The fibroids in uterus are known to be noncancerous growths appearing in the uterus that often form during the childbearing years.
These fibroids aren’t associated with cancerous conditions and in the majority of the cases they don’t turn into cancer.
Information about uterine fibroids
About 75% of women have to face fibroids during their life, but usually they aren’t aware of their condition, because it doesn’t have any symptoms. The doctors find the fibroids incidentally during a prenatal ultrasound or pelvic exam.
When being faced with uterine fibroids only a few women require treatment. In order to remove or shrink the fibroids the doctors could use medical or surgical procedures.
This is done in case the patient experiences troublesome symptoms or discomfort. If the fibroid causes pain or bleeding, it should be treated as soon as possible.
Symptoms of fibroids in uterus
In case the fibroids cause symptoms these could include heavy periods, long periods of more than seven days, frequent urination, pelvic pain or pressure, constipation, problems with emptying the bladder, backache and leg pains.
Although this happens rarely, another one of the symptoms of uterine fibroids is severe pain in case the tumor outgrows the blood supply. In case the fibroid doesn’t get the necessary nutrients, it dies. If this happens, the fibroid starts to degenerate and it could affect the neighboring tissue, causing fever and pain.
In case of the fibroids in uterus that are hanging on a stalk it is possible that it twists around the stalk and in this case it causes pain to the patient. In the same time the blood supply of the tumor is also cut off.
Submucosal fibroids
These are the uterine fibroids that grow inside the uterus. If this is the kind of fibroid that you have then most probably you will experience heavy and long periods and these fibroids could represent a bigger problem in case of those women who would like to get pregnant.
Subserosal fibroids
These are the fibroids in uterus that project to the outside of the uterus. They could press the bladder causing the patient to experience urinary symptoms.
In case the fibroid can be found in the back of the uterus, it could press against the rectum, leading to constipation or against the nerves in the back, leading to backache.
Alarming symptoms
It might be time to see a doctor regarding the uterine fibroids in case you experience pain for a longer period of time, bleeding or spotting between the periods, painful or heavy periods, pain during intercourse, difficulty with bowel movements or difficulty emptying the bladder.
Causes of fibroids in uterus
The uterine fibroids can be found in the tissue of the uterus. It is a pale, firm and rubbery mass that is nothing like the neighboring cells. The grow pattern varies from one fibroid to the other. There are some that have a slow growth, while others stay the same or even get smaller over time.
The size of the uterine fibroids also varies. Some of them are so small that they cannot be detected with the human eye while others turn to bulky masses. There could be one or more tumor. If there are more, the uterus could grow to be touching the rib cage. At the moment the doctors don’t know the exact cause of the fibroids in uterus, but there have been some causes recognized.
Genetic alterations
There are numerous fibroids that come with genetic alterations, meaning that their genes are different from the genes of the normal muscle cells of the uterus.
Hormones
It has been shown that the formation of uterine fibroids is supported by progesterone and estrogen, the two hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle during every month. It is known that the fibroids come with more progesterone and estrogen receptors than the normal cells.
Chemicals
The fibroids are also affected by the different substances in the body.
Risk factors
At this moment there are only few known risk factors, besides the fact that it affects women during their reproductive ages. Some other factors include heredity, race, childbirth and pregnancy. All these factors have a word to say in the formation of the fibroids in uterus.
