Liver adenoma, 5 cm, from birth control
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi all,
I have a mass on my liver that is 5cm and consistent with an adenoma caused by oral contraceptives. I saw a surgeon to talk about doing a laparoscopic liver biopsy, where they make an incision and directly biopsy the mass with a needle. The second option is to wait until December for another MRI to see if its growing. It's important that I stay on the continuous birth control (with no periods) because my doctor thinks I may have endometriosis, and getting a period would make me vulnerable to having the endometriosis grow. I'm really freaked out and confused about what to do. The surgeon is leaving the decision up to me on what to do. I worry about this mass getting bigger. And I sometimes have pain in the center (between my ribs and above my stomach) as well as other abdominal issues. I am not sure if its related to the adenoma or not.
So I guess I have a few questions.
I really don't want to get the biopsy because I heard that its possible the adenoma can rupture, does anyone know if this is true?
Have any of you had an adenoma? I would like to hear your experiences.
Has anyone who has an adenoma ever have gastro pain or any other symptoms?
Does anyone know if there are any types of birth control that wouldn't feed this mass and make it bigger?
Sorry if this sounds like a lot. I tried finding out information about adenomas but they seem rare and I've had no luck.
Thanks!
0 likes, 2 replies
michelle59206 Kj2012
Posted
Hi there,
My name is Michelle and I really hope that I can bring some peace to you through my story. It is terrifying having a hepatic adenoma. Your mind is constantly full of scary and crazy thoughts. I promise you that it will be okay.
I had a liver adenoma pretty much the same size as yours, removed 6 months ago. It was caused by the BCP (birth control pill). Many studies have been done that conclude that the BCP does indeed cause the development of hepatic adenomas and helps them to grow. My surgeon instructed me to never ever take BCPs again nor am I allowed any hormonal form of contraceptive such as the Mirena IUD. You need to get off the pill ASAP. An adenoma is very dangerous the larger it gets. Once it exceeds 5cm the chances of rupture increases.
I was lucky enough to have symptoms, how did you discover yours?
Yes, I had pain where you say yours is. Mine was chronic, more on the right side that extended to my right shoulder blade. I also had awful nausea and my stool changed to a lighter chalky colour. Turned out the adenoma was strangling the gall bladder and partially obstructing the duodenum (end of the stomach) so food could not be emptied from my stomach properly. It took me 3 tries to find a surgeon to operate as mine was in a dangerous area. I am so glad I did!
My surgeon also left the decision with me. Choosing to rid myself of a 'ticking time bomb' that caused me so much pain every day, was the best thing I ever did.
Please let me know if you want to get in touch as I am more than happy to discuss the operation and recovery which is really not as bad as you may have read online. That is why I am hoping I can ease your mind. There is quite a bit of advice I can give on how to handle your anxiety pre-op, and to get through the recovery with a smile. There was so much I didn't know that I wish someone had told me. Having said that, I came out the other side of this 100% whole and even more appreciative of life than before.
Warm regards
Michelle
bobbi70633 Kj2012
Posted
Hi,
Yes, Mine was the 5cm and it had ruptured. I was bleeding out and never had symptoms until that night and it felt like a heart attack for me (my body is weird, long story). My liver was seen through the chest xray and immediately was sent to Kaiser San Francisco, once I got that had to go into a procedure to have the bleeding stopped. which was blood vessel that ruptured in the tumor (9days) in the hospital and was told under no circumstances that I was to have any sort of hormones (BC pills, etc and or menopausal medicines),then was sent home to recover, major surgery in a couple months. During the recovery of the first surgery I was sweating daily profusely and at my 2 week post op the tumor was dying inside and that is why i was sweating (infection). 9 days later went in and had my whole R lobe removed with the gall bladder since it connected to the R lobe (9days) in the hospital sent home to recover. At my 2 wk post op was told oh yea by the way you have 2 more adenomas on the L lobe of the liver (shocked he didnt tell me before) and basically they are only 2 cm in length and ill see you back when they get 5cm (very angry at this time). Was told by my work (I work at a hospital) to go see a GI specialist and see what I should do now that i have 2 more with the liver I had left. GI specialist did another MRI and confirmed that they were there and and was confused why the surgeon told me he would see me back to remove the 2 since that was not an option, it would be a liver transplant, not enough liver left. This was 2011 and now I do MRI's every yr to check and the last time I had mine they have shrunk. I was having problems with my periods after. I did an ablation to help the endometriosis and also burnt my tubes so I could not have the possibility of getting prego since they make the tumors grow also (luckily I was done having kids). All that did not help with the bleeding, I was clotting all the time and the liver could not process my periods anymore so then just decided to have a hysterectomy and since my eggs were good she left them in so I would not go to menopause stage which you have to go through cold turkey since the meds have hormones in them which would make my tumors grow more. Never heard of this at all and have done so much research on it. I hope this helps.
The scar is ugly was not able to do laparoscopic surgery since the tumor ruptured.
Any questions feel free to ask.
Bobbi Jo