Expert: Pat G - 5/8/2010

Question
Hi Pat

I am Jacquline, 27 yrs of age.

I had an abortion 2 weeks back taking pills prescribed by a gynaecologist. I was 3 weeks pregnant, and so was prescribed the pills for the same. Bleeding occured for 12 days, and stopped after that.

I went back to the gynaecologist today for a scan to see if any remnant tissue was left over, but nothing was seen, but in the report, it was mentioned that the uterus is bulky.

Can you tell me what that means? Also something called the endometrial echo is 6.3mm, is that normal? I researched the net, and found that bulky uterus usually means the signs of fibroids.

Can you mention anything on this? Thank you.

Answer
Hello, Jacquline,

The uterus can be bulky for several reasons, but the usual reason is fibroids, as you discovered. Most likely, you had the fibroids long before you got pregnant. A normal uterus has an endometrial echo of around 5 mm, so yours is slightly elevated. The thing you want to make sure of is that this isn't a sign of something more serious, such as cancer. Don't rest until you get some definite answers. Make sure the doctor does whatever tests are needed to make sure that it is just fibroids, and not something more serious. I do recommend you find another doctor. Going to a person who gave you abortion pills isn't wise. That person operated unethically and showed poor medical judgment.

Interestingly, in my research, I learned that there was a study that showed that women who were given a maintenance dose of 5mg of Mifeprex a day experienced significant shrinking of their fibroids. The study didn't watch the women long term (just for a few weeks) and doesn't answer the question of how safe and effective this is in the long run, or whether a woman can eventually discontinue the medication and be OK. Normally, the only treatment for fibroids is surgery. Notice also that the dose of Mifeprex used for abortion is usually about 200mg in one dose.

I don't know that this type of treatment would be available to you, since this is still very much under study. But I thought I would call it to your attention anyway. There may be a natural remedy, but I haven't done any research to discover if this is the case. If you want to try a natural remedy, let me know, and I will look into it.

Take care.