids/back and leg pain!

[Guest guest]

Thanks Cheryl! I also have the sciatic nerve pain

which causes a lot of the hip and leg pain but this

fibroid pain is different. It's pressing on a nerve

in my leg so I too have been looking like an old lady

when I get up in the morning! I haven't taken

anything yet and am riding this one out. How did you

decide to have the myo after your pregnancy? I know

it sounds crazy but I want to talk to my doctor about

the dangers of getting pg again without taking care of

all these fibroids. I know it's going to be hard on me

again but I am afraid to have a myo since I already

had one 4 years ago and will have a c section with

this baby. I am concerned about having another surgery

on my uterus before trying to get pg again and it is

surgery so you just never know what is going to

happen. I also want at least 2 children and this is

my first. He won't talk to me about it until we get

through this one which I understand. He needs to wait

to see if I go into premature labor too early. I was

having a lot of contractions yesterday but they never

hit more than 2 an hour. Hopefully they will be

quieter today! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

--- Cheryl Magadieu wrote:

> As you know, I had a myo in September and we plan to

> try to have another baby. It will be interesting to see whether the back

> pain is as bad during the next pregnancy.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Sorry for the delay. I hope your pain is better. I had a pregnancy complicated

by a degenerating fibroid the size of a tennis ball. I suffered excruciating

pain and daily nausea and vomiting from around week 4 to week 20 or so. My

caregivers thought I was carrying twins. The fibroid went undiagnosed until

after week 20 when I had my first Ultrasound and the pain had stopped by then,

thank goodness. I took no pain meds- nobody seemed to acknowledge my suffering

and that lack of affirmation was in fact as bad as enduring the pain. I felt so

very, very alone. Nobody understood. On their behalf, I did not go to the

doctor when I had the worst pain because I knew they would hospitalize me and

hook me up to tubes and do all kinds of tests which I did not want. My

pregnancy was not a happy, joyful time. I also had such horrible

nausea/vomiting that I could merely think of a certain food and feel sick as a

dog. When the high risk specialist did the ultrasound he said " I see one baby

and one large fibroid. " Then he said, " Oh, if this degenerates you could have

alot of pain. " Hello?! I guess he had not read my chart. Or maybe they did

not bother charting -

" pt. verbalizing excruciating pain " and just dismissed it as hysterical, first

time older mother. As you can see, I am quite bitter about the whole affair-

have got a lot of forgiving to do. Keep in mind this happened 5 years ago. And

I am still dealing with the emotional/ spiritual aftermath. What to do to heal

? I am open to suggestions. Are there counselors who specialize in therapy for

women with traumatic pregnancies? Any recommendations?

Well, I sort of got off track. What did I do to cope with the pain? Took no

meds. Could not stand TV. Totally withdrew since no one was understanding me.

I rocked back and forth alot, cried out to God and my husband. Showers hurt, so

that did not help. Couldn't go for walks -too weak. My favorite coping

mechanism- eating- was not an option since I was sick as a dog and lost 15

pounds the first trimester. I discovered that you really can survive on a few

bites of food per day if you have an extra 20 pounds on you (I am glad I was not

skinny). I worked all kinds of puzzles (crossword, find a word,etc.) to try

to distract myself from the pain. I am not fond of these but I was desparate.

I listened, moaned, and cried to soothing music. I wrote in a journal trying to

figure out why I was suffering so - At the time it did seem like I was being

punished and forsaken by God.

Now after all that I want to say that there was a silver lining in this horrible

storm cloud (or tornado). I went into labor on my due date and had a 9 lb. son

with normal childbirth (yes I did eat well the last 20 weeks) and no epidural

or meds of any kind. It really was a piece of cake to have labor pain for

around 16 hours after I had endured the degenerating fibroid pain for weeks and

weeks. So alas, a happy ending. I did not know I had a fibroid prior to

getting pregnant - never had a myo or any other procedures.

Well, this is more info than you requested. I hope you are feeling better

Anybody out there know of docs who specialize in degenerating fibroids of

pregnancy? I would like to talk to one about my situation, since my midwife and

the 5 different OB/GYNs who I saw were clueless.

Sandy

[Guest guest]

Sandy (and others with painful pregnancies),

I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you during your

pregnancy. If you are interested in working on your psychological

trauma from your very painful pregnancy, I just got a new book

called " Experiencing Infertility: An Essential Resource " that you

might want to browse at the bookstore. It was co-written by a

counselor and someone from RESOLVE and talks a lot about normal

psychological responses to infertility. It doesn't mention fibroids,

and barely mentions reproductive surgeries, but still it legitimizes

feeling of frustration, helplessness, depression, anxiety, anger,

etc. In your instance (and for others who have or are going through

it), the book talks about instances where doctors didn't listen, made

patients feel guilty, etc., and provides really good information from

a mental health perspective on how to approach healing.

It also talks a lot about how our perceptions of motherhood have

foundations in our childhood, that our hopes and dreams about what

our pregancies will be like start before the baby is even conceived

many times...these things might be helpful to you in understanding

your hurt in that in addition to the pain your pregnancy wasn't all

you dreamed it would be.

It is possible that someone who has had some training in dealing with

infertility issues might be adept at understanding your reproductive

psychological pain. Here are a couple of places to look for mental

health counselors dealing with reproductive issues:

http://www.resolve.org/main/national/coping/resources.jsp?

name=coping & tag=resources

http://www.asrm.org/search/asrm_mentalhealth/index.html

--Ann

Anybody out there know of docs who specialize in degenerating

fibroids of pregnancy? I would like to talk to one about my

situation, since my midwife and the 5 different OB/GYNs who I saw

were clueless.

> Sandy

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Ann -- for the kind words and the links. I do want to get beyond my

bitterness. Peace and blessings in 2004, Sandy