Acupuncture for fibroids?

I have just been to my gynocologist who recommends that I have a hysterectomy for my fibroid tumors. I'm hoping to get a second opinion from someone who will work more with me on finding less invasive alternatives (but who will be realistic and competent if surgery does seem to be indicated). Does anyone have recommendations for a gynocologist in the East Bay? Also, does anyone have experience with the use of acupuncture in reducing the pain associated with fibroids? thanks! LO

My fibroids were very painful and I had very heavy problematic bleeding. I did not try acupuncture but I did try many other alternative treatments in hopes that surgery would not be necessary. I cut out all hormone containing meat and dairy and stopped drinking alcohol. These dietary changes alone made a big difference in my pain but did not affect bleeding. I was also on birth control pills but this made no difference with the pain or the bleeding. I went to an osteopath for spinal manipulation and that helped my pain tremendously. In the end my fibroids did not stop growing and I decided that surgey was best allow me to have a child. Once the fibroids were out I was amazed at how much better I felt. I could not believe I had put up with that level of pain for so long. Recovery from surgery was quick and not as painful or scary as I thought. I can't say whether or not you should get a hysterectomy or not but haveing my surgery really improved the quality of my life and I wish I had done it sooner.

Good Luck to you and I hope you get some advice that will relieve the symptoms. Feel free to contact me if you need more information. Julie

I highly recommend getting Dr. Christiane Northrup's book, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom. She talks about our symptoms in a deeper way to help us get at the root of the matter. I found it to be really enlightening and helped me to understand myself better on an emotional level, seeing the body/mind connections.

I also went to a ''regular'' GYN, (Dr. Angelyn Thomas) . She recommended an ultrasound and was open to me trying anything I wanted. I did end up having her surgically remove the fibroid leaving the uterus in tact. She is very professional, compassionate, straightforward, AND conservative as far as keeping body parts! I would encourage you to get a second opinion about the surgery. I know it is all individual, but surgery can be done to remove the fibroids without removing your uterus. We need our parts, and fibroids are NOT cancerous.

Good Luck to you!! Email me if you want to talk about it some more. nadja

Well, I did enjoy the acupunture treatments I received, unfortunately I can't say that I had positive results. They say that acupuncture can help if the fibroid is smaller than an egg. Mine was much larger. I can warn people about putting off surgery. Fibroids can make your life hell. Terry

I'm interested in hearing from women who had Uterine Artery Embolization for uterine fibroids, a relatively newish procedure that involves cutting off blood supply to the fibroids. I've just been diagnosed with large and numerous uterine fibroids which have been causing a lot of irregular bleeding. It seems that they need to be dealt with, and the three options looks like: myomectomy (surgical removal of fibroids only), hysterectomy (wahhh! I do not want to do this, even though at 44 I am reasonably sure I'm done with childbearing) and UAE. Have you had it? Who was your doctor? Confused & Nervous

I'm looking for information from people who have had either a myomectomy or a hysterectomy to remove a large fibroid. I'm trying to help support a friend who needs to make this decision, but I don't feel I have enough (any?) information, not knowing anyone who's "been there". If anyone would be willing to share their experiences, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

I recovered at about the rate the doctor predicted, most of the way in six weeks, the rest over a few months. This wasn't a lot of fun and required time off work and lots of sleep. You can't pick anything up (nor do you want to) for a couple of weeks, and getting out of and into bed is a challenge. (Hint: bring knees to chest, roll over on to your knees and exit the bed feet first; reverse these motions to get in bed.) It's important to have assitance during the first few days at least.

I had one complication; apparently a blood vessel was not sealed off properly, resulting in a puddle of blood under the skin that broke open (blood all over the floor!) shortly after I noticed it. Because the incision opened across a couple of inches, they had to leave the wound open to heal. This takes longer, you can't really bathe, we had to insist on nurse visits since my husband was not up to cleaning the wound daily, etc., otherwise it was more exciting than serious.

What bothers me most is that I have a band of numbness aroung the incision, which I understand is more common than not and which nobody mentioned before the surgery. It took awhile to get used to this in an intimate context. And my stomach is distinctly dimpled (the scar looking like a creek at the bottom of a valley across my formerly flat tummy).

Otherwise I've had no long-term effects. As part of fertility treatment, the surgery was less than useless, but it didn't cause me serious damage. In particular, I've experienced no change in sexuality. Given what I've heard about hysterectomy, all else being equal, your friend might be better off with myomectomy.

I had a myomectomy many years ago for removal of fibroids--which I now believe was unnecessary (my fibroids were small; my physician was eager). The myomectomy is the same level of surgery as a hysterectomy (cutting into the abdomen under general anesthesia, three-day length of stay in the hospital, many weeks needed for recovery)--so it shouldn't be done unless absolutely necessary. There are physicians who believe that mymectomies aren't always clinically indicated because the fibroids often grow back. Of course, any symptoms of pain or infertility may warrant surgical attention, but a second opinion is definately warranted.

A hysterectomy always warrants serious deliberation for obvious reasons. Good luck to your friend. Linda

I finally found a reproductive endriconologist (a type of OB/GYN) who looked at the whole case from the very beginning, found other things that were wrong and causing some of my symptoms, did more tests (a much better hysterosalpingogram) to figure out if the fibroid could be causing problems. I did eventually opt for the surgery because of the fibroid's position. The surgery lasted over an hour and I spent 3 days in the hospital. My recovery sped up as soon as I got out of bed and started walking the halls of the hospital. I took pain killers for the ride home and then was off those too. I was back to work part-time in three weeks. My main complaint is that I still have numbness in my lower stomach. Because the surgery involved cutting through all of the muscle layers of my uterus, my son was delivered in 1998 via c-section.

Basically, I went to three different practices seeking treatment for my fibroid. Two in the same town, and then one an hour and a half away. The two physicians had completely different takes on treatment and further tests. Definitely get a second opinion and if you decide on surgery, make sure you are comfortable with the surgeon's level of experience. Also, even though I was not trying to get pregnant at the time, the Repr. Endo. OB/GYN was a fertility specialist. He was very focused on treatment that would maintain my fertility and keep my organs intact.

I would say that if the fibroids are not painful or are not the likely cause of infertility, leave them alone. Many, many women have fibroids that cause no symptoms or problems whatsoever. My experience with surgical removal was very positive - but this was probably due to a combination of factors. Good luck with your decision.

I had been completely asymptomatic but was having trouble conceiving. As part of my fertility workup, an ultrasound revealed that I had a large fibroid which was attached to the outside of my uterus. I forget the term for these types of fibroids, but I understand that they are the easiest to remove.

I obtained 3 other medical opinions about whether or not to have the fibroids removed and also consulted with a Chinese herbalist. I had been told that Chinese herbs can be an effective method of shrinking the fibroids, but was told by the practitioner that the process could take many, many months. I opted against this method because my clock was ticking and I wanted to get on with the fertility treatments.

After considering all of the opinions, I decided in favor of the fibroid surgery since I was told that there was a significant risk of miscarriage if I were to become pregnant with the fibroids in place. I also considered having laproscopic surgery, but ultimately decided not to pursue it because I learned that the recovery time was not significantly shorter than for abdominal surgery and that laproscopic removal may not be an option if the fibroid was too large, which wouldn't be discovered until the surgery was actually done.

The surgery itself was relatively non-eventful and not painful. I opted to have the surgery done under local anesthesia because I was frightened of general anesthesia. During the surgery I listened to music on my Walkman and was administered Versid (sp?), which put me in a pleasant, half-awake state, and Valium. I felt no pain or pressure during the surgery. I had banked 2 bags of blood with the Alameda county blood bank, but ended up not needing any.

There was no bleeding or significant discomfort, but the major discomfort came from gas pressure in my abdomen after the surgery. Some of the nurses were not knowledgable about how to alleviate the problem. Finally I was told to drink warm fluids (I had been drinking ice water until them) and to put a heating pad on my abdomen, which helped. I think I also took Mylicon. I was in the hospital for 5 days, which seems like a long time, but really isn't when you're knocked out after surgery.

The recovery period for me took a total of 8 weeks, with the first 2 weeks being the most difficult. I was in discomfort, but never in real pain. Modern medicine is very concerned about pain-management, so the doctors and nurses closely monitored by discomfort level and kept offering more drugs. By about 3-4 weeks post-surgery I was able to get around, but tired easily.

In retrospect I am very glad I opted for the surgery. It turned out that the fibroid detected by the ultrasound was larger than indicated by the ultrasound (it was 13 cm). In addition, I had numerous other smaller fibroids that were not seen in the ultrasound, which were removed by the surgery. The only aftereffects I have are a little numbness around the incision line and a large scar, which is at the bikini line.

As a happy coda, I became pregnant the following year and had a perfect pregnancy and delivery. I had a normal vaginal delivery and no complications from the surgery.

Although the prospect of major surgery is very daunting, in my experience the surgery worked out very well for me and was not nearly as bad as I imagined. I hope it's the same for you.