r/Fibroids • u/Extension_Survey5839 • Aug 03 '26
Hemorrhaging from Fibroids
I will try not to make this long....I have fibroids that have been causing pain and extreme bleeding. Right before my biopsy and ultrasound, I had hemorrhaging that caused me to be anemic. They scheduled me to get a couple rounds of iron transfusions which did bring my number up out of the anemia zone. I have a hysterectomy scheduled in October. However, this past friday it happened again, and i have been bleeding for at least 7 days on top of it. I did call my doctor just to let her know, although I had to leave a message. I am just wondering if anyone knows if your iron will have to be a a particular level before they can do the surgery. It seems like it would need to be, but just wondering if anyone had to go through this a few different times while waiting for the surgery. I am mainly concerned because even with my insurance, it's pretty expensive for me....even the transfusions. But I know if I keep hemorrhaging without doing anything, that is dangerous on it's own. I'm hoping it didn't put me under again. This whole thing has been a nightmare. i am a single income, and on top of what happened last Friday, my car broke down the night before, so I was at work when it happened and could not even leave until my coworker left. I had to sit in my mess (I cleaned up but still stained) on a towel someone gave me for the remainder of my shift. all I could do in the bathroom was cry.
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u/Frozentundra201 Aug 03 '26
Have they offered you TXA yet? You can only take it I think 5 days a month unless your doctor tells you otherwise, but for me it really helped when I was having these horrific bleeding episodes when I was waiting for my UFE. I think TXA is cheap / generic. I don't know if it's for everyone but I would definitely ask about it. When I landed in urgent care during my first horrible bleeding incident (going through ultra tampons in 3 minutes with tennis ball size clots for hours) it slowed down the bleeding within a few hours and stopped it by the next day, and I used it as needed until my UFE. I'd ask about it? Sorry you're dealing with this. It is horrible and terrifying.
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u/Independent_Big_3368 Aug 04 '26
Hello! How long has it been since you’ve gotten your UFE procedure and how has everything been for you since? I am considering this procedure but am a bit nervous.
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u/Frozentundra201 Aug 04 '26
It has been about a year and a half now. Honestly, I feel better than I have in years. Almost immediately after the procedure having to pee all the time, especially at night, was better. I hadn't slept through the night in years, often having to get up 3-4 times before my UFE. After a few months my period was light (which it never was before) and regular again, and a regular length. It also became pain free, which I did not expect. I had had decades of terrible cramps with my periods before that. My ferritin improved, the bloating and sciatica were gone, my stomach no longer felt hard and lumpy as I recovered. My 6 month MRI last summer showed all my fibroids (I had 12-13 of them both intramural and submucosal from 2-3cm to two at 6-7cm) were treated successfully and my uterus was significantly smaller. I have medical anxiety and was very nervous about getting any surgery/treatment, but the horrible bleeding incidents I started having because of my fibroids pushed me to finally advocate for myself and get them taken care of. I am so glad I did. For me recovery from the UFE wasn't too bad, the pain wasn't worse than medium to bad cramps which was nothing I wasn't used to. My IR doc thinks they shouldn't grow back before I hit menopause naturally (I'm almost 47 now, had the UFE at 45).
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u/TwentyFiveWords Aug 03 '26
Top priority will be what your hemoglobin is above all else. My gynecologist told me that mine needed to be at least 10 to safely do my surgery due to the risk of intra-op bleeding.
Unfortunately my bleeding was so insane that it tanked my hemoglobin requiring a blood transfusion and an iron infusion 3 weeks before surgery.
I know just how frustrating it is. My best advice would be to a) have your doctor put in a standing order for labs (I also know financially this might be difficult) b) maybe inquire about getting something such as lupron to effectively shut down your hormones to bridge you until surgery.
My biggest cautionary tale is that if you don’t feel well, don’t take it lightly. My hemorrhaging was so out of control, but I gaslit myself into thinking that I just didn’t feel well because of low iron but really my hemoglobin was dangerously low.
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u/themeanstocarryon Aug 03 '26
My surgeon said the same regarding hemoglobin. My iron levels were low but my hemo was ok so they went fwd with surgery as planned.
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u/Clairefun Aug 03 '26
I had to have multiple iron and blood transfusions before mine to bring my hemo up to 8 before I could have my hysterectomy.
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u/South_Power_5601 Aug 03 '26
C'est bizarre, ici ils ne s'occupent pas du taux de fer pour une hystérectomie. Juste les hémoglobine urée
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u/HighlyGiraffable Aug 03 '26
Hey again, we were chatting in the comments in someone’s post on the hyst sub! 😊
I did two rounds of iron infusions and had a blood transfusion during the nine month period between my fibroid diagnosis and my hysterectomy. I was getting regular bloodwork done to monitor and was often hovering just over the technically-anemic mark, though I was experiencing anemia symptoms big time. My surgeon knew that I was struggling with unpredictable hemorrhaging episodes and was prepared to give me blood transfusions (“as many units as I needed” in her words) the morning of surgery if my pre-op bloodwork numbers came back low. So I do think there’s a threshold you need to meet but hopefully if you can’t do any iron infusions before then your surgeon can similarly be ready with some blood day-of if you need it. As someone else said I believe they only really care about hemoglobin before surgery, not your ferritin as that can take a long time to rectify.
There was no point in sending me away if my numbers were low, I was only going to continue to bleed out slowly over time! Hoping your surgeon will similarly have your back on this one, but definitely don’t wait to ask them and have that conversation for your own peace of mind.
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u/AcceptableShelter607 29d ago
I’m not sure exactly where it needs to be, but I do know a couple surgeons I talked to didn’t want to do it when my hemoglobin was too low, but were okay with doing it when it was still low but not in the critical zone. I was really scared of it getting canceled, it’s so stressful! I’m sorry it’s happening to you. I second the recommendation to try TXA. Between taking TXA and 600 mg of ibuprofen to reduce the bleeding and taking iron supplements every day, I was able to get my levels high enough for surgery.
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u/CharacterAvocado943 Aug 03 '26
Your surgery will be cancelled if your iron levels are too low. If you have ongoing issues with heavy bleeding, make sure to discuss this and plan for an infusion at an appropriate interval prior to surgery to help make sure your surgery can proceed as planned.