HOW TO BE FREED FROM FIBROID PAIN

Compared to other women’s health issues, there is not a huge amount of research devoted to the study of uterine fibroids, probably because a fibroid is considered a benign growth. But don’t tell that to the women whose fibroids cause tremendous discomfort and excessive bleeding every month. Benign as a fibroid might be as far as tumors go, the symptoms it can cause aren’t always so benign, especially around the time of menstruation. Who’s affected by fibroids? Statistics show that at least 25 percent of all women have fibroids — and about one third of these women will experience pain and abnormal bleeding. The typical menstrual cycle lasts for three to seven days, starts off heavy, and gets lighter. Fibroids, however, can make your periods excessively heavy and longer lasting. Signs that a fibroid or fibroids may be affecting your flow include bleeding for more than eight days with more than two to three days of heavy bleeding at the outset of your period, and having many blood clots in your flow. (If you haven’t yet been diagnosed with fibroids and experience this kind of heavy bleeding, see your doctor — fibroids are not the only cause of these symptoms.) Fibroids’ Effects on Menstruation Each month, your uterus goes through a cycle: It creates a thickened inner lining in case a pregnancy occurs. If pregnancy does not occur, your body sheds that lining — this is your period. But if you have fibroids within the uterine wall, or fibroids that protrude into the uterine cavity, more surface area is created. Consequently there is more thickened lining to shed when during your period. It’s not the size but the location of the fibroid, or fibroids, that has the most impact. If your fibroids are big enough, you will feel a stronger sensation of pressure at the time of your period because of blood flow to the fibroids. Fibroids put more pressure on the uterine lining, also causing more bleeding and pain. In the days leading up to your period, you might feel more intense cramping as your uterus goes through its motions to force out the lining, and a stronger sensation of pressure when your period starts because of the heavier blood flow. Besides heavier, longer periods, fibroids can cause bleeding at other times of the month, and all this blood loss can cause anemia — which occurs when you don’t have enough iron in your blood. Ways to Ease Fibroid Pain Your choice of treatment depends on the amount of bleeding and the level of pain you regularly experience. Pain relief. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, may help; popular choices include ibuprofen (Motrin and others) and combination products like Excedrin. These drugs are prostaglandin inhibitors — they cut down on the pain from cramps as they counter the production of chemicals called prostaglandins, which are produced naturally by the uterus for the contraction process that starts menstruation. You may also need to take an iron supplement to prevent or correct anemia. Hormone therapy. Although it's not clear what causes fibroids, they do seem to be affected by changes in hormone levels, particularly estrogen. When the estrogen level is high, like during pregnancy, fibroids may grow, and when it’s in decline, like at menopause, they often shrink. So your doctor may recommend hormone therapy that alters the production of estrogen. Birth control pills are often used to minimize the heavy bleeding and cramps that occur with fibroids, though they won’t reduce their size. Other hormone-based options to control heavy bleeding include progesterone-like injections (Depo-Provera) and an IUD that contains progesterone-like Mirena (levonorgestrel). Another class of drug, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists such as Lupron (leuprolide), temporarily shrink fibroids. These drugs are often given before fibroids are surgically removed to reduce the risk of bleeding during surgery and to make surgery easier. In non-surgical situations, they are sometimes used to give you a break from heavy bleeding and a chance to recover from anemia. However, GnRH tricks your body into thinking you are in menopause, and it can have menopausal side effects like hot flashes and, over time, bone thinning, so it’s not a permanent solution, and is typically used for less than six months. Other therapies. Some women have found fibroid relief from the low-tech application of heat on the abdomen and from complementary and alternative medicine approaches, like acupuncture. The type of treatment you opt for will often depends on your age. If your symptoms are manageable with pain relief medication, you may decide to wait it out and not treat or remove the fibroids. If you are near menopause or premenopausal, strong medication that shuts down estrogen production may get you through until menopause officially starts and fibroids shrink on their own. But if you are younger, you may want to consider minimally invasive surgery or a new non-invasive procedure — focused ultrasound — that may help shrink a large percentage of fibroids and spare your reproductive organs.