fibroids?

what's the deal with them during pregnancy? my doc found a tiny one about 1 1/2 year ago or so and when she saw my sono last week she asked me, you have a fibroid. shouldn't SHE know that.... can it cause probs?

Re: fibroids?

I had fibroids but I am not pregnant.

To answer your question....yes and no.

Fibroids either grow with pregnancy or they shrink. Some women do not find out they have fibroids until after they are pregnant and go on with successful pregnancies. They will probably want to monitor you more closely. Some women with Fibroids towards the end of their pregnancy are placed on bedrest. The most common complication is abdominal pain. Risk for miscarriage (especially if it is located in the cavity) and premature delivery does increase slightly. Also, you may have to deliver via c-section.

Do you know the location of the fibroid? Is it in the cavity or in the walls? Size of fibroid? Fibroids can be as little as a pea and grow as big as a watermelon.

Try not to worry too much b/c women do have healthy pregancies with fibroids.

ETA: You may want to ask your doctor about your diet. Women with fibroids are told to stay away from certain foods eg. red meat and dairy (artificial hormones). FYI-Fibroids feed off of estrogen and during pregnancy your estrogen will increase. The estrogen is what makes your fibroids grow. You may want to start eating all organic foods if you are not already and stay away from soy (although, soy is controversial)

Message edited 3/8/2007 5:28:04 PM.

Re: fibroids?

its a small posterior fibroid??

Re: fibroids?

I am sorry, I should of clarified......What type of Fibroid? Some are in the cavity and some are in the walls. Here is a picture of some types:



Posterior-means that the fibroid is towards the back.

Message edited 3/8/2007 5:55:59 PM.

Re: fibroids?

A small fibroid is rarely a concern. Some estimates say that 75% of woman have fibroids. A much lower percentage of women have fibroids that grow to be large enough to cause problems. They will monitor the growth during your pregnancy. I had fibroid surgery. One of my fibroids was posterior and it was about 7cms. It was literally a pain in the ***.

Re: fibroids?

I have fibroids- LOTS of them... I didn't have any before I got pregnant (not that I knew of anyway). At about 10 weeks, I started feeling a firm swollen spot near my bikini line. I thought it was my uterus. At 11 weeks, I had what appeared to be a UTI but turned out to be fibroids that were causing all sorts of pain, problems urinating, etc.

I wound up in the ER where they found that my uterus is covered in them, with the largest being about 5 inches across. I had to be on pain meds for about 3 weeks- apparently some of them were "dying off" which was causing the pain.

The big one is still there, along with a number of smaller ones. I don't have any pain anymore- but I can feel the big one and actually it is pretty visible when I'm laying on my right side.

My doctor is not concerned unless I have pain that needs to be monitored, or if they start affecting the baby's growth. I'm actually having an extra sonogram on Monday, because there's a chance the big one might be growing again....

Re: fibroids?

I ended up hospitalized at 24 weeks with sever pain in my side. The pain was causing 1 1/2 minute contractions I didn't know about the fibroid- when they finally figured out what it was I was ordered to stop working immediately and put on modified bedrest.

Re: fibroids?

I had one double in size because of pregnancy. It caused me to contract at 24weeks but everything turned out fine and I delivered a healthy baby at 39wks.

Re: fibroids?

thank you! it is a small posterior subserosal fibroid . In Feb. 2005 it was measuring 1.4 x 1.4 x1.5 cm - i'm not sure what size it is now because my doc didnt say - that's when they first saw it because i had a cyst too but it dissolved.

At my appt. last week when she looked at the sono print - she mentioned it again but didn't say anything specific, i'm hoping she didn't because she wasn't concerned. hopefully it won't grow.

Re: fibroids?

This is probably the preferred type of fibroid b/c it is in the outerwall not in the cavity or muscle walls. If it does grow, you may experience back pain, frequent urination, constipation and bloating.

Re: fibroids?

please no more constipation thanks so much for the input. i'm making a note to ask doc about it too at next appt.

Re: fibroids?

Message edited 3/9/2007 10:12:00 PM.