After my Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE)

I decided to post my experience in case anyone is interested. I read a lot of posts prior to my procedure, everything from medical perspective s to personal stories. I'm now exactly 14 days post-UAE and feel so much better than days prior.

48 hours before my procedure, they did some blood work to test my hormone levels, my blood clotting ability, and a few other things. On the day of, I arrived 90 minutes before. The radiologist who performed my UAE did an ultrasound on my wrist to see if my artery was large enough for the catheter to be inserted. It wasn't so he applied a topical cream to expand it.

I entered the surgical room and the nurses introduced themselves. I already had an IV in my arm. When I got in there, they injected the medicine which put me to sleep and the next thing I knew, they were waking me up. I was pretty drugged up and barely remember getting into the car. (My husband was driving.) That night and the next morning I threw up a few times from the anesthesia. I was prescribed Norco, which I took every 6 hours once I got home, 800mg ibuprofen which I took every 3 hours, a pill for nauseousness and took 2 times a day, and a stool softener 2 times a day.

The next 5 days were extremely painful. I was having unbearable contractions and was in tears. On day 3 I called my doctor because the pain was so bad. She advised me to increase the Norco to 8 times a day. It helped. On day 7 I decided to cut the Norcos in half and dealt with the pain because I was afraid of becoming addicted. I hurt but it was manageable. I still had no appetite so I basically ate toast, crackers, strawberries, and drank tons of water. Once I decreased the Nirco intake I finally pooped.

On day 11 I had a visit with my doctor. By now I am off all meds and slowly eating mire. My wrist was extremely tender and very bruised. In my head I thought I'd be able to return to work but being that I work in an office, she still excused me. I was told to conrinue to limit the use of tgat wrist until the brusing eased up.

Today is day 14 and my wrist is still tender. The bruise has faded and now with a light green tint. I cramp from time to time and get tired much sooner than normal. I know my strength is still building up. Sometimes I feel a sharp pain in my abdomen.

2 days after the procedure I started to spot. I used pantyliners and the spotting lasted abiut 4 days. I haven't had any other bleeding.

I have been resting a lot. Since day 2 I have been going on flat easy walks, increasing distances. As soon as I got off the drugs, I started taking arnica and tumeric pills as both help with inflammation. I'm soing castor oil packs 3 times a week too. Today I went to acupuncture. I'm told I can't have sex for 2 weeks but we've decided to wait 1 more week b we ing that I'm still with random sharp pain and cramping. I can't exercise vigorously for 2 months. (This morning I tried to jaywalk across the street with a slow jog, not a good idea - ouch!) I haven't eaten any meat or any dairy. I have been eating a lot of sweet potatoes and lots of green leaf veggies.

My background is I'm 46 y/o. I've had fibroids since age 30 but with no symptoms. I didn't have heavy or lengthy periods. I started feeling "pressure" and pain in my back & abdomen in January. An ultrasound showed 1 fibroid was the size of a grapefruit, 3 plum sized, and several grape and pea sized, much larger than previous ultrasouns. I was told over the next 2-6 months they should shrink. I will have a follow-up ultrasound at month 4, post-procedure.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'll post an update in a few days. I return back to work in 3 more days.

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