Worried about cramping and pain

[Vintagemim]

I'm quite anxious about pain I'm experiencing and wondered if anyone could relate?

I've struggled with symptoms resulting from fibroids since 2016 when I was hospitalised after fainting and losing blood from clots. I was put on birth control and have been on it ever since. My periods are fairly heavy but easier to manage.

Unfortunately in April 2021 I began to experience quite painful back ache and cramps which I have assumed to be linked to periods.

The pain seemed to last about a week and a half after my period ended and then lessened for a fortnight or so. It felt cramping or stabbing in nature, down both sides of my torso and centre of lower back, at the front of my pelvis, and in my thighs. Also got stabbing pain up my spine occasionally, and felt fatigued although that could be due to anxiety or work issues. It lasted five months, and I had an ultrasound in August 2021 which showed small fibroids ('nothing serious'), although blood tests revealed an iron and b12 deficiency. I still don't know why these deficiencies occurred.

Fast forward to March and the pain is back. It's making me quite worried as I feel I never got an answer as to why this is happening. I wonder if its just my body, the fibroids, or something else like bowel cancer or a cyst.

I know it sounds stupid but I don't really know what to do. If I go to the doctors will they just say its the fibroids? I don't understand why the pain wasn't so bad in September - February. A friend of mine has Endo and I know this can be very painful but I'd say my pain is only a 4/10. It's consistency is what gets me down.

Any solidarity or advice welcome. As someone with health anxiety I find this quite worrying.

[ErinKC]

I suffered with fibroids for many, many years. Mine were very large, but I always found that doctors tend to minimize the pain they can cause. Mine used to give me a lot of sciatica pain. I would also get cyclical pelvic pain - for me usually during ovulation. But, my pain would also get better for a time sometimes. For me, the fibroids were outside my uterus and I think they could kind of shift around a bit which would either worsen or alleviate the pain.

My suggestion would be to see if you can get an MRI - they are much better at identifying all of the fibroids and their size and location than ultrasound. If you're having pelvic pain and you know you have fibroids, they are the most likely culprit.

[Vintagemim]

Thank you, I really appreciate your reply. I feel like my pain is occurring at a similar time to yours in my cycle. I was going to ring the doctor tomorrow to try and re-open the diagnosis so I'll make a note about the mri. That would be helpful as maybe they could confirm it is fibroids and not linked to the bowels or anything!

[ErinKC]

Yes - MRI is more expensive and longer etc... but it's really such an excellent diagnostic test, especially for nonspecific pelvic pain. Women's issues get brushed off so easily. I was so relieved after mine to really know exactly what was going on in my body. I made me more confident in my decision to have a hysterectomy (my fibroids were ENORMOUS) and made my doctors take me more seriously about my pain when they could see in one big picture what was in there. And, yes, it also confirmed that nothing else was happening with other organs. Good luck!