#uterinefibroids

[selkie-life]

★ Skip this post if your uncomfortable with the topic of female health

𓆟 Disclaimer: Purpose of this post’s existence is to bring awareness to female reproductive health of all species

🌊 Selkie Health Issues: Reproduction Organs Edition

Hello everyone!

This seal is flopped in bed again today because my uterus decided it wasn’t done causing chaos. 🦭💔 I’ve been dealing with uterine issues for years - sudden, heavy, and very prolonged bleeding that turns me into a couch (or rock) seal for way too long.

Last year it got bad enough that it was destroying my quality of life. A heavy period lasting 14+ days was making my hypovolemic POTS flare horribly. I was anemic, exhausted, and basically just existing instead of swimming through life. So I started continuous HRT to stop cycling altogether. The goal was simple: no more monthly blood loss so I could keep my blood volume stable and actually function.

For a while it helped! But now, a year later, I’m still getting breakthrough bleeding even though I’m not cycling. The HRT has thinned the uterine lining (which should make any bleeding lighter), but I’m still leaking blood from specific spots. Why?

Last December I finally got a CT scan. The radiologist found a 3.1 cm mass in the posterior lower uterine segment and what looks like a small anterior fibroid. These masses sit exactly where I feel that sharp “rip” pain. I can be fine for days, then bend wrong and feel something tear open - cue the bleeding. It’s not the whole lining shedding; it’s these trouble spots deciding to open up. To stop it I usually have to lay flat for days, use norethindrone and naproxen, and wait it out.

Why can’t I just “tough it out”?

Because losing too much blood makes me pass out. With hypovolemic POTS I already struggle to maintain blood volume and retain fluids. Adding blood loss on top is dangerous—it can lead to accidents, worse flares, or serious complications. This isn’t just inconvenient; it’s a real health threat.

The good news? I’m not ignoring it. The radiologist recommended an MRI to get a clearer picture of what these masses actually are (fibroids? polyps? something else?). Once I know, I can decide on next steps - maybe a more tailored HRT approach or surgery to remove the masses so they stop bleeding.

In the end, selkies (and any creature!) with chronic conditions deserve proper care. Reproductive health issues + POTS/dysautonomia is a tricky combo because blood loss hits extra hard when your body already fights to keep enough volume circulating. If you’re dealing with similar symptoms, heavy/irregular bleeding, pain localized to certain spots, fatigue that gets worse with blood loss, please advocate for imaging and specialist input. Don’t wait until it’s completely unmanageable!

I’ll update when I get that MRI and more answers. In the meantime, rest when you need to. Your body is worth the care. 💙

[asistanttothewallflower]

IF THERE WAS THE GOD WHO PUT THIS CYST IN MY BODY STANDING IN FRONT OF ME I WOUD:

Beg for mercy (please remove it oh gods please)

If that fails, go to their biggest rival (they all have one) and beg them to let me wreak vengeance.

Unfortunately the god responsible is already dead and cannot atone. This is, of course, the god that made humans, since APPARENTLY THIS HAPPENS TO ALL UTERUS OWNERS. This is cold comfort. I want to BLAME someone!!!!!

[meaningfulchaos]

My battle with fibroids

I am going through right now.

I am a black woman and like many black women I have uterine fibroids. I found out I had them when I was in my twenties when they were golfball sized and managable. I am now 37 and my situation has taken a turn.

Almost 5 years ago I got a myomectomy which removed the fibroids that could be seen in my vaginal canal and was given an IUD to manage the growth and symptoms. But baby, them 5 years went by and hell has broken loose.

It started with periods that were excessively heavy and when I say excessive, I mean I was bleeding so much I would pass out. For whatever reason I didn't register that as an emergency or something I should take seriously. On top of the excessive bleeding, I started to spot regularly. I had to constantly wear liners to keep my underwear clean and honestly Im no longer sure when my cycle comes on because I am always bleeding. Always. Then the food reactivity started. If any dairy milk touches my lips - hemorrhage, tomato sauce - hemorrhage and I mean hemorrhage for hours until I pass out.

I should own stock in honey pot as many products as I've been through. At least once a month my bathroom looks like a murder scene. Blood all over the floors because I miscalculated the minutes it would take to fill the damn overnight pad.

My nights have been filled with sitting on the toilet practically pissing blood begging God to make it stop because I could literally feel my lifeforce just slipping away. I don't know how many times I've Googled "Can you die from from fibroids?" I get no meaningful results but Im sure it's stories out there that haven't been documented.

Fast forward to the end of August 2025. Probably the worst bleed I've ever had. It started randomly on a Friday at European Wax Center (yes, they were incredibly kind about it and I was mortified) and I continued to hemorrhage through Monday when it finally slowed down. Not stopped. Just slowed enough for me to keep a pad on for a couple hours instead of minutes. I decided to go to urgent care. My hemoglobin was a 5.4. They told me to go to the ER. I had to get a transfusion. Two units of blood.

I found out when your hemoglobin gets down to a 3 or below thats when people start having strokes and organ failure because they're not getting enough oxygen. Levels below 6.5 can cause death. That's when I started to take all this more seriously.

Mind you, in the months leading up to August, I had been consulting with a radiologist to get a Uterine Fibroid Embolization. Its an outpatient procedure that cuts off the blood supply to the fibroids, causing them to essentially die. By August I had completed all the imaging and lab work for the procedure but had heard nothing regarding scheduling it. Then I had to have a blood transfusion, and of course I got scared.

The main treatment for fibroids is hysterectomy. I didn't want something so drastic, especially still being of childbearing age. Despite being staunchly child-free, I want to preserve my fertility. I've been single for over 10 years and while I haven't changed my tune about not having children, I still want the option, just in case.

So, August they have everything they need to schedule this procedure, but we still have nothing on the books. I start calling them religiously only to get no answers and answering machines. Then the morning of September 9th. Im sitting in the toilet hemorrhaging yet again. I call the office only to get the answering machine and I just start crying and unloading about how I need a date. About how Im going to bleed to death before I get this procedure about how none of them people are doing anything to help me. I hang up. My bleeding eventually slows. I get ready to head to the hospital and finally a person from the office calls me back.

She had heard my message and couldn't let the day end before she got back to me. I have a tentative date of September 26 for my UFE provided my insurance approves the prior authorization request it by then. Dont you just love the American healthcare system? Im bleeding to death and I have to wait for insurance to approve the procedure that could potentially save my fucking life, whenever they decide to get around to that, I guess.

Anyways, the mechanism that tells my uterus stop bleeding is completely gone. The only thing keeping me from hemorrhaging is 20mg of progesterone two times a day. Insurance is being a bitch about that too because they think I'm trying to stockpile progesterone to cause an abortion. Firstly, I live in a state that allows abortions 2nd mind your fucking business. I had to tell Costco to stop running my progesterone prescriptions through insurance otherwise I have to wait weeks and weeks between refills to get another one when the doctors are trying to keep me stable until this UFE takes place. Again American healthcare is stupid.

Why am I telling anyone all this, because my situation is extreme, but I know Im not the only one out there suffering. So here's my story. Im hanging on by a thread.

I haven't fully recovered from losing so much blood in August and then again in September. Just walking to the toilet winds the hell out of me and I also have a dog that needs to be walked twice a day so I'm sure you can imagine how that goes. Ive lost 10lbs from loss of appetite and stress and I finally just told my boss what's going on and he's working with me as far as time off and workload so I can rest.

I was supposed to go to Paris next week. I had to cancel. I barely have energy or cognitive function to work (and I work from home) let alone walk around Paris on tours and shit. Another time, hopefully.

Im here. Im hanging on. Hopefully, not for too much longer.

[plebeiangoth]

Currently approaching two months post op from hysterectomy

Thought I should share a little update. It dawned on me the other day how much better I've been doing overall! My brain fog is less, got an appetite again, can do things all day and sleep all night, I'm actually happy most days, and I don't think I've ever felt so well!

I was joking that once I recovered I'd be unstoppable!

Just thought I should share that because had I known that there is a cure for the chronic yuck I've dealt with for decades, I would have gotten on the ball much sooner. Yet the reason I didn't get on top of it sooner was that I completely believed that what I experienced was exactly what everyone else who has a period experienced, partially because I didn't think to ask and partially that every woman in my family claimed huge blood clots and waking up in a pool of blood was all part and parcel with being AFAB. 🫩

I was re-reading some of my posts leading up to the procedure and I can't hardly believe that I was that sick. However I remember being that sick and exhausted, and missing a ton of work because I just couldn't bear to be on my feet more than a little. Even at the time I thought it was a fluke that I was suddenly feeling so unwell and I'd surely feel some manner of better before surgery and I'd get a bunch more stuff done around the house. But I scheduled the surgery about a month after the consultation and only got worse. What's still baffling to me though is I never got a straight answer as to why I was so sick. I only assumed it was the fibroid, and the doctors were able to repeatedly make that same area of my lower left abdomen hurt right around where the fibroid was. Yet they never confirmed if I was experiencing degradation and the tissue labs didn't yield any answers. The only thing I can go on to continue to assume it was the fibroid causing all that pain is that my gynecologist agreed that because it was compressing surrounding organs, that it was almost certainly causing pain. I mean yeah, that was a given and I had those pains for ages, but why did it suddenly get so bad all at once? Why did I have an intermittent fever? Why did it make me bloat like I was four months pregnant? Why did the urgent care doc order an ultrasound to confirm the already diagnosed fibroid instead of a CT to get an idea of what kind of blood supply it was getting?

I will never know. All I know is it's gone and the only remaining discomfort is the incision is getting feeling back and I can feel where my stitches ripped and needed to get re-stitched, yet my pain load has never been lighter.

This is actually the first time in my life that I've felt physically well. It feels so weird to say that. I genuinely don't know how I managed, and in retrospect I'm not so sure that I did.

[feralenclavecreator]

[missrenge]

Things have been going on and I've been neglecting updating. Allow me to remedy that...

Cut for length as well as talk of medical procedures

I think I mentioned it before, but I've been having uterine issues. I won't go into detail, just trust me when I say it was gnarly.

On the 20th of this last month, I had a hysterescopy with a diletation and curetage. Basically, my doctor put a camera up inside me to get a good look at my uterus and to take tissue samples. This was done to make sure there was no cancer and there was nothing too out of the ordinary.

Last week I met with my doctor and we discussed her findings. No cancer, thank goodness, but several fibroids and polyps, and endometrial tissue that was "chunkier than normal". In her professional opinion, a hysterectomy is advised. And because the fibroids and polyps have enlarged my uterus, I'm not a candidate for endoscopic removal. Mine will be done through a small incision just above the pubic bone.

So that's the next step. I'm waiting to hear from the hospital to schedule the surgery. It'll be 1-2 days in the hospital, then 6 weeks recovery at home.

Am I nervous? Yeah, not going to lie. Am I excited to no longer have this issue? Even more so.

[starline]

My Abdominal Uterine Myomectomy & Recovery | Artist Fertility Journey | Pt 7

[v-for-vaginismus]

Calling out into the void - anyone have bad uterine fibroids develop while they have vaginismus?? It's a fun game of did I suddenly develope endo or do I have a benign cluster of cells leeching off of me causing random pain?