Re: fibroids and bcps discussion resumes

[Guest guest]

Yes, Anne-Marie & fjordrr (please see my private e-mail to you), I'm

extremely suspicious of BCPs affecting fibroids! Seems I'm not alone either

.... seems I've told this story here before, too ... so, forgive me, Carla,

for being an irate broken record!

SYMPTOMS: I stopped BCPs 6 yrs. ago at age 35 because they no longer

eliminated intense cramps/pain. Fibroids were finally diagnosed 6 months ago

(symptoms have been there for years, though). Went on Loestrin somewhat

unwillingly in June & experienced intense bleeding & off-the-chart pain with

1st period. Switched to Norinyl immediately afterwards. Had one period with

slightly less bleeding & **minimally** less pain. Then I suggested to new gyn

I go on continuous BCPs (no period) for 9 weeks to avoid the agony of

menstruation. I did not want Depo-Provera shots. She agreed. First gushing

hemorrhage ever in my life occurred in Week 4. Pain was always the issue

previously. Went on Aygestin, which controlled bleeding to a certain extent.

Life was good. Saw yet another gyn during Week 8 & didn't get a new Rx for

Aygestin. Last week, Week 9, was ghastly: pain; bloating; cramps; exhaustion;

bowel problems; hemorrhaging; clots; depression; lower back pain; inablity to

work, etc. Relafen (NSAID) & Vicodin (pain killer & temporary lobotomizer)

barely helped. Today marks the 10th day of bleeding (no, I'm not spotting) &

I bagged going to work.

CONCLUSION: BCPs have totally f***ed me up. What do you want to bet my

fibroids have grown exponentially in 4 mos.?

SOLUTION: ???? Still waiting to hear if I'm a good candidate for UAE. Going

to mandatory pre-UAE class tonight. Sheesh, I'm MORE than ready & informed,

just get me an appt. with the friggin' IR & set up an endometrial biopsy

PRONTO, fercrissake!!! Will post report later. Now have appt. in " Behavioral

Medicine " to " discuss depression due to illness " with psychologist. How about

discussing depression due to HMO-Kaiser's glacially slow pace???? Might as

well go to a witch doctor at this point -- a good Andean curandero would pass

a guinea pig over my body & then read its entrails & get to the root of all

my problems.

Love to all, Tinkuy

P.S. My mood improves greatly when I have no symptoms.

[Guest guest]

Hi, this is Anne-Marie who some time ago that I was concerned about taking bcps

prior to myo. I suppose it " shouldn't " matter if the fibroids grow or not since

I'll be having them out in December. Meanwhile, I've had two very difficult

periods, heavier than before bcps when I was taking natural progesterone 200mg

capsules throughout the month for almost 18 months.

Well, this month (#2) I started bleeding on day 20 which was only into the 2nd

week of pills (Loestrin 1.5/30). I'm pretty much fed up with bcps and am going

to resume the progesterone. I feel I need some relief and the fear of the

fibroids growing out of control before myo is not acceptable to me now. Maybe

it's too late, I don't know. For the past 18 months I've kept the growth down.

Bleeding was heavy during periods and I had spotting but the bcps just didn't

change that much. So, I've decided to pursue the " natural " course for the next 2

months leading up to myo. Something about these bcps just doesn't sit right with

me.

I've read quite a few messages from women taking bcps and fibroids growing. I'm

not willing to take the chance that mine will grow to the point where a doctor

would force me into a hyst when I'm under anesthesia. I don't know if the size

of the fibroid would impact the doctor's ability to control bleeding when she's

inside me.

So I just wanted to say that I'm no longer open to using bcps to help with

bleeding or shrinking fibroids.

Anne-Marie

in NM

[Guest guest]

To Tinkuy: I can really sympathize. I have been on bc pills for a long

time, but switched to Lo-ovral in March and they have been controlling

mid-cycle bleeding, but each month since March my periods have gotten a

little longer/more clots/more pain, etc. This time I have had a 7 day period

so far and lots of clotting. I am so frustrated, too. I have an ultrasound

tomorrow to see if they have grown and I'll be curious to see if they have.

I am trying to get an appt. w/a IR also to see if I'm a candidate. My gynie

said " oh UAE can only take care of 1 fibroid " . I knew this was wrong as I

read previous posts that said UAE can take care of multiple fibroids. I too

am in the worst mood when I've had a period for an extended period of time.

Helps to vent here, though and know that there are a lot of other women who

feel the same way.

[Guest guest]

Hi all -

I honestly don't know which came first...the fibroids or the BCP (stared on

BCP when in mid 20's after first d & c, now 50). However, about 5 years ago,

when I switched GYNs I was switched to loestrin/microgestin continuous active

and it was a life saver for me. It totally (well, 99.9% of the time)

controlled my bleeding symptoms, and a period only once every 9 weeks...hey,

I could deal with that! (especially when they were light and short!)

However, over the years of taking BCP's, it seemed that each time I was taken

off/or chose to go off, that when I resumed taking the pills I had an

immediate weight gain of about 5 pounds. I do not have fibroid measurements

through these times, but suspect that part of the weight gain (at least the

last few times) included an increase in the size of the fibroids (based upon

symptoms). But, the increase seemed to occur only as my body readjusted to

being back on the hormones and did not seem to be ongoing. This is only

subjective as I did not have ongoing ultrasounds to measure my fibroids.

My symptoms were very stable on the continuous active after the last dusting

& cleaning and resection of the one pedunculated fibroid (3 years

ago)...until the decision was that I may be menopausal. Apparently, the

thought was that if I was going through the change they could treat my

symptoms on the short term with HRT (Premarin 0.3MG), and then as I fully

progressed to menopause, those fibroids would just gradually disappear. Yeah,

right!

Well, it took 6 weeks for the first period, and 3 for the next... and I was

back to nasty bleeding and begging for relief. I am back on continuous BCPs,

but feel that those dear old fibroids pumped themselves up a bit in the

process, as the major symptom of the bulk/bloating returned and increased.

The BCPs do not seem to have the same control this time, as I have had a

significant bout of break through bleeding. So, now I am starting the process

of getting things inline for action. Hopefully, something without a 6 "

vertical cut.

Unfortunately, the process will be slower than expected because of delays to

get through the system are going to be longer than I hoped. Sigh ~

JB

[Guest guest]

I also had longer periods with more clots while i was

on birth controls ( Aleese and Marvelon ).

i didn't have mid-cycle bleeding with or without pills

but have less clots while i stopped taking Marvelon 3

months ago.

Suzan

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I haven't posted in awhile but thought I should weigh in here. I am also

extremely suspicious about the connection between bcps and fibroids. I had

one 5 cm fibroid removed hysteroscopically in March 2001. I had been having

symptoms of heavy bleeding for about two years before that (though it was

never unmanageable). When I had complained previously he said it was

probably perimenopause (I am 43). When he finally suggested an ablation

(after my GP diagnosed severe anemia), the pre-op ultrasound discovered the

fibroid (which he had never noticed in annual exams). Anyway, my gyn at the

time said that he didn't get it all and thought perhaps it would continue to

cause me problems. He suggested I start low-dose bcps to regulate the

bleeding. (I had taken bcps throughout my 20s but had stopped in my early

30s in order to have a baby and never went back on).

The first very low-dose pills caused me to have continuous bleeding for two

months. The second pills (logestrel--started in May 2001), 0.3 mg doseage,

gave me intermittent relief but by December I was regularly spotting, having

longer and longer periods, etc. I was so fed up at my last exam with my gyn

that December (when he offered hyst as the only alternative to the pills)

that I switched gyns for my next appointment in June. By that time, after

only a little more than one year, my fibroid had grown back and had resumed

its old size of 5 cm--all in one year! I have no doubt that the original

fibroid took much longer to grow to its original size than that as my

symptoms had gradually worsened over the course of a number of years. But

after only a little more than one year on low-dose pills, it was back to

full size!

When I saw my new gyn (Dr. at the Center for Uterine

Fibroids at Brigham and Women's in Boston--who I can't say enough good

things about), she had me go on the pill continously until a scheduled

hysteroscopic resection and ablation (in order to thin out the lining of the

uterus), with the intention of going off completely after the surgery.

Well, after four weeks on the pill, I started to have heavy bleeding. I

doubled up the doseage for five days at the end of July and then went back

to one pill. After about a week on one pill, I experienced massive

hemorrahaging and ended up in the hospital with a transfusion (three units

of blood!). Before I was on bcps, although I had heavy periods I never bled

between periods, never spotted and never hemorrahaged like this. I believe

the pills themselves so completely messed up my hormonal balance that I

ended up where I was.

On August 27 I had the resection (unfortunately, the fibroid is so deeply

embedded in the uterine wall that she wasn't able to get all of it either)

and ablation (which she felt was a real success). For two weeks afterward,

I continued on two bcps a day and then went down to one for the next two

weeks. On one bcp, I started to bleed and clot again. After those two

weeks I went off entirely and got my period about a day and a half later. I

have to say my bleeding was much lighter off the pill and my period,

although I can't really judge the final results due to the ablation, has

been much more manageable than before and certainly much, much lighter than

when I was on the pill or prior to the ablation.

Anyway, I wanted also to say that I asked Dr. if the bcps could have

made the fibroid grow faster in the year I was on them, and she said it was

a distinct possibility and that now that I'm off the pills it might not grow

back as quickly (and that between the resection and ablation I might get a

few more decent years). She also was able to do the ablation (whereas my

previous gyn said it was impossible due to the size of the uterus) and said

that I'm now a very good candidate for a UAE, since I only have one fibroid,

it's very small to almost nonexistent right now, and I've already been

ablated. (By the way, my other gyn said I couldn't have a UAE because my

fibroid is submucosal--also debunked by Dr. ).

So last but not least, I had far worse bleeding problems on the bcps than I

ever did (even with a 5 cm submucosal fibroid) before. And I had far more

rapid growth of the fibroid on the bcps than off. So I would caution anyone

who believes bcps are a long-term solution to bleeding from fibroids--they

certainly weren't in my case. Dr. uses them mainly for short-term

relief and to thin the uterus prior to the type of procedures I had. Now

that I'm off the bcps, I feel better, my bleeding is lighter and I'm hoping

to be able to buy some time before the next procedure (UAE). Maybe between

the resection/ablation and the UAE I'll be able to make it to menopause

without a hyst.

Regards to all,

Ferguson

>From: Tinkuy@...

>Reply-To: uterinefibroids

>To: uterinefibroids

>Subject: Re: fibroids and bcps discussion resumes

>Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 16:36:14 EDT

>

>Yes, Anne-Marie & fjordrr (please see my private e-mail to you), I'm

>extremely suspicious of BCPs affecting fibroids! Seems I'm not alone either

>... seems I've told this story here before, too ... so, forgive me, Carla,

>for being an irate broken record!

>

>SYMPTOMS: I stopped BCPs 6 yrs. ago at age 35 because they no longer

>eliminated intense cramps/pain. Fibroids were finally diagnosed 6 months

>ago

>(symptoms have been there for years, though). Went on Loestrin somewhat

>unwillingly in June & experienced intense bleeding & off-the-chart pain

>with

>1st period. Switched to Norinyl immediately afterwards. Had one period with

>slightly less bleeding & **minimally** less pain. Then I suggested to new

>gyn

>I go on continuous BCPs (no period) for 9 weeks to avoid the agony of

>menstruation. I did not want Depo-Provera shots. She agreed. First gushing

>hemorrhage ever in my life occurred in Week 4. Pain was always the issue

>previously. Went on Aygestin, which controlled bleeding to a certain

>extent.

>Life was good. Saw yet another gyn during Week 8 & didn't get a new Rx for

>Aygestin. Last week, Week 9, was ghastly: pain; bloating; cramps;

>exhaustion;

>bowel problems; hemorrhaging; clots; depression; lower back pain; inablity

>to

>work, etc. Relafen (NSAID) & Vicodin (pain killer & temporary lobotomizer)

>barely helped. Today marks the 10th day of bleeding (no, I'm not spotting)

> &

>I bagged going to work.

>

>CONCLUSION: BCPs have totally f***ed me up. What do you want to bet my

>fibroids have grown exponentially in 4 mos.?

>

>SOLUTION: ???? Still waiting to hear if I'm a good candidate for UAE. Going

>to mandatory pre-UAE class tonight. Sheesh, I'm MORE than ready & informed,

>just get me an appt. with the friggin' IR & set up an endometrial biopsy

>PRONTO, fercrissake!!! Will post report later. Now have appt. in

> " Behavioral

>Medicine " to " discuss depression due to illness " with psychologist. How

>about

>discussing depression due to HMO-Kaiser's glacially slow pace???? Might as

>well go to a witch doctor at this point -- a good Andean curandero would

>pass

>a guinea pig over my body & then read its entrails & get to the root of all

>my problems.

>

>Love to all, Tinkuy

>

>P.S. My mood improves greatly when I have no symptoms.

>

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