Post Fibroid Embolisation

Hello there,

I had my procedure 10 months ago and I feel great. I have my life back. I am a sociable person but due to pain if standing too long, heavy periods and fatigue, I had started to limit my outings, wouldn't stay long etc. And I would take days to recover from a late night. I am now able to go out with friends, attend concerts, parties etc with no adverse effects. The pressure symptoms I had were gone immediately after the procedure and I couldn't feel the hard lump protruding from my abdomen by the time I got back to the ward. I went from using 4 pads every 2 hours to using 3 or 4 pads a day. I no longer need to get up 2 times in the middle of the night to urinate. My anemia was gone by the 8 week mark and my fatigue was drastically improved by 3 weeks. I lost about ten pounds in the first few weeks.

So yes, I highly recommend it. I would do this procedure again if I needed to, but the pain after the procedure is intense, so I can't reassure you on that point. I felt no pain or discomfort during the procedure but 30-60 minutes after the procedure it started and I used the pain pump given to me. The intense pain went on for 18 hours. I had to lay flat for hours which didn't help as all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and cradle my stomach. I was still sore for 2-3 days but managed pain with naproxen only. I stopped using pain medication after the first week but was very weak for 2 weeks. I slowly regained my energy but it took a few months

I had a complete blood analysis at 8-10 weeks and everything was back to normal (iron, sugar, thyroid etc)

I was very anxious and nervous before my procedure but the fibroids had limited my quality of life so much, I was eager to experience the new lease on life that so many others had also experienced and I am so glad I did. I don't feel like a 70/80 year old anymore. Hav

I have my life back.

Hope this helps you have something to look forward to.

Hi I did my on 14/4/16 the begging was bad with lot of pain , them i felt better but a Day before my periods i have terribles pains.

Up till now i'm still having pains.

It scared a litle bit.

I don't know what to do.

The blood have reduce but the pains are terrible.

I could not sleep tonight untill i take ibuprofen.

Hi Angel,

good of to hear your experience. Am like 2 months post ops now. Still bled heavy in the first month after the ufe but last was not as heavy. Just want to know, did you shed any fibroid? Did you see any come out of you?

I did not bleed heavy, my period is less than before ,but this is my 3 period and the blood was light in color almost rose, Not heavy but with lots of pain.not shed fibroids.

Only pains and pains but when i take naproxen it calm down

Thank you

I appreciate your replies. Well for now I'll get ready for pain and nausea and hope all goes well.

Hi Ruth,

I had a lot of pain and heavy clots during my period before the procedure. After the procedure I had a period straight away, I used a heating pad to help with the pain and passed a few clots and tissue. In subsequent periods I don't need heating pad anymore but I do pass a small amount of clots/tissue. Sometimes it is light in colour so not sure if it's the fibroid shedding or not.

Hi Pearl... Remember that most of the people posting here are those with concerns or issues. People who have little or no issues are not likely looking for message boards for support.

The pain is significant but normally ends after a few days or a week. But typical recovery is 2 weeks versus 6 for a hysterectomy. There is a reason for that. I'm posting past your op date so I hope all went well.

Hi Deanna

Everything went well. Pain was unbearable within the 1st 48 hours but now I've even stopped taking heavy pain medication. Just on ibuprofen now. Still struggling with poop 4 days later though. Had milk of magnesia and very hard tiny poop came out twice today.

Great to read this success story as I do blame my big fibroid for making me feel litke a pensioner. How big was/were yours?

Mine was 17cm and 13cm in diameter. Whatever that means I'm glad they could get to it without hysterectomy. It's not all peachy for me cuz I'm kinda dizzy and out of breath, we will see as the months go by.

MY biggest one was the size of apple and growing outside amd pressing on my bladder, the rest were smaller golf ball and grape size.

Oh ok. I have only one 12x13cm the size of a Melon. I have been told a 50% chance of success due to thiner arteries feeding it. I just wondered if there was a difference depending on size. As I know with certain prodedures, they don't like to do it over 10 cm

Wow that's a big one too, mine is 12x13 Esmya & Zoladex didn't work on shrinking. So UFE is the next step. I just wondered if it was possible for really large fibroids like ours. I had heard that it was more effective for a few smaller ones. Regarding yours & mine we've only one massive one, I was told I had a 50% change of it maybe reducing by half, but no guarantees. I'm sorry to hear you are feeling rough & hope it improves quickly (& is not because you have one big one rather than multiple smaller ones) If you are out of breath, I'd suggest you should keep a close eye on things & maybe get your Dr to check you saturation rates & lungs to be sure you are ok & free from clots. Also a blood count to see re iron in case thats causing dizzyness. All the best. Keep posting let us know how you are doing x

Hi Pearl, I struggled with pooping too. I had been before also because my fibroids were creating a blockage. But the pain meds including ibuprofen cause constipation. So drink lots and lots of water. And fiber supplements like Metamucil. But be careful... Too much of it without lots of water causes the opposite effect.