During you childbearing years smooth muscle cells may begin to grown in your uterus. These growths are often called uterine fibroids, but they are also called fibromyomas, leimyomas or myomas. This isn’t cancer, and the growths are not malignant. They are still tumors though, and they are quite common, especially for African-Americans. Most women who have them do not realize they have them. They sometimes shrink after menopause, and they rare for women under twenty.
Uterine fibroids are classified by the part of the uterus they appear in. If they grow on in the uterine cavity, they are known as submucous fibroids. Intramural fibroids appear on the uterine wall. Any outside the uterus are called subserous. Its possible, however, for a fibroids to grow so large it falls into several categories.
It would seem that fibroids growth is related to levels of the hormone estrogen. As fibroids are larger during pregnancy and in young adults when the estrogen levels would be quite high and tend to shrink down after menopause when estrogen levels drop considerably. While it is good to have a starting point to think about the development of fibroids, the complete cause of fibroids is not known at this time.
As with so many other syndromes with an indeterminate origin, it seems likely environmental toxins may be playing a key role. Its well known that some toxins, once inside your body, can mimic estrogen. That would also influence fibroid growth, even for women have stopped menstruating. For a woman who has gone through menopause, increasing fibroid growth can be doubly frustrating.
Fibroids can be harmful to the surrounding tissues and membranes, contributing problems that range from pain and bleeding to miscarriages and infertility. Common symptoms include heavy uterine bleeding that occurs during the menstrual cycle. Large fibroids cause pain and discomfort when they interfere with organs such as the bowel and bladder, and are at the heart of the most serious symptoms. An enlarged fibroid tumor causes infertility through compression of the uterus, or else causes miscarriages when the fibroid fills the uterine cavity and causes it to spasm.
Medical staff routinely check for fibroids during a pelvic examination. Ultrasound exams can also uncover previously unknown tumors. Treatment includes hormone regulation which may cause temporary infertility and other unwanted side effects. In the most extreme cases, medical staff utilize surgical procedures to remove the growths, including myomectomies to remove fibroids, uterine artery embolization which cuts off the blood supply to the fibroid tumor, or when all other treatments fail, hysterectomies are performed.
Hysterectomies are a permanent fix to problematic fibroids. However, as with any surgical procedure there are risks to be considered. Once this step is taken it cannot be reversed. There can be danger in damaging nearby organs and structures during surgery or fibroid growth post-hysterectomy in the space left behind or on any pieces of uterus remaining. Your health is affected for the rest of your life as hormone therapy is needed to correct the lack from your uterus.
While surgery can be a scary thought, it isn’t the only option. There are now more natural solutions to fibroids. FibroidClear is an herbal supplement. If taken regularly it can help reduce the size of fibroids and decrease swelling in the uterine cavity by helping regulate hormone levels. You can also use body cleansing techniques to flush the toxins from your body that aid in fibroid growth. These cleansing techniques are also useful to speed up the affects of the herbal supplements so are often done together.
While I could wish that no one had to deal with the trauma of uterine fibroids, it is a problem for many women. I hope that if you or a loved one are affected by this condition that this article has helped to answer you questions. If you would like more information you can watch in-depth videos and get free information on natural treatments for fibroids at my website: http://www.fibroidsetc.com/what-are-fibroids/