Uterine Fibroids affect as many as 80% of the adult female population. Generally it is recognized that 20% of females in their 20's are affected, 30% in their 30's and so on. However, since uterine fibroids often go unnoticed and undetected by many women, and since African women and those of African descent are affected more (by as much as 100%) the true numbers are really unknown. What are uterine fibroids?
Although their cause is unknown, it is generally agreed that fibroids are muscle cells which have gone haywire, growing abnormally. They consist of fibrin (fibrous material), a multitude of veins and a lot of blood. They use estrogen (the female hormone) as food and require a large blood source. They are a kind of benign (non cancerous) tumor.
How do they affect women?
The most common effect is that they inhibit a woman from getting pregnant and, if she does become pregnant, they can inhibit a full term pregnancy. Other effects can be a lot of pain, especially when fertile, during menstruation and during intercourse. A woman may have just one, or several; they may be intra-mural (within the uterine wall), outside the uterus or within the uterine cavity. They can grow to various sizes, from a small pebble to the size of a large grapefruit. The large ones can be dangerous insofar as they can press against vital organs such as the urethra (which may restrict the flow of urine).
How are they detected?
Routine ultrasound scans generally pick them up but if you are having some of the symptoms listed above, it is recommended that you see your physician with a view to having an ultrasound scan to identify the problem.
What treatment is available?
Mainstream medical treatment consists of a choice of 3 main measures.
Embolization. This is a treatment whereby a catheter is inserted into an artery at the top of your thigh and moved through the artery until it reaches your uterus. Once there it finds the vein or veins that transport your blood into the fibroid where it deposits a number of tiny balls of material that block the flow of blood to the fibroid. Starved of blood, the fibroid, over a period of months, shrivels and dies. There are side effects and this treatment is not suitable for women with several fibroids.
Estrogen starvation. This is usually used with women in their 40's or older and sometimes with those who have finished childbearing. Once a month, for up to 6 months, a formula is injected into the woman's abdomen. This inhibits the production of estrogen and simulates the onset of menopause. The symptoms of menopause soon become apparent; hot flushes, night sweats, irritability and so on. The treatment cannot be continued for longer than 6 months because long term effects are unknown. Once the treatment is finished, the symptoms of menopause gradually abate. The result, it is hoped, is that the fibroids, starved of estrogen, will shrink and die. This is not always the outcome.
Hysterectomy. The third treatment available is partial or full hysterectomy. A partial hysterectomy will remove only the uterus with the fibroids. This leaves the tubes and ovaries in place to prevent early menopause. It can be said that the greater the number of fibroids and the greater their size, the greater the risk of severe blood loss.
Alternatives. There are two! The first is to simply "let sleeping dogs lie." As fibroids are non-cancerous they are rarely a life threatening problem. The normal scenario is that when a woman enters menopause, the fibroids are starved of the estrogen they need, so they will shrink and die naturally. This option can be OK for an older woman.
The other alternative, especially for women who are young and wish to have children, is to seek out information on herbal treatments. There are a number of these treatments on offer, one of which is a product called Vitalzym. If you use a search engine to find links using the keyword "fibroids" you will find several sites with good general information about fibroids, the mainstream treatments and the alternatives. I haven't checked but, as this is such a common health problem for women, there may be some online forums you can use to gather more info.
