Re: Jade Evo E54 03 Over Flooding Toilet Pooping
Gifford Brickley
I was once told that part of my job, as an admin was to empty the sanitary bin in the ladies toilets, I flatly refused and the boss pushed back insisting it was part of my job. I threatened to quit over it and the boss gave in and got the cleaners to do it instead.
After experiencing my own problems with heavy periods, fibroids and nhs lack of help and support over the years, I think we all should get together and sue the nhs for neglect of duty and care and generally forcing us women to live with unbearable and unreasonable symptoms and conditions. If these doctors and consultants had to live and work with the heavy periods and illness we do, they would not be able to do their jobs! Do they realise it is impossible to go to work when you have to visit a toilet every 20 mins of the day? The only job we could do is toilet attendant!
I am just over one year on from having had Fibroid Embolisation. Before having it done I was flooding (one super-plus tampon per hour) constantly, and I mean 24/7 for weeks and weeks at a time. I was expelling huge clots and at one point my bleeding caused my Mirena coil to exit my vagina, past my tampon which had become lost upside down inside me and eventually had to be removed by a doctor! I could never be more than 5 minutes from a toilet, my boyfriend couldn't come anywhere near me because, if we did have sex on the odd occasion that I wasn't bleeding, that caused me to start again! My life was a complete nightmare. All my gynaecologist could suggest was that I have a hysterectomy but, being only 38 at the time and not having had children, I wasn't keen on that idea. Having looked on the internet (and in particular this site) to find out more about fibroids, I asked my gynaecologist about the possibility of Fibroid Embolisation but she thought that my fibroids were too big and numerous for that to be effective in my case (a year before I had the treatment done my womb was the size of a womans who is 18 weeks pregnant and the fibroids were growing all the time - when last measured the largest was 17.6cm x 14.4cm x 14cm and that was 6 months before I had the treatment). I persevered, however, and my gynaecologist finally agreed to seek advice from a Radiologist who performs embolisation procedures at my nearest hospital. He arranged for me to have an MRI scan and, following that confirmed that I was indeed a suitable candidate for the procedure. At the time he said that, because of the size of my fibroids, I may need to have the treatment repeated after 12 months if it wasn't fully effective. In May 2013 I had it done. My pain relief didn't quite work properly during the procedure and as a result I had to spend one extra night in hospital but really I had more-or-less fully recovered within 3 or 4 days. After the operation I continued to bleed continuously (although not heavily) so after trying various combinations of contraceptive pills without any results my doctor finally prescribed me Norethisterone (an amazing drug which stopped my bleeding completely) and fitted another Mirena coil which has stayed in this time! 10 months on from my op I was given a repeat MRI scan to see how successful it had been and it showed that the fibroids have completely shrunk and that I don't need to have the treatment repeated (phew!). I cautiously came off Norethisterone and the bleeding, I'm so pleased to say, has not come back. In fact, due to the coil, I now only have very light spotting for a couple of days a month. All in all I am one very happy bunny and would recommend for any woman with large fibroids to insist that her gynaecologist look into getting her assessed for her suitability for having Fibroid Embolisation. It's definitely been a life changer for me!
I have always had very painful periods since I began age 11. After many years of dismissing them and taking painkillers I was finally referred to a gynaecologist. They found three small fibroids in April 2010. I had a diagnostic endoscopy in October 2010 whereby all was normal and I didn\'t have any endometriosis. I was told to wait it out and see how it went. I asked why the fibroids weren\'t removed as one of them was 3x3 3 cm. I was told that I would need a separate GP referral for that. During this time I should have been offered the coil as this may have prevented them from growing further but wasn\'t. I think once you have such a condition follow up appointments should be made to monitor the fibroids rather than leaving women to carry on not knowing unless they get severe symptoms.I was always feeling tired and slow. I used to go to the toilet many times during the night and always felt so awful. So I went back to the GP and got a referral for a scan in January 2013. My fibroids had doubled in size and the pressure from the largest one on my bladder especially when lying down made me want to pass urine.I am of Indian descent and 39 years old. I am now single and do not have children but would like to have children. I then had an appointment with the gyne department again and the second /third appointment resulted in me asking for a myomectomy as my symptoms were effecting my life. I had to really fight for the surgery as the Drs would rather you didn\'t as it is a major operation and it is the NHS. I think all women in a similar situation should do their research and decide loosely on what they need to do. Then find a hospital/consultant they would prefer to be referred to via their GP. I didn\'t do that and in hindsight I should have done. I was referred to my local hospital where the waiting lists are long and they are a disorganised hospital I had my surgery date changed twice and the third date was the one that I ended up following. I haven\'t included the name of the hospital as this post is for other women as guidance and not a complaint. I had my surgery four weeks ago this Monday. The actual surgery went ahead fine, two hours to remove two fibroids as the third had merged with one of the others. Make sure before going to hospital your house is clean and you have milk and bread and fruit available and that you have cleaned your bed sheets and have loose clothes available to hand. I stayed in hospital for three nights and discharged on the Thursday morning. While in hospital bring ear plugs as it very noisy in a shared ward. Ask friends and family to bring in magazines and fresh fruit to eat. When possible walk around. My catheter was removed on the second day. Make sure a nurse has looked at and re dressed your incisions if necessary and if you haven\'t passed a stool that you get a laxative so you can either do it in hospital or when you go home. You have to ask in a NHS hospital other wise nobody will bother, don\'t feel as if you shouldn\'t bother the staff as I did. We are all responsible for our healing so it is best that you ask a nurse or the Dr when you need to and not hesitate especially about pain, incision management, stools and urine passing. If you need help do ask for it because if you injure yourself it will be you who will have to deal with that also. I live by myself and was terrified I would not be able to cope and be a burden. I never had so much time off sick and you shouldn\'t feel bad about that. Use the time to heal inside and out to establish yourself again and bring about better patterns of living, eating, sleeping and exercising. Make sure you get a wheel chair to take you to your ride home as I didn\'t and was very unsteady on my feet. I had to go back to the hospital to see a GP due to not passing a stool on the Saturday the week of the surgery. I was prescribed a laxative and was in so much pain and discomfort. This could have been avoided has I spoken about not passing a stool when in hospital. In the end I passed a stool on the Sunday after treatment. I carried on living by myself and my mother used to come over and bring in lunch and dinner but some days I managed by myself. Many people are ignorant and do not understand the surgery or the condition. I have been told that I am lazy and fat and I should be doing more by family members and had friends over and have to cook and wash up because they do not understand that you will get tired after the surgery and it is important you control what you eat as you are more likely to put on weight due to being inactive. So even though it is great to have people over it might not be a good idea if you do so when by yourself as you will end up having to clear up when they leave or cook. They may also bring in sweets and other fattening food and you really don\'t need to be eating that. Time passes quickly and it is best to not get stressed about anything such as a break up or work. I have started using bio oil and had my stiches removed by the nurse at my GP surgery. Make sure the catheter stiches are also removed. I think it is important to see the nurse at your GP practise at least once to show your incision and get advice on it. I saw the GP too as I got a urinary tract infection. Having so much time off does make one think about their life. As a single woman with no husband or boyfriend I have had to reassess my self and my goals. It can be a very lonely time and I have to pick myself up and get on with it. Thank you for reading about my fibroid journey. I wish you well with your journey.
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