Fibroid Pain Relief
About 30 percent of all women get fibroids by age 35 and almost 80 percent of women will have fibroids by age 50. How do you recognize and manage uterine fibroid pain?
Causes of Fibroid Pain
Uterine fibroids are not always accompanied by painful symptoms. Sometimes, a tumor can trigger changes in the nature of a woman’s periods or manifest through another symptom, and sometimes fibroids are asymptomatic. However, fibroid pain (especially during periods) is one of the most common symptoms of uterine fibroids.
When tumors grow, pain usually comes along. Oftentimes, an enlarged tumor presses on the woman’s uterus causing pain. The enlarged uterus in turn begins pressing on nearby organs, especially on the bladder. The level of pain often depends on the location and size of fibroids. Heavy physical exercises and sometimes sex can also cause pain in women with fibroids.
The nature of pain (constant or occasional) as well as the level of pain may vary in every individual case.
How to Manage Fibroid Pain
Before treating fibroid pain, your gynecologist must determine the size of fibroids, where they are located, and whether or not they are actively growing. After a thorough examination, your doctor may suggest several options:
Painkillers (over the counter or prescription). Most often, they help reduce fibroid pain. But keep in mind that pills are only a temporary solution.
Hormonal therapy. Oral birth control pills or IUD can help reduce or control the size of myomas, therefore reducing fibroid pain. But this is also only a temporary measure to mitigate unpleasant symptoms.
Heating pad. To relieve pain, it is recommended to apply heat to the abdominal area.
Lifestyle and diet changes can help reduce pain in the lower abdomen. Daily moderate exercise or even walking and low-estrogen diet can contribute to the increased blood supply, decreased fibroid growth.
Treatment of uterine fibroids. The only way to permanently defeat fibroid pain is to treat the cause of pain, uterine fibroids. Your doctor may suggest surgery (myomectomy, hysterectomy or partial hysterectomy) but today there are other, safer methods of treatment. Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE) is a nonsurgical method of uterine fibroid treatment. Its key advantage is that UFE allows women to keep the uterus intact and fully functional, without risks and complications of a fibroid surgery.
Сall Atlanta Fibroid Center at 770-953-2600 or make an appointment online to learn more about the UFE procedure.
