Medical Therapy For Uterine Fibroids

You may have had a diagnosis of uterine fibroids, and been told that you might need surgery, but there is a lot to know regarding fibroids and women should realize they have a lot to discuss with their gyno if they've been diagnosed. Many fibroids are found on pelvic exam or pelvic ultrasound, and it's a surprise as the woman wasn't seeking consultation for period symptoms. Not all fibroids progress to having symptoms, and in fact a significant percent of women who do have symptoms won't need medicine or surgery because they report reduction of symptoms with observation alone. But for those with uterine bleeding, pelvic pains, or women with bulk symptoms such as abdominal swelling, pelvic heaviness, frequent urination, discomfort with sex, or bladder discomfort

Both suregical and medical therapy for uterine fibroids are used commonly.. The chances of successful resolution of your symptoms depends upon what your symptoms are and what your plans for the future are. At Women's Health Practice we take into consideration the size of the fibroids (also called myoma(s)), the location of the fibroids within the uterus, and the symptoms just mentioned, your desire for future childbearing, and your reproductive age (specifically how near menopause you are). The first medication proven to treat the size of the the uterus and the uterine bleeding casused by fibroids was a GNRH agonist called Lupron. It can cause menopausal symptoms but these can be managed with birth control pill use called add-back therapy. Either progeserone only pills or very low dosage oral contraceptive pills (such as Lo LoEstrin) are usually tried first. If bleeding and uterine fibroids are a problem then an ablation and often will work well. At Womens’s Health Practice we use 3-D imaging, images of the lining, color flow studies as well as other testing to try to predict how successful the treatment really will be. For women who have no contraindications to hormone or progesterone therapy, age alone is not a contraindication for continued use. Lysteda is another alternative for non-surgical therapy. In our practice we are also enrolling women in the VENUS study, there are a number of sites enrolling this trial designed to treat women with fibroids with medication. Call 217-356-3736 if interested.

Post-Endometrial Ablation Syndrome

If you have had an endometrial ablation and have developed symptoms of pelvic pain you might have post endometrial ablation syndrome. What is post-endometrial ablation syndrome? It is a constellation of symptoms due to entrapped blood or tissue within a uterus that has previously undergone an endometrial ablation. We are able to diagnose this at Women's Health Practic e but occasionally other conditions are causing similar symptoms. Other complications of endometrial ablation include pregnancy, risks from pre-existing conditions such as a polyp or fibroid, an infection of the uterus, or a pregnancy. If you have had a tubal ligation then it is possible that the condition could be post-ablation tubal sterilization syndrome. The ablation procedure is designed to destroy all lining tissue, but in fact there is no way to confirm the completeness of the ablation. It is thought that either residual or regrowth of the tissue is producing the symptoms of post-endometrial ablation syndrom...

Passing Your Uterine Lining, Menstrual Period Norms

Decidual Cast Periods can be fairly easy, passing some tissue at a time, or off can come the whole lining in one piece called a decidual cast. Generally the lining of the uterus is only 6-8 mm thick at the time of the menstrual period, and it is shed gradually, a few cells at a time. The decidual cast is when the entire lining passes spontaneously. It's not uncommon, but it usually both uncomfortable, and alarming to some. But us women are designed to have some sort of periods Or Not? We have to pass tissue each month. Or Not? Are they good for us? Or Not? Do we want them? Or Not? Is this something that is individual? Or Not? It's a complex topic that I will be discussing a lot over my time in this blog. So lets start with basics: How much do we bleed and what are we loosing, and just what was this that the patient passed? And another basic: track your periods, and the Women's Health Practice site http://www.womenshealthpractice.com/media/pdf/menstrual_chart.pdf you...

You Have an IUD: But a Positive Pregnancy Test

Fortunately IUD pregnancy failures are rare. But if you have an IUD for contraception, and you get a positive pregnancy test, you probably ask yourself, what next? Well, make your gyno appointment promptly, this is a condition that is not typically an emergency, but it can be and it’s not handled over the phone or on a blog, or through self diagnosis! That being said, some researchers from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas decided to look back at over 4100 women who had IUDs and of those 42 cases who became pregnant in their institution, over about a year period of time, to help understand what these women could expect when they got to their gyno and what actually happened to their pregnancies. Accurate pregnancy diagnosis, pelvic examination, and pelvic ultrasound were the cornerstones of the evaluations. They had very specific ways they looked at their ultrasound to prove there was no pregnancy in the fallopian tube, or partially in the fallopian tube...

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