Persistent Discharge but no pain!

Hi All,

Your posts are so helpful and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart as I feel so alone. I really do not have a support system and since what you describe with both yellow & bloody discharge is what is happening to me, I am wondering if the situation resolved for you all. Just to give you some background, I am 34 and was diagnosed with 3 fibroids, dominant one being 11cm and in the posterior uterine wall (very weird position) plus 2 very small ones on the right (nobody could even tell me if they are considered submucosal or what, not even the MRI report - you guys are correct that the medical profession is so limited in its way of handling this and their knowledge is laughable.)

A recap of my situation:

UFE surgery on Aug 21, 2018 - No discharge for the first 2 weeks after the procedure - and very little pain -

The 3rd week after procedure I had gone back to work and discharge started light - sometimes brown and others yellow, NOT persistent and only every few days - light pantyliners were sufficient and I never used tampons since they told me I should avoid any risk of introducing bacteria.

Since Dec 4, 2018 to present (Dec 21, 2018), I am having yellow foul-smelling discharge NON STOP / every single day and it is heavy in flow but fluid/watery, not very thick. This makes me think my cervix is not wide enough to allow the fibroid(s) to pass through it so only the uterine wall is shedding (but this is an assumption which is why I need medical MRI confirmation to see if the big fibroid looks like it needs to expel vaginally.)

I immediately contacted the radiologist who performed UFE and they dismissed me saying "they are not gynecologists" and I should go to my gynecologist who can perform a pelvic exam. Problem is - gyno's know nothing about radiology and vice versa! (In my mind also thinking: you radiologist were quick to take my money and insurance money but now do not want any of the subsequent complication responsibilities from the procedure you performed!)

The gynecologist said "it does not look like BP (Bacterial Vaginosis,) and I do not know if it is a degenerating fibroid" Overall, she was unable to properly diagnose this. She, along with many other gynecologists I have met, have ALWAYS been much more set on myomectamy instead of UFE so she was quick to suggest I go to a surgeon/oncologist who would just put a knife to the problem and cut the fibroids out, and after everything I have gone through with UFE I truly do not want any invasive procedure if fibroids are dead I just want them to slide out!!!!

I have had regular periods every month since the procedure - but since the constant discharge started, I had a really heavy and much more "fluid" period, heavier in terms of the amount of blood, but the consistency of bloos was literally like water - typically, my period blood is thicker but this time it is like a fluid, both the discharge fluid and the blood are extremely "watery" - was the discharge and blood always thicker for you? I had it thicker a week ago and now it is super fluid. Please let me know how things ended up for you!)

I never had children and also read that women who previously had children pass dead fibroids much more easily because the cervix might open easier, whereas those who never gave birth might need to be under anesthesia and the doc helps the fibroids out by having a hysteroscopic resection or alternatively a D&C, are either of these significant surgery? I do not want to go through anything else if I do not have to! I do not feel pain AT ALL so this is all very confusing to me, it is a painless heavy blood/discharge flow that impacts my every day, I have to run to the bathroom every 30 min to change pads and avoid staining office and board room chairs! It literally is impossible to keep going on like this. I keep asking for an MRI but the radiology dept where I got UFE keeps saying my situation is "not an emergency" and I am "likely expelling degenerating fibroid" and they do not want me to do the MRI until March 2019, because it takes that long to see peak shrinkage, although I am honestly not even concerned with the size of dominant fibroid still being large, I know it is big and I understand it will likely will not shrink from UFE; and if I am lucky it will stop growing (that was the goal all along), but the purpose of my request for MRI is to determine the cause of this persistent discharge and if at this point it needs further intervention (I HOPE NOT) and also to confirm that the fibroid is in fact no longer receiving blood supply because if it is, then the UFE was unsuccessful.

The gyno observed that the discharge did not look like BV (Bacterial Vaginosis,) but just to be sure prescribed a cream which is supposed to kill any bacteria - this is however not an antibiotic but simply a cream for use within the cervix for 7 days. Honestly I feel like doctors could not care less about these discharge issues and I am scared of using this random cream because of what I read here where it makes the discharge worse, and before UFE I was told to literally avoid inserting ANYTHING for risk of bacteria and infection - they even told me to avoid taking a BATH because of this! And now I am supposed to stick a tube up my cervix because of this misdiagnosis? I have literally never in my life had discharge like this so the chances of it being BV are seriously slim to none. Plus other women reported the cream did not stop the discharge.

I feel very dismissed, I ask for help and nobody knows what to do and it is truly frightening. The fact that I am not in any pain, but just feel exhausted - seems to be the reason why doctors do not care what is happening to me.

Do I just have to live with chronic discharge and heavy periods. By the way, for my entire life before UFE, I have never had a period this heavy - my fibroid symptoms used to be bulk issues, pressure on bladder - but my periods were truly brief (4 days) and non painful.

Not to mention the financial burden of buying such a high amount of pads, liners, wipes, heavy period items, absorbents, none of which are covered by insurance.

I also read that after UFE, discharge could be chronic due to a superficial cavity within the infarcted fibroid tumor that communicates with the endometrial cavity through a hole in the endometrium. This situation is indicated by a specific appearance on TII sagittal magnetic resonance images (again why the MRI is needed but nobody will have me do it). Hysteroscopic resection of the necrotic fibroid tumor was usually curative with other women who had this, but I really do not want to go through anything else, if not absolutely necessary.

I wish someone could just tell me - deal with this for 1-2 months and you should be fine after that! How long did discharge last and does it ALWAYS end with fibroid expulsion? In my case discharge is so watery it makes me think I will not expel anything solid, but I am still curious about you guys - is the expulsion of a fibroid painful? I have experienced a miscarriage and that was atrociously painful. But nobody will tell me if this is what is to be expected!

Please let me know how you are! Lots of hugs - Bella

0 likes, 26 replies