{"id":20445,"date":"2023-04-28T10:24:37","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/?p=20445"},"modified":"2023-07-19T11:11:54","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T16:11:54","slug":"after-years-of-pain-i-found-out-i-had-uterine-fibroids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/patient-stories\/after-years-of-pain-i-found-out-i-had-uterine-fibroids\/","title":{"rendered":"After Years of Pain, I Found Out I Had Uterine Fibroids"},"content":{"rendered":"

For almost five years, Rehanna Almestica, 40,<\/span> an entrepreneur based in Manhattan, <\/span>thought she was suffering from chronic migraines. She tried the usual therapies, including an expensive chiropractor. But nothing truly worked, and no one could tell her the root cause of the problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, in December of 2021, a migraine that lasted for four days caused Almestica to pass out on her bathroom floor, leaving her eight-year-old daughter to call for help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to my doctor and told her what happened,\u201d Almestica says \u201cShe looked at me, said, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry,\u2019 and wrote me a prescription.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the last straw.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI walked out of the office, threw her prescription in the garbage, and I went on Zocdoc to find a neurologist,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She found a neurologist at <\/span>Complete Neurological Care<\/span><\/a> in Manhattan who was determined to get to the bottom of her debilitating headaches. After running a series of blood tests, she determined that Almestica\u2019s white blood cell count was abnormally high, a sign that <\/span>Leukemia<\/span><\/a> or another serious ailment could be to blame.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She advised Almestica to see a hematologist, or a blood disorder specialist, as soon as possible, but this was easier said than done. She checked with several hospitals around the city and couldn\u2019t find any appointments available for months. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anxious and unable to sleep, Almestica went back to Zocdoc at 4 a.m. and searched for a doctor. Within minutes, she was able to schedule an appointment for later that day with <\/span>Dr. Fabio Volterra<\/span><\/a> at Eastchester Cancer Care in the Bronx.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a huge relief to have scored a same-day appointment. With everything she\u2019d been through, Almestica says she was understandably flustered but that Dr. Volterra\u2019s team stayed calm, cool and supportive\u2014even when they realized that her situation was dire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went in and [had more] tests done,\u201d she says. \u201cDr. Volterra came in and said, \u2018I don\u2019t know how you\u2019re alive.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t cancer, but she was dangerously anemic, with few red blood cells left in her body.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey had to hook me up right away to a machine that pumps hemoglobin into your body, because my blood count was that low,\u201d she adds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About six weeks later, Almestica\u2019s condition had improved. Plus, she finally had some answers about what was causing her condition: <\/span>uterine fibroids<\/span><\/a>, or <\/span>benign growths<\/span><\/a> on the uterus, that had been neglected. They needed to be removed right away. Last September, Almestica had a hysterectomy. She hasn\u2019t had a headache since.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found that appointment with the hematologist, it was a moment of, when you\u2019re not in despair anymore, when you feel saved. That\u2019s how I felt,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since her treatments, Almestica has been able to go back to her daily life pain-free. She<\/span>\u00a0visits Dr. Volterra every three months for follow-ups, and she has continued to use Zocdoc to find doctors for herself and her family, especially when it\u2019s an urgent matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly believe I might have been dead if I had waited for one of those appointments at the hospital, because nothing was available for months,\u201d she says. \u201cThe longest I\u2019ve waited for a Zocdoc appointment is maybe a few days.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Need a doctor? Find one on Zocdoc.<\/a><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How one patient discovered growths on her uterus were causing chronic migraines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":20446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231],"tags":[17,81,104,106,202,75],"class_list":["post-20445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-stories","tag-chronic-illness","tag-preventive-care","tag-trauma","tag-treatment","tag-urgent-care","tag-womens-health","reviewer-dr-nassim-assefi"],"yoast_head":"\nAfter Years of Pain, I Found Out I Had Uterine Fibroids - Patient Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How one patient discovered growths on her uterus were causing chronic migraines.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/patient-stories\/after-years-of-pain-i-found-out-i-had-uterine-fibroids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"After Years of Pain, I Found Out I Had Uterine Fibroids - 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