There is something about the name "fibroid" that seems terribly middle-aged and somehow recalls the "Surgical supplies" shops that used to exist, with their discreetly displayed trusses and Dr. Scholl's sandals...or small ads in the back pages of women's magazines, or patent medicines with names like "Iron Geloids".
But there is nothing twee or delicate about the little buggers - they have a whole life and blood supply of their own - and when they decide make a move, you can just about give up thinking about moving very far yourself. In 2007 a fibroid - which wedded itself to my slightly laissez-faire attitude to my health - made a very good effort at killing me by draining my blood supply and turning itself into a conduit for the blood to leave my body. After a faint, and a deathly pallor that made Mark famously remark "it looked as though a team of vampires had been at work on her" - I was rescued by the NHS - and given a blood transfusion, and lots of intravenous fluid and then I lost even more blood and fainted again, and that was when I nearly died... however, I mercifully didn't (obviously) and had yet more blood transfusions and an operation and then I came out of hospital and felt weak and feeble for weeks (due to anaemia, etc.). I was really ill in fact, but as my mother was languishing in the post-stroke world of misery no one in my family really registered the fact, and I got back into the groove and life went on. Until 2011 - when it started up again. This time I got treated with a D&C and an IUD (progestogen) and was told that should fix it. I thought it had. I still have occasional "periods" - and then I woke up with a heavier than normal one on Sunday, which I largely ignored, but on Monday it began to go bonkers again... heavy blood loss, clots, the works. I took to my bed, lying on a pile of dark coloured towels - after a few hours things slowed down, and I got a decent night's sleep. I had another dose of flooding this morning - and then everything calmed down again.
I cancelled all my appointments (an agreeable lunch, a WW meeting, shopping and the Ramsgate Arts Summer Squall post mortem) and went to the doctor. A fantastic new doctor - a woman, really pleasant and warm - she's "filling in" - do hope to see her again. I told her my saga, she seemed to agree, but made the usual comments about the menopause - it's an important diagnostic factor in this business. If I've had the menopause then the bleeding could be cancer - if I haven't, then it's probably fibroids. Fibroids officially give up the ghost when one reaches the menopause. So I said "but if I am having tiny periods...." and she said "The IUD can mask the effects - so we can't tell if those are real or not." So that's interesting. As usual, anything they give you to deal with problems inhibits your own ability to discern what's really going on. However, my feeling is that I still haven't made it to the menopause - and the bleeding is rogue fibroids, that have bust out in despite of the IUD.
A male reader may still be wondering why all this fuss about the tiny innocuous fibroid... that is because a man cannot imagine how unpleasant it might be if - without any weapons being involved - your body spontanously began to eject blood in large quantities - say a teacup full at a time - and you rapidly found yourself covered with large quantities of sticky stuff on your clothes and skin, which cannot be easily removed. Additionally imagine large clots of blood dropping out of the bottoms of your trousers - well, you can't can you? Then imagine this happened while you were walking down the street, sitting on a white sofa at a friend's house, in the pub with friends, at the theatre, shopping etc. You would be almost relieved if it happened in the privacy of your car even though you would still have to clean it up - which isn't unpleasant, just tedious. So - you see, while there is some chance of this happening, I am not planning to go out. I am hoping that next time it happens there will be a bit of a warning, and it won't begin without warning. Fortunately - I suppose - there is a warning - a nice dull ache in one's groin - similar to some sorts of period pain, or some sharper cramping pains, or some low back pain - or even some throbbing spasms - so that's good.
Well forgive me for going into detail - TMI no doubt - but I just want to dismiss the cute, diminutive image of the fibroid as something some women get and have to just bear with, stiff upper lip etc. Because women don't talk about bloody fibroids, no one realises how incapacitating they can be....but now perhaps a few more people do.
But there is nothing twee or delicate about the little buggers - they have a whole life and blood supply of their own - and when they decide make a move, you can just about give up thinking about moving very far yourself. In 2007 a fibroid - which wedded itself to my slightly laissez-faire attitude to my health - made a very good effort at killing me by draining my blood supply and turning itself into a conduit for the blood to leave my body. After a faint, and a deathly pallor that made Mark famously remark "it looked as though a team of vampires had been at work on her" - I was rescued by the NHS - and given a blood transfusion, and lots of intravenous fluid and then I lost even more blood and fainted again, and that was when I nearly died... however, I mercifully didn't (obviously) and had yet more blood transfusions and an operation and then I came out of hospital and felt weak and feeble for weeks (due to anaemia, etc.). I was really ill in fact, but as my mother was languishing in the post-stroke world of misery no one in my family really registered the fact, and I got back into the groove and life went on. Until 2011 - when it started up again. This time I got treated with a D&C and an IUD (progestogen) and was told that should fix it. I thought it had. I still have occasional "periods" - and then I woke up with a heavier than normal one on Sunday, which I largely ignored, but on Monday it began to go bonkers again... heavy blood loss, clots, the works. I took to my bed, lying on a pile of dark coloured towels - after a few hours things slowed down, and I got a decent night's sleep. I had another dose of flooding this morning - and then everything calmed down again.
I cancelled all my appointments (an agreeable lunch, a WW meeting, shopping and the Ramsgate Arts Summer Squall post mortem) and went to the doctor. A fantastic new doctor - a woman, really pleasant and warm - she's "filling in" - do hope to see her again. I told her my saga, she seemed to agree, but made the usual comments about the menopause - it's an important diagnostic factor in this business. If I've had the menopause then the bleeding could be cancer - if I haven't, then it's probably fibroids. Fibroids officially give up the ghost when one reaches the menopause. So I said "but if I am having tiny periods...." and she said "The IUD can mask the effects - so we can't tell if those are real or not." So that's interesting. As usual, anything they give you to deal with problems inhibits your own ability to discern what's really going on. However, my feeling is that I still haven't made it to the menopause - and the bleeding is rogue fibroids, that have bust out in despite of the IUD.
A male reader may still be wondering why all this fuss about the tiny innocuous fibroid... that is because a man cannot imagine how unpleasant it might be if - without any weapons being involved - your body spontanously began to eject blood in large quantities - say a teacup full at a time - and you rapidly found yourself covered with large quantities of sticky stuff on your clothes and skin, which cannot be easily removed. Additionally imagine large clots of blood dropping out of the bottoms of your trousers - well, you can't can you? Then imagine this happened while you were walking down the street, sitting on a white sofa at a friend's house, in the pub with friends, at the theatre, shopping etc. You would be almost relieved if it happened in the privacy of your car even though you would still have to clean it up - which isn't unpleasant, just tedious. So - you see, while there is some chance of this happening, I am not planning to go out. I am hoping that next time it happens there will be a bit of a warning, and it won't begin without warning. Fortunately - I suppose - there is a warning - a nice dull ache in one's groin - similar to some sorts of period pain, or some sharper cramping pains, or some low back pain - or even some throbbing spasms - so that's good.
Well forgive me for going into detail - TMI no doubt - but I just want to dismiss the cute, diminutive image of the fibroid as something some women get and have to just bear with, stiff upper lip etc. Because women don't talk about bloody fibroids, no one realises how incapacitating they can be....but now perhaps a few more people do.
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