His and Her Health

I was told by my ob/gyn that I had to have a hysterectomy. She changed the story when I brought my husband in with me, said it was entirely my choice, but the obvious recommendation.

I had fibroids.

I did some research and participated in trials for high intensity focused ultrasound at Mayo, I was only in the phase 2 trials so they only did a small portion of the fibroids, but it gave me time to do more research. I chose the process by which they block the arteries with small plastic balls. It worked perfectly.

I'd do either method again, I think.

The question I have is wether the onset of Rheumatoid Arthritis, which occured between the time I had the first treatment and grows continually worse, could have been triggered by the necessity of my body removing the necrotic fibroid tissue in my uterus and causing an autoimmune reaction.

Has there been any discussion of this?

Hi, Kristin,

If you do a search on "fibroid support group" you will find places where there is a lot more expertise on this subject than you'll find here. I'm glad to hear you were proactive in your treatment rather than just accepting the doctor's first recommendation. They can be so quick to just do the easy thing - as if a hysterectomy had no more impact than an appendectomy.

I have fibroids also. I've chosen to let mine be for now and not do any treatment, since mine are not causing me pain. But I did join an online support group for awhile and there was more information, freely exchanged than I would ever have gotten from a single source.

Good luck!

You raise an interesting point, Kristinn. The technology is too recent to have this type of long term information on. You might benefit from discussing the issue with your rheumatologist and the manufacturers of the technique who might know more. Thanks for post!

Karen,
the manufacturer of the treatment in trial did not want to hear about it, the physician who did the treatment did not want to hear about it and had no interest in it, despite my later finding that there had been a rather sizable suit involved in the treatment (injecting the plastic beads into the arteries) and the rheumatologists were not the least bit interested in hearing about it.

Frankly, in my opinion the medical community tends to view any attempt at a patient exploring etiology as a waste of time. They get a big F from me on this one.

Eva,
Thanks for the suggestion. I too would have ignored the situation but the bleeding was too heavy, I got pretty seriously anemic. The ob/gyn who helped me find alternatives asked how I managed to crawl in there! My iron levels were really low! The difference in energy and my clothing fit is amazing now... so much improved.