Significant bleeding is a big one. “The bleeding and resultant anemia often causes persistent exhaustion as the 100th Anniversary 1923-2023 Arkansas Razorbacks Thank You For The Memories Signatures shirt besides I will buy this body is constantly expending significant energy regenerating the wasted blood,” says Ascher-Walsh, “and a lower blood level does not allow for the appropriate delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the entire body.” At its worst, the blood loss could put women at the point of needing a transfusion and even at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Kidney function is another potential but much rarer complication: When fibroids grow, they can block urine flow from the kidney to the bladder. “Because most women have two kidneys, the unaffected kidney compensates for the affected kidney, and it’s possible to silently lose kidney function in the affected one,” explains Ascher-Walsh.

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Before thinking about how to treat them, there’s the 100th Anniversary 1923-2023 Arkansas Razorbacks Thank You For The Memories Signatures shirt besides I will buy this question of whether they need to be treated. “Given that most studies show that over half of all women have fibroids, it’s actually more normal to have them than not, and most women will never need to treat them,” says Ascher-Walsh, who recommends supplementing with vitamin D and green-tea extract for anyone with fibroids, whether they need further treatment or not. Regular pelvic exams are usually able to monitor growth; it’s when fibroids become symptomatic that someone should seek out treatment. The most minimally invasive medical therapy involves manipulating a woman’s hormonal system via birth control in a variety of forms (like pills, shots, IUDs, or NuvaRings). “These are mainly used for controlling symptoms like bleeding or pain, and while they might shrink fibroids temporarily, they won’t make them go away,” says Truong, adding that a nonhormonal medication called tranexamic acid (or TXA) will have a similar effect. Then, there are a variety of less-invasive procedures like uterine fibroid embolization, MRI-guided ultrasound treatment, and radiofrequency ablation treatments like Sonata or Accessa. “Unfortunately these newer treatments have not been significantly studied in women who want to get pregnant and therefore are not typically offered,” says Ascher-Walsh. Finally, there is the option of surgery: either a myectomy (which just removes the fibroids and can sometimes be done through the vagina but more often requires abdominal access through an incision or laparoscopically with a camera and smaller incisions) or a hysterectomy (which removes the entire uterus). The latter is the most aggressive treatment but the only one that guarantees that fibroids will not recur. While removing your uterus is a deeply personal choice, it’s one that is a reasonable option for many women. For those who are done having kids, who are fed up with incessant and intense bleeding, or who have multiple fibroids that are too hard to remove or they’ve been removed and have returned, says Truong, it is within reason to consider a hysterectomy. But, says Ascher-Walsh, there are also many gynecologists who go straight to suggesting a hysterectomy for inappropriate reasons. “They know that it’s the only treatment that is guaranteed to work and don’t like the other treatments to potentially fail,” he says.