Citizens Memorial Hospital | Vitality | Spring 2019

citizensmemorial.com 9 Yes—these tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus may not produce symptoms. So while up to 80 percent of women develop fibroids by age 50, many never know they have them. That’s just one thing to understand about fibroids. Here are five more facts every woman should know. Fibroids are rarely cancerous. Fewer than 1 in 10,000 fibroids are malignant. What’s more, having fibroids doesn’t raise your risk of developing a cancerous fibroid. Nor does it raise your chance of getting other forms of cancer of the uterus. Fibroids vary in size and number. They can be as small as an apple seed or as big as a grape or baseball. And some become big enough to enlarge a woman’s abdomen, making it appear as though she were pregnant. They can also grow as a single tumor. Or a woman may have many of them. Most women with fibroids have normal pregnancies. Still, problems can arise. Fibroids can obstruct the birth canal and raise a woman’s risk of needing a cesarean section. They also affect the growth of the baby and increase the chance that a baby will be breech or born early or that labor will not progress. The good news: All obstetricians have experience dealing with fibroids and pregnancy. And most women who have fibroids and become pregnant don’t need to see a doctor with expertise in high-risk pregnancies. Fibroids that cause symptoms can be hard to live with. Symptoms include heavy bleeding—sometimes enough to cause anemia— Think you might have fibroids?Talk to a board certified obstetrician/ gynecologist at CMH OB/GYN and Pediatric Clinic. Call 417-777-8131 and schedule an appointment today. 80 percent of women develop fibroids by age 50. But many never know they have them. Up to facts to know about fibroids Could you have fibroids and not know it? during menstrual periods. And periods may last longer than usual. Fibroids also may trigger pain or a feeling of pressure or heaviness in the lower pelvic area, the back or the legs. Some women also experience pain during sex. Others have the constant feeling that they need to urinate, while others have a feeling of pressure in the bowel. Women may also experience bloating and constipation. Several treatments are available for fibroids that cause symptoms. Over-the- counter and prescription medicines may ease painful periods and heavy bleeding, though they won’t cause a fibroid to shrink or go away. Surgical options for getting rid of fibroids include: Myomectomy. Rather than performing a hysterectomy, doctors remove only the actual fibroids. Typically, doctors only advise a hysterectomy when a fibroid is very large or a woman has multiple fibroids. Minimally invasive hysterectomy. Surgically removing the entire uterus using the da Vinci robot or laparoscopy. Sources: American Academy of Family Physicians; Office on Women’s Health 1 2 3 4 5 EXTRA POUNDS. Being overweight raises your risk. And for very heavy women, the risk is two to three times higher than average.