Kind of in Limbo

 Hi all, 

this is kind of a random post.  

In early October, I went to see my primary care physician as a follow-up about my fibroids.  It had been about half a year since the last time I went to see him, due to Covid stuff.  In the meantime, I was still occasionally experiencing incredibly heavy periods (soaking through Super Plus tampons in a short time), and cramps bad enough to cause fever, chills & nausea!

When I went to see him, I was menstruating at the time and he wanted me to get a blood test to count my hemoglobins and see how much iron I was losing.  Unfortunately, because of the longer wait times to get in to clinics (by appointment only these days) and work schedules, it was mid-October before I could get in, and my iron levels may have gone up a bit by then....

I was anxiously awaiting a phone call from him, since he didn't want to take any next steps until I've gotten my hemoglobins checked a few times... but it was a surprise to not hear anything back by 5 days after the first blood test.  So, I went online to access my own health records (we can do that in Alberta, and very likely in other places as well).  My iron levels were strangely pretty good at a 28, but I noticed something else of interest here...

My ferritin (see above) levels are on the low end of the range, which does appear to sometimes be linked with low iron caused by blood loss from heavy menstrual bleeding.  Interesting...

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Anyway, though I'm not currently planning to change doctors at this point, I do admittedly feel almost humored.  I know something is wrong with my feminine health, and though this time last year he encouraged me to consider a hysterectomy, this year it seems he wants me to just use a blood clotting medication and pain relief meds to treat the fibroids.  I had also thought they were growing, which was causing my belly to bloat, but I learned at the appointment with him that my "swelly belly" is mainly just weight gain.... likely caused by my craving for sugar since my loss of blood lowers the blood sugar levels in my body.   

To be honest, at this point, though I was expecting a hysterectomy later this year, it looks like the whole thing is currently in limbo...

I was told to come to him a few more times during my periods to get an appointment and form for blood work, to check those levels each time.  He also wrote me another prescription for Cyklokapron.... guess for now I'll just get used to the side effects and hope for the best.

In the meantime, if my bleeding, pain, swelling or any other fibroid symptoms get worse, I'm going to request a referral to a gynecologist (yes, I know every woman should already have one!)   

👩 ♀