When Fibroid Pain Disrupts Your Life: Nonhormonal Solutions
When fibroid pain starts interfering with your life, you deserve more than being told to live with it. Read on to learn more about your nonhormonal treatment options for painful fibroids.
Avoid a Hysterectomy: Discover Nonsurgical Fibroid Relief
When heavy periods, pelvic pressure, or fibroid pain start taking over your life, you may be ready for treatment, but not ready to lose your uterus. Thankfully, in many cases, you don’t have to.
A hysterectomy removes your uterus and permanently eliminates uterine fibroids, but it’s also major surgery. It also permanently ends your fertility. Yet, 53% of women with fibroids are presented with a hysterectomy. That doesn’t have to be your only option.
If you want to avoid surgery or keep your uterus, you might consider uterine fibroid embolization (UFE). At Fresno Fibroid Center, Dr. Ashkan Behzadi, Dr. Benjamin Pruett, Dr. Sean Tower, and Dr. Brian Ng specialize in UFE.
Read on to learn more about UFE and how it can help relieve your fibroid symptoms.
Why are hysterectomies used to treat fibroids?
Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths that develop in or around your uterus. Some women never know they have them, while others experience symptoms that significantly interfere with everyday life.
Depending on their size, number, and location, fibroids can cause:
- Heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding
- Pelvic pain
- Abdominal fullness or bloating
- Frequent urination
- Constipation
- Pain during sex
- Lower back discomfort
A hysterectomy provides a definitive solution because removing your uterus means fibroids can’t grow back.
That's also its biggest tradeoff. After a hysterectomy, you can no longer become pregnant or carry a pregnancy. Recovery is also typically significantly longer than with less invasive procedures.
If your fibroids need treatment but you want to keep your uterus, it’s worth asking whether you have another option.
UFE treats fibroids without removing your uterus
Uterine fibroid embolization takes a completely different approach to fibroid treatment.
Instead of surgically removing your uterus or cutting individual fibroids out, UFE focuses on cutting off their blood supply. Without enough blood, fibroids shrink.
During the procedure, our team of interventional radiologists guides a thin catheter through an artery, typically accessing your vascular system through a small puncture in the wrist or groin.
We then direct the catheter toward the uterine arteries that feed blood to your fibroids and inject medical-grade particles to block blood flow.
As the fibroids shrink over the following weeks and months, your symptoms such as heavy bleeding, pelvic pressure, and pain may improve.
Discover four benefits of nonsurgical treatment for fibroids
When you have fibroids, you just want them gone. Choosing the nonsurgical path can provide many benefits, including:
1. You keep your uterus
UFE treats fibroids while leaving your uterus in place. Even if you’re finished having children or don’t plan to become pregnant, keeping your uterus may still matter to you personally.
2. There are no large surgical incisions
UFE doesn’t require an abdominal incision or surgical removal of uterine tissue.
Instead, we reach the arteries supplying your fibroids through a small catheter. That makes UFE minimally invasive rather than traditional surgery.
For most women, this means a shorter recovery than hysterectomy and a faster return to normal activities.
3. You can treat multiple fibroids at once
Many women don’t have just one fibroid. They have several.
UFE targets the uterine arteries supplying the fibroids rather than surgically removing each growth individually, which means multiple fibroids can often be treated during the same procedure.
4. You can get relief from more than heavy periods
Heavy menstrual bleeding gets a lot of attention, but the reality is that fibroids can interfere with your life in plenty of other ways.
For example, if you have a large fibroid, it can press against your bladder and have you constantly searching for a bathroom. UFE can help alleviate many of the symptoms of fibroids without any surgical interventions.
Your uterus isn’t always the price of fibroid relief
Fibroid symptoms can be miserable, but treating them doesn’t automatically have to mean removing your uterus.
Dr. Behzadi, Dr. Pruett, Dr. Tower, and Dr. Ng specialize in minimally invasive uterine fibroid embolization for women looking for an alternative to traditional fibroid surgery.
During your appointment, we evaluate your fibroids, discuss your goals, and help determine whether UFE could provide the relief you’re looking for without surgery.
To learn more, schedule a consultation through our “Request an Appointment” button or call 559-216-0746 today.
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