Fibroids Made Me Look Pregnant When I Was Actually Infertile

By Dawn Heels

Published on February 17, 2023

Fibroids (non-cancerous tumors found in and around the uterus) had been the bane of my life knowingly for six years, and I say knowingly because it was within this time period that I was officially diagnosed. However, since I was a teenager, I had been suffering with very heavy and painful periods and even though I had visited the doctor multiple times to complain, I was told that this was normal for girls my age, so I just got on with life.

At the age of 33 and whilst working for a very toxic company, I started to experience pain in the left hand side of my lower abdomen. Due to the location and even though the pain felt different to what I had ever experienced before, I thought that it could be a new type of period pain or perhaps work-related stress pain. A few weeks went by without relief, so I made an appointment to see my doctor. When I saw him, he said that the pain was probably related to my cycle and that there was nothing to worry about. I went home and a couple more weeks passed with the same pain, so I made another appointment and was told the same thing.

Remember, you know your body

I’ve always felt strongly about knowing your own body and knowing when something is just not right. In this instance, I just knew something felt different, so I made an appointment with a female doctor in order to bypass my registered GP. When I saw her, she casually said that it sounded like I had a cyst on my ovary. I panicked because I didn’t want anything impacting my ovaries, especially where I was yet to have children. Further, being in my 30s, the question of “when are you having kids?” had started to rear its head. The doctor told me that she would refer me to the hospital for an ultrasound, where they can take a closer look.

During the ultrasound examination at the hospital, I was told that my ovaries and uterus looked healthy, but I had two fibroids (4cm big). I was like “fibroids?” She said “yes”. I tried to ask her what they were, but she told me to make yet another appointment with my doctor who would explain everything. I made the appointment with my doctor and he explained that fibroids were common (as many as one in three women will develop uterine fibroids*), there was nothing to worry about and to manage any pain with Ibuprofen. As he was a doctor, I took his advice and, for the next five years, I suffered with pain that gradually got worse and I developed additional fibroid related symptoms. Such symptoms included big blood clots within my periods which were painful to pass, bum cheek pain, leg pain, frequent urination, lower back pain, tiredness, prolonged periods, painful sex, and extreme bloating.

Throughout those five years, I repeatedly went back to my doctor to say that my suffering had progressed significantly, but I was told to deal with the pain by taking Ibuprofen. Within year five, I had noticed that I had started to experience symptoms which mimicked early signs of pregnancy (an uncommon symptom of fibroids) which was heart-breaking, due to the fact that I had now started to try for a baby without any luck. Symptoms of nausea, headaches, sore breasts, and extreme tiredness would awash my body near to the time of my period, which in a way women who are trying to conceive can sympathize with, would lead me to anxious joy of “what if”, only to be broken a few days later by the arrival of my period; it just didn’t make any sense to me.

Further, I had started to develop a bit of a belly which was very unusual for me, as I have always (from young) displayed a flat stomach and maintained this through regular exercise. I am also a lover of bodycon outfits and to see a bulge developing, which in turn was making me look a few months pregnant, had me somewhat confused….had I been eating too much of the wrong foods? Had my workouts stopped working? Am I one of those women who is indeed secretly pregnant, but displays all the signs of not being? My head was spinning!