Uterine fibroids are very common in women during their reproductive years and for reasons yet unknown, black women appear to be more affected by fibroids. The good news is that fibroids are typically non cancerous, however they can still present with symptoms that can be distressing for the average woman.
Fibroids are noncancerous growth arising from the cells and muscles of the womb. They can grow within the wall of the uterus, protrude into the uterine cavity and even grow in the cervix which is the neck of the womb.
SOme women with fibroids may not have any symptoms, while some do.
COMMON SYMPTOMS
There are four common symptom categories that are associated with uterine fibroids. Patients can have one or multiple symptoms:
- Heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding
- Bulk symptoms (abdominal protrusion, bowel or bladder dysfunction, constantly feeling full)
- Reproductive dysfunction (infertility or recurrent pregnancy loss)
- Pain, including painful menses or nonmenstrual pain
These symptoms may sometimes be ignored, or attributed to other things. For example, a woman having back pain and increased urinary frequency may think she has a urinary tract problem when in fact, she has a large fibroid that is pressing on her bladder and causing her to feel pain in her back and also to urinate more frequently.
A young woman who has heavy periods lasting 12 days may think it is normal because other women in her family have a similar pattern, but since fibroids run in families, they may all be experiencing a heavier period flow because they all have fibroids that have possibly not been detected yet.
For many women, the most common symptom is the heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding. Some women with fibroids have bleeding that goes on for weeks or months. As you can imagine, this can significantly impact quality of life. Such women may be limited in the activities they can do and also, significant blood loss can result in anaemia which in turn causes such women to feel constantly fatigued.
Some women with fibroids may have no symptoms at all but find it difficult to get pregnant because the fibroid(s) has distorted the womb, making conception difficult.
In some cases, women with fibroids have managed to get pregnant successfully, but unfortunately end up having a miscarriage caused by the presence of a fibroid growing along side the baby.
One little known fact is that fibroids are affected by the hormone oestrogen and progesterone so they grow bigger when the body has higher levels of these hormones, e.g, during pregnancy. In some pregnant women, the fibroid can outgrow it’s blood supply and this can leads to degeneration of the fibroid, a condition that causes a lot of pain to the pregnant woman.
As you can tell by these symptoms, even though fibroids may not be as life threatening as cancer, they can still have a significantly negative impact on women who have to live with them.
Treatment
Treatment options exist for women with fibroids, but they are not many. The type of treatment will be decided based on a few factors.
The first thing to consider is fertility. For women who have had all the children they want, they may decide to have their wombs removed. This can be done quite safely and is the only permanent treatment for fibroids.
For women who do not want to undergo surgery and women who want to retain child bearing functionality, there are both medical and surgical treatment options.
The treatment options now will be based on what symptoms are most bothersome to the woman. For example, a woman who has very painful periods may be treated with painkillers, while a woman who has heavy bleeding may be treated with drugs to reduce the flow.
There are also hormonal injections available which can shrink the size of the fibroids. This particular treatment is preferred for women who are preparing for surgery as it can help make the removal of the fibroids easier. It is not advisable for women to use this drug if they are not going for surgery, because once they stop the medication, the fibroids can start to grow more rapidly. This also seems to occur with many of the herbal remedies that claim to “cure” fibroids.
For women who have been unable to conceive due to the location of their fibroids, they can have the fibroids surgically removed. This can be done through keyhole or open surgery. The key hole option is preferred by many women because it has a quicker recovery time and there are less disruptions to the internal anatomy. The open surgery option is also a good one and for some women, depending on the size and location of their fibroids, the only option.
Some fibroids are too big to be removed via keyhole surgery, while some others are located too close to other vital structures in the body and for safety reasons should best be removed through open surgery.
Many women are able to conceive and deliver with ease after having fibroid surgery.
The not so good news is that, as long as you have a uterus, fibroids can and will grow back because they are stubborn like that. For this reason, women who desire pregnancy are advised to try and conceive soon after recovering from fibroid surgery. If not, they run the risk of having to undergo more surgery, if the fibroids grow back.
If you think your menstrual bleeding is super heavy, or there’s something hard that sometimes pokes through when you’ve had a hearty dinner, you should see a doctor to check if you have fibroids. A simple scan of your tummy is usually enough to diagnose fibroids and then you can discuss your options with your doctor.
