During the month of April, I asked that women share their journey with fibroids so that other women will know that they are not alone. As different women shared their stories treatments, diets, symptoms, embarrassments, struggles, pregnancies and results varied. As I share the story of Tracie P below, keep in mind there is not cookie cutter answer to shrinking fibroids. Just like a recipe, several people could have the same recipe but add their own individual touch to change the taste, texture or feel and the same applies to your journey. One woman could shrink her fibroids from diet alone, another woman would shrink her fibroids by steaming every day, another woman getting rid of her fibroids by having surgery and another woman could shrink her fibroids from steaming, working out and dietary changes. Same diagnosis of having fibroids (represents the recipe) but different approaches to treating/shrinking fibroids (your spin/touch on the recipe). Let Tracie’s story not be a story of comparison, but a story of hope that you find the recipe that works for your body to shrink fibroids naturally or surgically. Below I present to you the Journey of Tracie P in her words…
I remember being told I have a few fibroids, maybe around 2013/14 or so, but not to worry about them at that time. They were small and not concerning. Fast forward to 2017-18, periods started to become more heavy and painful. My MD stated they were much bigger. I started having accident after accident, using tampons and pads which would fill up within minutes. The ultimate accident which had me take action was when I stopped in Marietta, GA to change my pad and by the time I arrived at my destination on Howell Mill (maybe a 10-15min drive) I had bled out onto my (rental car) seat. It was so alarming and embarrassing. After going to the doctor, we found a polyp within my uterine line. I was presented with two choices: 1) let’s get rid of the polyp or 2) start working on the fibroids. Since the polyp would hinder the ability to get pregnant, we decided to remove the polyp (2019) in hopes that would give me relief. Well, removing the polyp only opened up the gates. My cycles were WORSE. Given the other option of fibroid removal, I decided to get the UFE. At that time the biggest Fibroid was 10cm. Taking over my entire uterus. We couldn’t even see the other fibroids and my poor bladder was dern near flat. Dr. Lipman did my UFE (Sept 2019) and almost immediately I had relief. Had my cycle during my recovering period and it was almost non-existent. But whewww that recovery period was so painful, at the 11th day, I was back to normal.
Found out (when I got pregnant) the big one only shrunk down to 5cm. But
I was able to have my baby (still experienced pain during my pregnancy from that bigger fibroid, but We made it! Still dealing with a little pain, but not as great as before.
Leave a Reply