relic_11 - All my doctor has said so far is that we’ll try to fix it first with medicine, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll consider surgery. I’m aware that just the fibroids can be removed, but even that not only carries the complications of surgery, but can cause scarring which will make it harder for me to have children. Since I’m 38, these are important considerations.
Righty-o! Just had to get on the soap box for a bit. My dear Momma would never forgive me if I didn’t! 
No problem, I have my own soapboxes.
BTW, I’m trying to come up with an award for Simetra and his thread. What’s the opposite of serendipity?
Have to get in on this too…
From age 13 until about 22, I had cramps just as horrible as anyone here has described, so I’ll spare the details. For the first two years, I couldn’t get anyone, including my mom, to take me seriously. Mom said, “Oh, it’s just your bod gettin’ itself in shape!” Well, you’re never home, mommie dearest; you don’t know what I really go through! Worst experience was in 8th grade.
1st hour, history. Fainted at my desk. Escorted to the nurse’s office.
2nd hour. No, I’m not ready to go back to class. I should go home, you say? Well, my mom’s at work. Can I call my dad? Well, he’s out of state. No, I guess we can’t call him; you’re funny, ma’am. I should have had my mom write a note? I must be delirious. Wa…ah…ah…BLAUGGGHHHH.
I don’t want to go back to class! No, I don’t think I’m better just because I threw up! No…no…
3rd hour, home ec. Yes, I’d like some tea, thank you. Oh, I can stretch out on these chairs? That helps…a bit. Oh, no, the tea’s making a round trip. Oh dear. Yes, back to the nurse’s office.
Locked door. Pound pound pound…no answer. No, you go on back to class; I’ll be in the girl’s room. My face is green, you say? No, I can’t see in the mirror; it’s a blur. Jeans down, small of my back against the tile? I’ll try anything. Ah…cool relief. Not good, but slightly less bad.
Female teacher walks in. Cramps, ma’am. No, this isn’t an excuse to cut class. But I wouldn’t have to be in here if the nurse would take me seriously. You don’t know what you can do? Funny, cause I don’t either!
Fourth hour, social studies. Male teacher takes one look at me and personally walks me down to the nurse. I overhear the conversation: “I know you can’t give her a pill, but you can call 911…Well, I have four sisters, two daughters and one wife, and I’ve never seen anything like this, ever…Well, maybe it’s not Time of the Month; maybe it’s her appendix!..Well, get her mother’s number!”
Fifth hour, mom shows up. By a stroke of luck, my third upheaval took place in the parking lot, not in the car. ER gives me a horse choker of ibuprofen (a new thing at the time); I go home and sleep it off.
Funny thing, my mom still didn’t think this was worth making “a big deal”. (She also didn’t know that I’d been self-medicating with schnapps and so forth. Didn’t drink any other time, just for this.) When I was 16, I finally demanded to see a gyn, and a cocktail of painkillers and muscle relaxants was prescribed. The whole thing tapered off eventually.
I don’t remember when this thread came around last time, but my situation has changed slightly.
The prescription my doc put me on is BC pills. Excuse me, but I’ve been on at least six different variations of the pill trying to correct this problem. It freakin’ started when I was on the pill, 'k? Oh well, I’ll do this for three months and have the sonogram again to show the fibroids are still there, and go through myomectomy.
This week however, I was reading through Reuters health news and found out about a newer, different procedure called uterine fibroid embolization. This procedure involves placing microscopic pellets in the blood supply to the fibroid reducing the blood supply and shrinking the fibroids. It has a 90% success rate and doesn’t require general anesthesia and doesn’t scar.
Here’s the tricky part. It’s done by a radiologist, not a gynecologist. I asked my gyne what she thought of this procedure and she said it wouldn’t work for me. Do I trust a doctor when she recommends against a procedure that will take money out of her organization’s pocket? I don’t.
I have been trying to contact a radiologist this week about this and finally contacted one today. He was still recommending against it 
because there is a theoretical chance that it will reduce my ability to have children. (OTOH, fibroids are known to reduce fertility) Note that this is not the reason my gyne gave. He did give me the name of a gynecologist he knows, so I am going to this person for a formal second opinion.
Ladies if you have heavy periods, make sure you are checked for endometriosis, hypo-thyroidism and fibroids. It isn’t just something we have to live with.
First off…it’s good ro know I’m not the only one!
Every female in my family has endrometiosis (sp?)-a lovely condition where the tissue you normally pass during your cycle grows on the outside of your uterus and on other internal organs (bladder,intestines,etc).
I have an HMO and when I told them how bad my cramps were-curl up in a fetal position and pray for death-and how heavy my flow was,their advice? They wrote me a prescription for Vicodin.
So I’m no longer in pain but I find out I can not pee. Seriously. I go to the ER after about 9 hours of not peeing-and trust me at that point I was sure my bladder was going to pop-but I COULD NOT PEE.
I have an ultrasound and they discover that the endrometriosis has choked the opening of my bladder. I got to have surgery that very night and they removed via laser all of the tissue.
Don’t know what I love more…HMOs or my period.
Ahhhhhh, sisters… It feels like I have suddenly walked into a room full of knowledge and understanding. 
I too am plagued with periods from heck. I say heck becasue my cramps aren’t that bad, but I do gush like a water fountain. Until I was eighteen I thought ALL women bled like this. I soak thru those goddawful diaper pads in no time. Thing is, I don’t know when my period is coming, I’m not regular, and there are no precursory symptoms. I get cramps DURING my period, and major mood swings. MY mother told me this was impossible becasue SHE always got cramps BEFORE her period so I should just quit my whining.
Agggggghhhhhhhhhh.
The most mortifying experience I had with my period was in highschool. I was in orchestra and the girls uniform consisted of a tuxedo shirt and a black wraparound nylon skirt, very very thin black nylon skirt. I am midway thru piece when I feel that ominus gush. I pray to all that is holy or unholy that the pad I was wearing would hold. We keep going. I have to get up and stand to play cadenzas in our next piece. I walk out to the front and I can feel that it has soaked thru my pad, panties, nylons, AND the back of my skirt. It was black, yes, but it was sticking WET to my rear. I finish playing knowing that everyone in the orchestra has seen the enormus stain on my butt, but now they expect me to bow to the orchestra and the conductor. If I don’t it is considered a sign of great disrespect. I turn reluctantly to the side and bow to the conductor, as I catch the eye of the concertmasters face, as she winces in horror. Luckily, only about a hundred people noticed.
Though they didn’t see the worst part, as we were walking off the stage I felt my shoe squish. Yep, you ladies know it, the blood had ran down to my shoe. I thank the goddess (because it would only be she that would be THAT merciful ) that my skirt was extra long.
The most useless thing I have seen on the women article front has been those new thong panty pads. Would those work for ANY women here?
Aqua
Thong panty pads?
Like trying to dam the Mississippi with a roll of paper towels.