Hi there - at the start of the year I went to my GP with a period that was spotting for a long time after the 'proper' bleeding and severe back pain. FSH and thryoid were tested and FSH was high, advised this was probably the cause of the bleeding, a subsequent blood test showed normal FSH - all year I have been rolling with the idea the perimenopause is well under way and minor symptoms that were coming and going were the hormones changing.
Since January my regular cycle length and lenth of bleeding has been erratic - sometimes 21 days upto 37 but on two occassions it was short, maybe 17 days. The bleeding was different too, not really heavy for a long time, but a faster flow and spotting some months. I went to my GP a few weeks ago just to mention it again, she wanted to check for polyps or fibroids that might be adding to it, she advised polyps would likely be removed but fibroids often left as they shrink after menopause.
So......I went along today and the ultrasound lady was very nice but couldn't check my ovaries or my lining thickness as there were multiple fibroids!! I am still a bit shocked to be honest and health anxiety has kicked in telling me it might be 'cancer' and thoughts of my womb being full of growths is not great. I feel rubbish. I was told it is very common, even multiple ones, but she couldn't really say whether this was the cause of the bleeding but perhaps the cause of occassional bladder urgency and back pain - ah ha!
Her recommendation was referal to a gynaecologist who may want to do a CT scan to map them all, their location and size, she said her equipment couldn't really do that for all of them and also to check the ovaries and lining to determine if bleeding connected to any of that. Treatment will depend on whether I feel the fibroids are impacting my life enough.
To be honest the symptoms are minor, the bleeding even and I'm still so very confused about whether the hormones or the fibroids are effecting my cycles and the way I am bleeding, both probably.
My plan of action is to see my GP next week just to chat about what happened and then plan what I want from the gynaecologist appointment. I really want to be able to just leave them if possible, but having been told there are many my mind is scared that means BAD things and surgery etc. I will ask the consultant what potential problems could occur if I leave them, due to their position etc and what treatments there are (a ton of options on the NHS website, from surgery to hormone treatment).
Feeling a bit emotional, considering my first 'diagnosis' from a GP this year was menopausal (he was premature with that) and wanted to give me HRT, I am glad he didn't as these fibroids would presumably respond to that.
I feel really upset and I am not sure why really. Combination of things - discovering something, not having had children but having a 'full' uterus, what will happen next and a niggle there is something serious wrong.
I do know fibroids are rarely cancerous, very rarely and they are common, I just feel weird about it - I was diagnosed with one on the outside of my uterus 15 years ago and clearly they have been growing every since. She mentioned a few with stalks on the outside but couldn't see if there were ones embedded into the lining which may stop the uterus contracting properly and stopping my periods etc - that makes sense.
Sorry for garble, a lot of information that I can't quite make sense of.
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Topic: Ultrasound has revealed multiple fibroids (Read 8321 times)