Fibroids Terror :: Symptoms and Treatment

Fibroids are the most common non-cancerous tumors in women of childbearing age. Fibroids are made of muscle cells and other tissues that grow in and around the wall of the uterus, or womb. The cause of fibroids is unknown. Risk factors include being African-American or being overweight.

Fibroids Causes

Fibroids are most common in women aged 30–40 years, but they can occur at any age. Fibroids occur more often in black women than in white women. They also seem to occur at a younger age in black women and grow more quickly.

Never having given birth to a child (called nulliparity)

Onset of your period prior to age 10

African American heritage (occurring 3-9 times more often than in Caucasian women)

Obesity is associated with the presence of uterine fibroids. (Of course, which came first -- the weight or the fibroids -- is still an unanswered question.)

Consumption of beef, red meat (other than beef), and ham has been associated with the presence of uterine fibroids.

Fibroid Symptoms

Most fibroids don’t cause symptoms—only 10 to 20 percent of women who have fibroids require treatment. Depending on size, location and number of fibroids, they may cause:

Heavy, prolonged menstrual periods and unusual monthly bleeding, sometimes with clots. This can lead to anemia.

Pelvic pain and pressure

Pain in the back and legs

Heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia), sometimes with the passage of blood clots

Sudden, severe pain due to a pedunculated fibroid

The most common symptom is prolonged and heavy bleeding during menstruation. This is caused by fibroid growth bordering the uterine cavity. In severe cases, heavy bleeding may last as long as 2 weeks. Fibroids rarely bleed between periods, except in a few cases of very large fibroids.

Fibroids Diagnosis

Diagnosis is usually accomplished by bimanual examination, better yet by gynecologic ultrasonography, commonly known as "ultrasound." Sonography will depict the fibroids as focal masses with a heterogeneous texture, which usually cause shadowing of the ultrasound beam. In cases where a more precise assay of the fibroid burden of the uterus is needed, also magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to definite the depiction of the size and location of the fibroids within the uterus.

How are fibroids treated?

There are many treatments for women with fibroids. Medicine can shrink some fibroids. Some women need surgery. A new way to treat women with fibroids is called uterine fibroid embolization.

Androgens. Your ovaries and your adrenal glands, located above your kidneys, produce androgens, the so-called male hormones. Given as medical therapy, androgens can relieve fibroid symptoms.

Vaginal, or hysteroscopic, myomectomy. Performed through the vagina and cervix, this procedure uses an instrument called a resectoscope, which allows surgeons to view the uterine fibroids through a small fiber optic device. The surgeons are able to shave off the fibroid growths using a hot electrified wire. This technique is used on small submucous uterine fibroids.
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20 Pounds Fat A Month

Overweight or big boned or heavy (that's the one I always used...I'm heavy) or whatever you want to call it. Since I was just like you I decided I was going to take back the word fat. I was a fat guy. Because I'm really big (get it?) on taking the bull by the horns and confronting issues head on, I'm not afraid of the word any more. And, it could be because I'm a lot thinner now.

So whether your issue is purely cosmetic: you want to look good (heck, who doesn't?) for a special someone, you need to fit into a particular piece of clothing, or you are just tired of carrying around the extra baggage and have decided...enough is enough, it's time to get serious. And you do have to get to this point, there's no magic that's going to happen to make you lose 20 pounds.

But it doesn't have to be miserable. You don't have to starve yourself. You may not even have to give up your favorite foods. I mean, unless your faves happen to be lard and suet sandwiches; you might want to cut back on those.

And obviously there is the health issue regarding overweight people. You know your heart and lungs have to work harder the heavier you are. And you could be courting high cholesterol and blood pressure.

I know you've heard all the song and dance about high fiber, low carbohydrate, non-fat, eating oat hulls and wheat chaff mixed with your soy milk. But I'm sorry that sounds like a miserable existence to me. You like it, fine; I'm sticking with the food I already enjoy. So, I'm telling you that you can continue eating your favorite foods and still lose those pounds.

Yup, that's right. And here's the catch. For you to be able to lose 20 pounds in a month, you need to learn how to reprogram you metabolism so that your body burns the calories you're taking in rather than storing them for later. And you'll do this very systematically by shifting the kind, the amounts, and most importantly the time that your consume these calories. I hope you don't mind that you'll have to eat more than three meals a day. Not grazing throughout the day but four actual meals. These four meals will change the rate that the hormones in your brain that control this stuff are delivered to your system.

You will find that being able to lose 20 pounds isn't nearly as difficult, or as painful, as you once might have thought. Take charge of your life and fell good again.

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