Uterine Leiomyomata (Fibroid) Explained in Simple Words

29 days ago

When my wife was pregnant and went to the hospital for a scan, she was told she had very little fibroid and she didn't need to worry about it. My friend's wife became pregnant and she had a disturbing fibroid that she had to deliver through cesarean section and this was the same with my wife's friend. When you are in public buses and places in the country, one of the health conditions quack drug sellers mention is fibroid and they say their medicines can cure it. On the internet, there are a lot of fibroid teas and so on, and funny enough, they don't work.

Some people say fibroid is cancer but it isn't cancer. It is a growth that appears in and around the uterus which can be problematic causing different issues which can either be related or not related to the fibroid itself. The cause and formation of fibroids isn't clear at least for now, but there are a few things that have been confirmed by scientists with one being that hormones like progesterone and estrogen are involved in fibroid growth.

Image; Wikimedia

Aside from this, there is other knowledge of fibroids that we have now like there is a high chance of having fibroid if your mom or grandma had fibroid. Also, age such as being over 30, being overweight, or having low vitamin D levels can be a factor for fibroid. Before you start to think that you are alone in the fibroid journey, it is important to know that 20% to 80% of women will suffer from fibroid before they turn age 50. Although it is common among women, a lot of people do not know that have fibroid because they either do not show symptoms or do not know what the symptoms are.

Fibroids can be intramural (inside the muscles of the uterus), subserosal (outside the uterus), pedunculated (which are subserosal but grow like stalks), submucosal (in the skin wall of the uterus which could make it difficult for the placenta attachment, and when this happens, it can lead to miscarriages), and fibroids can also grow around the cervix in certain rare cases.

Image; Wikimedia

Fibroids can come with certain symptoms but just because you are feeling this symptom doesn't automatically mark you for fibroid. One of the symptoms is heavy blood flow during or between periods which could be caused majorly by subserosal types of fibroids, extended periods, painful cramps, lower abdominal pain during periods, fullness at all times, protruded stomach which could be because of the fibroid size.

Other symptoms would include large blood clots during the period, urinating often as a result of the uterus resting on the bladder due to the fibroid, and pain during sex is another sign of fibroid and this can happen as a result of the positioning of the fibroid.

Image; Wikimedia

Many women experience relief from these signs during their menopausal years which is a result of a reduction in hormones but for some people, this doesn't happen and the growth disturbs them a lot at this point, so treatment is important.

Fibroid treatment is dependent on the size of the fibroid, the location of the fibroid, and the number of fibroid lumps. I am not saying you should jump to treatment immediately because you have a fibroid. If the fibroid isn't disturbing you, going for regular checkups might just be the required thing to do. In other cases, the doctor might suggest medications that can help the fibroid shrink so the doctors can be able to remove it. Taking the drug alone without removing it will only allow the fibroid to grow back to its normal position over time.

Another treatment is Uterine Fibroid embolization where the blood supply to the fibroid is cut off, and finally, surgery (myomectomy) is the final type of treatment available for fibroid and this is dependent on the size of the fibroid. Hysterectomy or radical hysterectomy can also be done but these are done as last options of treatment.