New Fixes for Uterine Fibroids

Female? Over 40? You’ve probably got fibroids, benign tumors of the uterus that grow unnoticed for years before causing symptoms. There’s no one solution, but many. Six women shared what worked for them.

By Gail McBride, More Magazine.

What Causes Fibroids?
Asking questions about fibroids is a lot easier than getting answers. They’re the most common tumor of the female reproductive system: It’s estimated that 75 percent of all women have them. But doctors simply don’t know why fibroids develop in the first place or why they recur, nor do physicians agree on what the best treatment is.

 

These hard knots of muscle fiber and collagen grow within the walls of the uterus, sometimes protruding from it or even growing on stalks outside the womb. (See “Fibroid Types and Symptoms” on page 4.) Fibroids can range in size from the head of a pin to a grapefruit. Not all fibroids are troublesome, but when they are, the symptoms they can cause — heavy bleeding, an abnormally enlarged abdomen, pressure in the pelvic area, urinary incontinence and/or frequency, pain during sex, constipation, bloating, or sciatica (because of fibroids pressing on the bowel or a nerve) — depend on their size and location.

 

Risk factors for the tumors run the gamut from genes to body weight. “Research is showing that at least some fibroids arise from a genetic susceptibility,” says Elizabeth A. Stewart, MD, director, Center for Uterine Fibroids at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston. “Having a first-degree relative with the condition increases your risk.” But so do a host of other factors: excess weight, elevated blood pressure, alcohol intake, not having children, stress, excess exposure to estrogens in the environment — and just getting older. Race plays a role: African-American women are about three times more likely to get fibroids than Caucasians are.  Read More.