Healthy pregnancy with a fibroid...

[harvestqueen]

Does anyone have experience getting pregnant and having a successful pregnancy with a fibroid? I have one 7.5 cm intramural with a small submucosal fibroid at the back of my uterus. It isn't affecting the endometrial canal a lot, but it is affecting it a small amount. No symptoms, but 2 days of 7 my periods are really heavy. I am 35, ttc for about 5 months and would like to try another 5 months before getting a myomectomy.

 

[harvestqueen]

To clarify....it is one fibroid that has a small submucosal component.

 

[Kirsty H]

Hi Harvestqueen!

I successfully got pregnant approx 2 years ago the same month I had a lap and dye that showed that I had 4 fibroids growing on the outside of my uterus - sorry I can't remember the correct terms for them. Anyway, the largest of them was the size of a lemon and the gynaecologist recommended I have a myomectomy if I wanted to do IVF (which we were going to do), but said we could continue to TTC or do IUI without removing them. For some reason IVF works better without fibroids regardless of where they are. I have no idea how much they grew whilst I was pregnant, but they didn't affect my pregnancy in any way. I hope that helps!

Good luck and lots of

 

[hockey24]

I had a small submucosal fibroid in the uterus wall that I had removed via hysteroscopy last week. They were able to do a partial lap / hysteroscopy and scrape out the fibroid from the uterus - without having to cut the uterus.

I'm able to start TTC again as soon as I have my period. Much better than a myomectomy!

Good luck!!

 

[Rashaa]

I have had fibroids at least for the past 14 years...only knew initially asI was pregnant with my son, and was told that I had fibroids..but they didn't appear to affect anything at that time.....

Fast forward to tidy, I was diagnosed with secondary infertility....have had three documented (blood work confirmation) of chemical pregnancies.....two before the submucosal fibroid was completely removed. It was sized at approximately 9 mm round...on my anterior wall to the right. It was suggested by my doc that it was acting like an iud...rejecting any implantation in the cavity. It was removed is hysterosopicresection...the least invasive method. Recovery was great..I personally suffered pneumonia in between the two procedures ( it was staged because it was much larger than expected) but....overall periods are soooo much easier, less bleeding, less days!

Good Luck, but Keep an open mind. Getting it out might drastically improve your chances to succeed in TTC.

 

[Gingersnaps]

This is interesting, as I did not know there was a connection between fibroids and heavy periods. Would a fibroid show up on an ultra sound or do you need a special test?

 

[Rashaa]

This is interesting, as I did not know there was a connection between fibroids and heavy periods. Would a fibroid show up on an ultra sound or do you need a special test?

That's usually how they see them(in conjunction with a sonic hystegram)' especially if they are in or near the cavity and are or could be an issue,but MRI is the medical gold standard for detection.

 

[hockey24]

I'll double what Rashaa said - the MRI is the best detector of where the fibroid is and whether it could be causing any issues. Also will turn up any others that might be small and not show up on a sonogram. Good luck!

 

[Gingersnaps]

Thanks guys

I was just thinking, I have never been diagnosed with a fibroid but have heavy
Periods. I do have endo so heavy could just be from that. I have had ultra sounds and surgery on an ovary and nothing was mentioned. I suppose to be safe it is best to get further testing. I tend to have issues with implantation and that could be fibroid related.

 

[Kirsty H]

Sorry I'm going to disagree with the MRI issue. I had an MRI specifically to check for fibroids two months before my lap and dye and it only showed the small fibroid on the wall inside my uterus, it didn't detect the fibroids on the outside of my uterus, even though one was the size of a lemon. The MRI was done at a private hospital, so not an NHS c*ck-up either!

 

[Rashaa]

Sorry I'm going to disagree with the MRI issue. I had an MRI specifically to check for fibroids two months before my lap and dye and it only showed the small fibroid on the wall inside my uterus, it didn't detect the fibroids on the outside of my uterus, even though one was the size of a lemon. The MRI was done at a private hospital, so not an NHS c*ck-up either!

Kristy so sorry to hear that the fibroids weren't detected... Hearing your story, I think of a few things....maybe the location of the fibroids..and lack of vascularization (blood vessels) dint allow for best permeation of the dye. You know about the fibroids, how did they detect them finally? Surgically or via another process?
Nothing is ever 100% had there is always contraindications and exceptions...but the researcher in me has tons of questions about your case..but what was your final prognosis?...

 

[Kirsty H]

Sorry I'm going to disagree with the MRI issue. I had an MRI specifically to check for fibroids two months before my lap and dye and it only showed the small fibroid on the wall inside my uterus, it didn't detect the fibroids on the outside of my uterus, even though one was the size of a lemon. The MRI was done at a private hospital, so not an NHS c*ck-up either!

Kristy so sorry to hear that the fibroids weren't detected... Hearing your story, I think of a few things....maybe the location of the fibroids..and lack of vascularization (blood vessels) dint allow for best permeation of the dye. You know about the fibroids, how did they detect them finally? Surgically or via another process?
Nothing is ever 100% had there is always contraindications and exceptions...but the researcher in me has tons of questions about your case..but what was your final prognosis?...

My fibroids were finally detected two months after my MRI when I had a lap and dye to find out why one of my tubes seemed to be blocked when I had an HSG. It turned out that I had 4 fibroids including a lemon size one squashing one tube. As for my prognosis, I was advised to have them removed if I wanted to do IVF, which we were going to do, but I got pregnant naturally that same month.

 

[Leikela]

I am currently pregnant with a 3 cm fibroid. It has caused me no pain and they don't anticipate any complications from it. It was first detected at my 7 week ultrasound. Before that I didn't even know I had one.

A friend of mine had a lot of fibroids that was causing heavy periods and excruciating pain where she would have to miss work. She finally went in for surgery and all the previous tests (ultrasounds & MRI's) did not pick up all that were present. Her surgery ended up being major because they found more fibroids and other complications that needed to be fixed. She had surgery this past November and is still recovering with a sore abdomen. Doc's will not know everything they are facing until they actually go in and see for themselves.