The actual number of women with fibroids can be hard to pin down because many women are unaware of these uterine growths. That said, researchers put the number at between 50% and 70% of white women of reproductive age and more than 80% of black women in the same age range.
Whatever the final tally, suffice it to say that uterine fibroids are incredibly common and symptoms develop in about 25% to 30% of women with these growths.
When it comes to treating uterine fibroids, watchful waiting is fine, up to a point, but when side effects start interfering with your life, it’s time to take action.
In this blog post, the team at Women’s Clinic of the Rio Grande Valley, under the experienced direction of Dr. Fernando Otero, presents a few signs that your uterine fibroids can benefit from treatment.
While researchers haven’t uncovered the exact cause of uterine fibroids, we do know that they respond to your reproductive hormones, including estrogen and progesterone. This explains why they develop during your reproductive years, when these hormones are at their highest levels.
An important point about uterine fibroids is that they are mostly benign (noncancerous), which is good news.
That said, they can grow large or numerous enough that they cause complications. For example, fibroids can be very small — about the size of a grain of rice — and you will likely be unaware of their existence. On the other end of the size scale, fibroids can grow quite large — the size of a grapefruit or even larger — at which point they usually lead to symptoms.
If we find that a patient has uterine fibroids but doesn’t have symptoms, we turn to watchful waiting, which is simply monitoring the growths for any changes.
When fibroids turn the corner into a condition that’s leading to symptoms, then it might be time to treat the fibroids. Here, we outline four common scenarios in which women seek our help:
One of the most common side effects of fibroids is heavy bleeding, which affects about 30% of women with these uterine growths. This heavy bleeding develops for a couple of reasons: 1) the fibroids increase the surface area of your uterus, which leads to more menstrual bleeding and interferes with contractions; and 2) Fibroids can have their own blood supply, which can increase period flow.
If your fibroids grow large or numerous enough, you can experience pelvic pain, as well as pain in your low back. Another common issue with fibroids is painful sex, as intercourse can push on the growths.
Even if you don’t feel pain, you can feel pressure or fullness in your abdomen.
Given the proximity of your bladder to your uterus, if you have a large growth, it can press on your bladder and lead to stress incontinence and frequent urination.
Uterine fibroids generally don’t affect your fertility, but they can interfere with pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, women with fibroids are six times more likely to have a Cesarean section.
As you can see, these byproducts of uterine fibroids are serious health and quality-of-life concerns, prompting women to seek treatment. And treatment can range from hormone medications to surgical removal of problematic growths (a myomectomy), all of which we offer here.
So, if you’re struggling with complications that stem from uterine fibroids and you want to explore your options, please contact one of our offices in McAllen or Edinburg, Texas, to schedule an appointment.
