Fibroids vary in dimension, ranging from the size of a pea to that of a melon. If the growths are diagnosed, they may be treated. Unfortunately, women are often unaware of their condition; in part, because as many as half of all women who have fibroids don’t experience symptoms. Some of the most common symptoms include abnormal menstrual bleeding in which periods are heavier or more prolonged than normal, abdominal or lower back pain, pain during sexual intercourse, difficult or frequent urination (due to the fibroid pressing on your bladder), pelvic pressure, constipation and anemia (as a result of blood loss).
Fibroids grow most often during the reproductive years and may expand during periods of elevated estrogen levels such as during pregnancy. Researchers are still unsure why fibroids occur, but one of the leading theories points to heredity as it has been shown that women have a greater chance of developing fibroids if other family members have had them.
There is good news for the current generation of women with fibroids. In the past, a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) was the only treatment. But the last decade has seen an emergence of equally effective alternatives that spare the uterus and allow women to still carry a pregnancy to term. There are medications such as danazol that will help control the heavy menstrual bleeding in women with fibroids, though they don’t have any effect on fibroid growth. Once fibroids have developed, their growth can be controlled by hormonal factors, especially estrogen. But to reverse the growth of fibroids altogether, the latest treatment is uterine embolization. A thin tube is inserted through an artery in the leg up to the uterine arteries that feed the fibroids. Once this catheter is in place, tiny particles of plastic or gelatin are inserted to block the blood flow. This minimally invasive, nonsurgical treatment cuts off the blood supply to the fibroid, effectively starving it.
Some women who are either not candidates for embolization or in whom the procedure has failed, might opt instead for a surgery that specifically removes the fibroid. During a myomectomy, the fibroids are removed but the uterus is left intact. While the fibroids will return in approximately 10 percent of cases, this remains the surgical procedure of choice for women who still plan on having children. Unfortunately, those women who are beyond child-bearing age or in whom the fibroids are too numerous or too large, may have to resort to having a hysterectomy, a permanent (if painful) solution to fibroids.
In our not-so-distant past, fibroids caused great alarm in women who feared they would lose their unique reproductive organ. Prompt diagnosis and newer treatments, however, should go a long way in allaying these fears and allowing women with fibroids to be able to experience the joy of giving birth.
