10 Fibroid Tumers

There are some other options besides a hysterectomy for fibroids (some are just as expensive and some are rather inexpensive in the whole scheme of things).

First, find another doctor who is willing to help find a solution for you. Perhaps visit a planned parenthood or other women's clinic and ask if they can refer you to a clinic or hospital that charges on a sliding scale.

Second, there are a few other procedures available that could ease your symptoms. One is uterine fibroid emoblization (what condaleeza rice had done for her fibroids) - where they use little pellets to block the blood vessels that feed the fibroids, causing them to shrink. It's not performed by a gynecologist, but a radiologist, so that's why many doctors do not bring it up as an option. It's not a surgical procedure, they'll insert a little wire up through the femoral (leg) artery to your uterus. The stay in the hospital is usually overnight instead of two or three days and the recovery is usually a week before you go back to work instead of 6-8 weeks for a hyster.

Other options include lupron, which will turn off your ovaries and help to shrink the fibroids - it's a pill that's given for 3-6 months. Though it's expensive (about $600 for the course), it has a pretty high success rate at shrinking the tumors and thereby reducing symptoms. It does cause instant (temporary) chemical menopause so you have to be very careful about osteopororsis and any pre-existing heart/hypertension.

Sometimes a d&c can relieve some of the heavy bleeding symptoms and buy you a little time so you can get a job with a good health plan. That's a procedure cone in a clinic and you go home the same day and are off from work for two or three days.

I hope that helps.

Please take care and let us know how it goes.