One of the things that continues to surprise me is that many patients I speak to talk about the fact that prior to learning they had uterine fibroids from their gynecologist they never heard about it -
- not from their mother,
- not from their friends,
- not from news casts or medical health discussions
- not at all!
The statistics are frightening when I hear about this lack of awareness…nearly 80% of women between the ages of 25 and 52 have uterine fibroids. That’s FAR MORE than half, and way too many to remain silent about them!!
Interestingly, I went to a Breast Cancer Fundraiser this afternoon filled with individuals talking about awareness, diagnosis, prevention. The room was filled with women of all ages – ranging from 7 years old to well over 70 years old. Talk about gaining a voice! It wasn’t always that way though…years ago it was poorly diagnosed, treatment was extreme and barbaric excision of the breast with a zig-zag stitch and no reconstruction to dream of – maybe analogous to hysterectomy as standard treatment for uterine fibroids. Now that is not the case – not even close.
So, if we become passionate, interested in voicing our concerns, talking with our daughters, sisters, mothers, friends, can we end the silent suffering of hundreds of thousands of women? Can we stop the unnecessary hysterectomy and avoid invasive procedures?
I say YES! Many women together, our voice can be strong, demanding and impacting change.
We deserve better!
—Share your thoughts – when did you first learn about Uterine Fibroids?
To my Sisters out there that has any questions with Uterine Fibroids,
Hello, my name is Mai fm Tampa, Florida.
I am here to share you my story from past, now and future.
I found out I had UF (I am going to call it UF for Uterine Fibroid fm this point on) last August 07. I was coming back fm dining out w/friends. On the way home I was feeling a very SHARP pains in my tummy all over it seems at that time. So I assumed it was food poisoning at first thought. I was up all night in the bathroom and at one point I realize seeing blood was a sign for ER.
Spent 3 days in the hospital and all kinds of tests/scans was done. The doctor release me and said they could not find what caused this to happen and all is good now. I did a follow up a couple of weeks later and same thing was told….all is fine. These things just happens but nothing is wrong now was the answer I got! I was upset because I asked the doctor I wanted to know so I can prevent it from happening again because it was so painful that I did not want to encounter this again. He had nothing to say to give me answers but it is fine now and we don’t know really what caused that pain.
I was not going to stop there. I went to the hospital to ask for copies of my records on what tests and results they found at the hospital. I am no doctor or will I ever be able to comprehend the the launguage/jibberish in my records.
There in the CONCLUSION section at the end of the report saying : Heterogeneous Enlargement of the Uterus
I knew at this point this had to do something with how I was feeling at the time of the pain and after leaving the hospital. I can’t believe no one told me this and even after checking in with my primary was this shared with me. I had to share it with them!!! Incredible.
The of course now I am asking my primary doctor and she sends me off to do an ulstrasound to make sure and there we find out I have a UF!
From that moment on my life was turned upside down! Every day of my life since then was on the internet and the library reading up on UF.
I first of course FREAKED out of fear because I was not able to ask anyone one that I knew about it because when I did, no one really had it and one had something similiar but she did the hyster. surgery and now complains about it.
My UF was at 9.5 CMs in 10/07 and as of 10/08 it got to 10.5 CMs. I have learned to live with the aches and also learned to eat healthier based on many things I have read. The UF was still there but it never hurts to be healthier because I went from 140 to 120 pounds. I am pretty short person so 140 was over weight for my body type….so a very POSITIVE thing came out of me reading and learning some healthy issues connected to possible things leading to the UF.
It gets overwhelming after reading so much and this says this and that says that. I do know one factor plays in the world of UF…..STRESS. Simple as that. That alone is another chapter.
Today, I want to share what is going on. I found this wonderful website that talked about a NON INVASIVE procedure. MRI Focus Guided. You need to read about this and learn as much and do an consultation with the doctor to see if you are a candidate.
I did the procedure 12/9/08. I am up walking around and was able to get up and walk out of the facility. Of course you will have some aches from laying on the table for a few hours depending on your size of UF. It’s a form of heat used to zap the UF. I will report back in a couple of weeks to let you know how my UF is feeling at that time. I am hoping for a great result.
I am more then happy to share you more if you would like to email me anytime at takabreaktravel@yahoo.com
with Peace and Happy Holidays
Mai