Beaudine (34) has a fibroid near her uterus

“A year ago I had some spotting (small breakthrough bleedings when not menstruating, red.) in the second half of my cycle. I already had my copper IUD for almost 5 years and thought it had something to do with that. I made an appointment at the gynecologist for an echo and honestly didn’t think much of it. Until the moment I was laying on the chair at the gynecologist and heard that she saw a myoma, better known as a fibroid, near my uterus. I was so shocked. What is that? It isn’t cancer, is it? Can I still have children? So many questions were racing through my brain.”

“Thankfully she put my mind at ease and explained that it was uninhibited cell growth, causing a benign ball to form in the muscle layer of the uterus.” It can form in the uterine cavity, the inner- or outer uterine muscle wall or underneath the lining of the uterus. It is not known how they come to exist. We do know that myomas are dependent on the female hormone estrogen to grow. Oftentimes they are accidentally discovered and you aren’t bothered by them otherwise."

‘It’s hanging on the outside of my uterus like a mickey mouse ear’

“The gynecologist drew my myoma on a piece of paper to show me where it was located. In her own words: it’s hanging on the outside of my uterus like a mickey mouse ear, near my right fallopian tube and pressing on my bladder. It was a large myoma with a diameter of 6.5 centimeters. I went home with about 100.000 questions and felt very insecure. At home I did a deep dive on the internet to read everything that I could find. That’s how I learned that I’m relatively young to get a fibroid; most women with this condition are between the ages of 35 and 45 years old. On the other hand, I was 11 when I got my first period so perhaps that has something to do with it.”

“I immediately changed my lifestyle and from that moment on I only ate biological produce, for so far I hadn’t done that yet. It was a little obsessive when I look back at it, but it did make me feel better. After 2 months I had my next appointment at the gynecologist’s and got dealt a massive blow. The myoma was now 8.5 centimeters in diameter and had grown 2 centimeters in a very short amount of time (normally a fibroid grows about 1 centimeter per year, red.). Something equally disturbing was that the doctor only saw 1 fibroid, whilst usually multiple grow at the same time. As a result, it could not be ruled out that it wasn’t a malignant tumor. All I felt was panic, I still want to have children and I need my uterus for that!”

“After some blood work and an MRI, they ‘thankfully’ found another very tiny myoma, right next to the big myoma and they could say with certainty that they were benign. The exact measurement of the MRI showed that the myoma had a diameter of 9.5 cm. But where would this end? We decided to not do anything yet until they have grown to be 12 centimeters in diameter, and only then we will start to think about surgically removing the myoma. The standard advice is to let the myoma be unless it starts to cause pain.”

“Personally it doesn’t bother me at all and surgery brings risks with it: risk on adhesions, scar tissue, and thinning of the uterine wall can cause complications during pregnancy and delivery. At the same time, I’ve heard many stories from women who had surgery and successfully got pregnant after, so it doesn’t have to go wrong. There are so many stories of women who gave birth to three kids whilst having myomas.”

‘Clearly visible bump’

“It’s unclear how I got this myoma and that does bother me. It’s clear that the uninhibited cell growth is created under influence of the female hormone estrogen, which is produced in the fallopian tubes. After the menopause the fallopian tubes produce less estrogen, and so the myomas start to shrink. Another theory is that the copper IUD caused an inflammatory reaction in my uterus. I had the IUD removed immediately after that. I also try to limit my alcohol intake, because that substantially increases the estrogen levels in my blood. Lastly, I live as healthy as possible and I take a couple of supplements based on the advice of an orthomolecular gynecologist. Does that help? It’s not scientifically proven. My regular gynecologist thinks that it’s useless and that I could go out for dinner from the money I spend on the supplements. But it makes me feel good. I don’t want to leave my health to coincidence; I want to take control and have the feeling that I am keeping my body as healthy as I possibly can.”

“I lost my faith in my body, but slowly I am regaining it and finding it again. The myoma has currently stabilized at 9.5 centimeters diameter for the past six months. It’s on the outside of my uterus, which is a favorable spot because it doesn’t change the shape of my uterus. So that’s nice. I have no pain, no problems with sex and I don’t have a really heavy menstruation. What I do notice? Because the fibroid pushes on my bladder, I have to go to the bathroom a lot. And when I’m laying on my back, you can see a clearly visible bump in my belly and because of the fibroid my belly is a bit bigger. Obviously, I still worry sometimes. What if this disrupts my future pregnancy? Even though everything goes well 9 out of 10 times, the human brain is just focused on fear. I often think about what could go wrong when there really is no need for that. But imagine, I’m 16 weeks pregnant and suddenly my baby can’t grow any further because there isn’t any space. Surgery won’t be a possibility in that scenario. This way, the open-mindedness has left an eventual pregnancy and that saddens me. On the other hand: women can be pregnant with triplets, so my myoma should be able to join them right?”