By EK Wills
I’ve always had heavy periods but they seemed to get even more troublesome over the years and I ended up iron deficient and anaemic. That isn’t so unusual as many women of child-bearing age are at risk for iron deficiency anaemia due to what is termed menorrhagia or heavy bleeding from periods.
But there are several causes of this, which tend to show up in different age groups. I happened to score the fibroids category. The positive side of this diagnosis is that it is not life threatening and does not necessitate surgery. But it requires monitoring and generally women put up with it a lot longer than is really necessary when quality of life slowly gets worse.
My first breaking point happened when I couldn’t sit through a meeting for longer than half and hour because I had to keep leaving to go to the bathroom. A super pad and tampon weren’t enough.
I went through the different checks with a gynaecologist and was told my only option was to have a hysterectomy because I had finished having children.
For many women, this kind of news can be staggering. It can mean a change to status of womanhood or having to deal with surgery when you’re not really sick. It can also lead to early onset menopause, which can be a daunting prospect when you have only just had children.
At that point in time, I looked for any other options available to me and decided to wait till I was in the right frame of mind.
The second breaking point was when I couldn’t work in the yard on a hot day (yes it was a heat wave) and had to come in to collapse in front of the air conditioning for half an hour. I did this several times during the summer before I went to get a blood test.
I was feeling overwhelmed, stressed and tired and the blood test revealed that I was severely anaemic this time. Now I couldn’t avoid it and had to do something about it.
I went to a different gynaecologist because I was working at a different location and this one told me about fibroid embolization. It is a relatively new procedure that is offered to women who would like an alternative to having a hysterectomy.
There were some screening points in order to qualify such as the type of fibroid you have, and an MRI pelvis is required that leaves you $400 out of pocket but there are many advantages to this procedure.
Firstly, it is not major surgery (you get to keep your uterus) so the recovery period is shorter. It takes approximately a week compared to six weeks for a hysterectomy. This means you won’t be out of action for a long period of time and have to miss work or arrange long periods of cover with kids.
Secondly, it is performed through the femoral artery, much like an angiogram for cardiac patients, so there is no major scarring. They inject a plastic into the artery that blocks the blood supply to the fibroid, which will in turn mean the fibroid will shrink.
If it is arranged through the public system, it can be performed under medicare (you need to find the right practitioner). To do this, you need a referral to go to a gynaecologist and ask about fibroid embolisation. If they do not know, enquire further until you find one that does.
I was lucky enough to come across a fabulous gynaecologist who recommends her suitable patients to an interventional radiologist who performs the procedure in a public hospital.
As the patient, you have the embolization and stay overnight in hospital up to two nights if required, depending on pain levels.
It is regarded as quite painful as it is ischaemic pain (think like a heart attack in the pelvis). So some radiologists prefer to offer a general anaesthetic and then the patient can have a PCA or patient controlled analgesia while admitted. This means you get to press a button when it hurts and you get a dose of pain medication on the spot.
You get to go home when you no longer need this and can have tablets for the pain.
To be fair, this isn’t for the faint-hearted. I remember asking my radiologist if it was worse than labour and I would have to say that it was, for me. It went longer and I didn’t have the joy of a baby at the end of it, although I guess there is the goal of quality of life long term.
I’m currently day 3 post op and haven’t really eaten a full meal and so am having constipation issues (fun times), especially as the pain medications exacerbate that. But I’m optimistic that it is a better option for me.
Of course, there is always the chance that it doesn’t work and I end up needing a hysterectomy in the end but it’s a small chance that I’m prepared to take.
Watch this space for updates.
In the meantime, does anyone else have a story they would like to share here about their journey with menorrhagia?
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