To spread the awareness among woman, here is a brief explanation about fibroids.
Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors made of flat muscle cells that develop in the women uterus. In medical terminology, these have different names such as “Leiomyomas” or “Myomas”, and “Uterine fibroids”. The size of these tumors can range from beans size to as big as a melon.
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The cause of fibroids is unknown. However, the main factors which tend to occurrence of fibroids are genetic and hormonal. Some of the important factors which cause fibroids are as
- During pregnancy time, if the estrogen and progesterone levels are high. Fibroids tend to swell as the estrogen levels. While they shrink during the menopause stage because of low estrogen levels. These occur mostly during the woman’s reproductive years
- Overweight can be one of the main causes of fibroids in women
- Family history of having fibroids will increase the risk. Women with a family member or close relative with fibroids have a greater risk
- Some evidences prove that high intake of caffeine, alcohol and having lot of red meat increases your risk of fibroids and to reduce the risk, increase intake of green vegetables and fruits
The symptoms can vary from woman to woman. Some woman who have fibroids have no symptoms, or have only mild symptoms, while other woman has severe symptoms. So, each individual woman may have different symptoms.The most common symptoms seen are listed below:
- Pain during intercourse
- Heavy or prolonged menstrual periods which may cause anemia
- Severe backache
- If the fibroids are large, there may be swelling in the lower abdomen
- Repetitive miscarriages
- Pelvic pain
- Fertility issues
- Pregnancy problems
In most of the cases, as symptoms are rarely felt, one cannot diagnose fibroids by self-examination. Fibroids can be only diagnosed by going through certain medical examinations such as,
If the woman has no symptoms and the fibroids are not affecting her day-to-day life, she may not receive any treatment. Since fibroids will grow more if the estrogen levels are high, some medications are prescribed by gynecology specialist doctor to lower the production of estrogen which does not affect fertility.
Depending on the symptoms and size of the fibroids, patient needs to undergo surgery. The surgical procedures to treat fibroids are mentioned below:
- Myomectomy: Myomectomy is a surgical procedure to remove fibroids from the uterus. This procedure is highly recommended to the woman who want to become pregnant
- Hysterectomy: Hysterectomy is the procedure in which the uterus is removed. It is mostly recommended for the woman who have large fibroids. In some of the cases, ovaries are also removed along with uterus
- Laparoscopy: Woman who have fibroids less in number and small in size, are suggested to undergo laparoscopic procedure. This procedure is usually reserved for removing one or two fibroids that are growing on the outside of the uterus