Recovery

Do you know what surgery you have been advised to have to remove the fibroids?

Different surgeries/procedures have different recovery periods and outcomes for future pregnancy.

The fitter you are before surgery, the quicker your recovery.

For open myomectomy surgery, which is what I had to remove fibroids the average recovery is 6 weeks. Its been 5 weeks since my surgery and I feel great, I started feeling stronger in week 3. I attended the gym 3 or 4 times a week prior to surgery, and had a good diet, regular walks and supplements and positive attitude.  

I was advised to swim 2 weeks after surgery and do walking by my surgeon to build strength,  I opted for hydrotheraphy instead of swimming and maintained the physio exercises that I was given in hospital plus walking. I will go back to the gym 6 weeks  after sugery and start with light exercises on cross trainer and mat exercises and gradaully increase my gym exercies.

I think its possible for you to be fit enough for your wedding if your prepare. 

You will need to speak to your surgeon about how soon you can try for pregnancy as it can vary from 3 months or in my case 6 months as 32 fibroids were removed.

Most surgeons state 6 weeks for sex or use of tampons.

After surgery you're likely to have swelling and pain and and will be given painkillers to manage pain. I was on painkillers for 2 weeks, even though I did not feel that much pain, I was told to maintian this as it helps with inflamation and stops a build up of pain.  You'll also find you can only walk short distances for the first week and then build up  gradually. I started wtih 10 minute daily walks and can now walk 1.5 hours without problems. You'll likely to have fatiigue in the first 2 weeks so regular daytime naps are necessary. Discharge is also likely for a number of weeks, I had this for about 3 weeks, its part of healing process. Swelling of the tummy can last up to 6 weeks, I was told swelling would go down in 4 weeks but still have swelling around my tummy.  No heavy lifting for 6 weeks, I started carryng a few items of shopping from 4 weeks onwards but in a bag at chest level, which looks strange but is the best way to carry small items without putting pressure on the abdomen. I had food deliveries but prefer to buy my own meat and fish personally as I only eat organic. Your might find your posture is affected after surgery but that gets better with time and exercise.

Your surgeon and physio will give you advice on recovery but moderate exercise, a good diet with quality protein, supplements and rest and help and support with housework is good to have. I found telephone calls and visitors hard to deal with in the first week as I felt fatigued and just wanted to rest.

Your surgeon will advice you about the first period after surgery, mine was heavy and lots of cramp pain. Apparently the the first couple of periods after surgery can be heavy and painful but then are supposed to get better.

Best to keep focussed and be positive about a great outcome as there are lots of horror stories on internet about myomectomy surgery that can create anxiety.

Personally mine went much better than I expected, I felt the pain was managed very well  with painkillers, I started feeling stronger on a daily basis and I believe preparation and right attitude helped. 

All the best with your surgery and wedding.

My daughter who is 20, had surgery just overc3 weeks ago. Young fit healthy woman. She is recovering well but I would say 6 full weeks is required before she enters the rehab stage. I think this is a difficult time as she feels well but really needs to rein herself in from doing too much. E.g. She was cooking for herself this week and started to bleed a little and have slight pains. As long as you have a quiet wedding , don't expect to dance too much and let everyone do EVERYTHING. You will perhaps be ok to have a gentle celebration. Tbh the recovery is phenomenal but you MUST take it easy and rest completely. I wish you well and hope you have a successful experience. I am hoping that my daughter can be spared any more horrible effects of having fibroids and look forward to her full recovery from the myo. Good luck.

This blog site is riddled with women who have undergone very invasive, very problematic experiences, often causing women to not be able to reproduce. I would do the following ASAP, because you can try this and if it works, skip the surgery, and I believe if it doesn't you can still go through with surgery. First, you must realize you ObGyn IS NOT God when it comes to treatment options. There can be many options not offered by ObGyns they may not tell you about or may not approve. UFE is a classic example. Tens of thousands of women have had great success with non-invasive UFE. ObGyns do not perform UFE. Asking them about it is like asking your ortho about it, they both do body work, but neither is an expert. The type of Doctor you are looking for is an Interventional Radiologist (IR). These men and women are the "Navy Seal" teams within hospitals and clinics that do all kinds of incredible work (one of them saved my wife's life when she caught a septic infection caused by an ObGyn). Search "UFE". I just did it and really good information came up. If your web browser does not bring up specific information for your location, then type UFE and a major city near you. ALL major cities have good/very good IR's, some of which perform UFE. You should look for one who has done 100+ UFE procedures. You should also look online to understand the procedure. It is really element compared to alternatives. You may have a very healthy lifestyle very quickly with few if any side effects. If you can't find one then type in UFE Chicago and you will, there are many good ones here. It should be a day trip. Or they can refer you to the best in your area. I can give you exact names but I think this blog site restricts that which in some respects is a shame.

FYI, I am a man, and had pretty severe prostate problems. I went to the mans equivalent of an ObGyn, Urologists. I had 2 really bad experiences, and I lived in a very affluent area where I know top doctors who can refer me to other top doctors. I found a different type of procedure by doing my own homework and this web site helped me to do that. My last procedure worked great. Before I did that I asked 2 other doctors, Urologists, what they thought about the procedure, and they both tried to discredit it. Why? Because they don't do it, so they really do not know the true truth about it, AND they don't make any money since they do not offer it (do you still buy the first care you ever bought? No, you learned there are other better options).

Good luck!!

Thanks a lot for chiming in Patricia. As the lone man on this blog forum I feel women don't take it seriously, they just keep going back to ObGyn, keeping believing they must be the right and only option. It is kinda like an abuse relationship but you don't even know any better because you don't realize there are other options offered by other doctors your ObGyn has ZERO interest telling you about. So thank you Patricia for spreading the word. I know for fact there are very good IR's in all or most major cities hospitals in the US. A guy I know I trust is Steve Smith in Chicago. He just saved a 106 year old lady who had no chance of surviving any surgical procedure. If you don't want to come to Chicago he can probably provide names of IR's he trusts in other major cities. I think if you search Dr Steven Smith UFE Chicago he will come up and probably some papers on UFE too. Good luck girls, and have a good weekend!

Hi Charmaine,

I had an open myomectomy 3 years ago and it took me 6 weeks to fully recover, and I remember even going skiing 8 weeks post-op. Based on that I think you should be totally fine on your wedding day BUT not necessarily during the weeks coming up to it. The recovery can be difficult and it's really important that you take it easy and rest if you want a optimal and speedy recovery. So make sure you have lots of help with wedding planning as you should not be running around with errands during your recovery.

As for how soon you can start trying, I believe it depends on the number of fibroids, how invasive the surgery will be, and how well your recovery goes, so you should check with your doctor.

Good luck!

Hiya, 

i had surgery to remove my womb, cervix and ovaries as everything had been damaged by the fibroids. I went back to work after 6 weeks, but still had to be very careful with anything I did. I would say it was nearer 12 weeks before I felt myself and was able to function normally with general activities like house work. I felt better in myself because I wasn't in pain from the fibroids, the pain from the operation eased off very quickly, it was just allowing time to heal, if you don't you can end up causing damage.

As others have said, it depends what operation you are having.

Good luck! X