Why Do Fibroids Cause Heavy Bleeding?
If you are wanting an answer to the question, “Why do fibroids cause heavy bleeding?” then there are a number of reasons why this is the case. Fibroids are one of the most common causes of heavier periods and if you find that your last longer than 5-7 days and are particularly heavy, then ensure that you visit your doctor for a diagnosis.
In brief, the three main reasons why fibroids cause heavy bleeding are:-
1. A blockage of normal menstrual flow, caused by the location of a fibroid. This causes a back-up of blood which seems heavier when released
2. Uterine congestion, common in women with fibroids, can cause a change in the blood flow around the uterus
3. When fibroids grow, new blood vessels form and this means a greater volume of blood is flowing through the uterus
There are a number of simple steps you can take to help with heavy bleeding causes by your fibroids. Firstly, avoid wearing tampons, as these can cause cramping and pain. You can try taking an anti-inflammatory, such as ibuprofen as this may help reduce inflammation. Regular gentle exercise can also help to improve the blood flow as can heat therapy, thus helping relieve congestion. Many women become anemic due to the heavy bleeding and if this is applicable to you, take a good all-round vitamin supplement together with folic acid.
Although fibroids cause heavy bleeding, many women often feel that this is only one of many symptoms-and often not the worse! Others include terrible bloating, constipation, urinary problems, pain during intercourse and severe cramping.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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QUESTION:
Heavy bleeding during ovulation..don’t know why?
I got off birth control pills about 5 months ago, since then my period has been extremely regular, happening about every 28 days. The last day of my last period was February 5th, then all of a sudden yesterday (Feb. 20th) I started cramping pretty badly, which has happened to me before during ovulation time, but I started bleeding. Now I have spotted a little bit before during ovulation but I have never bled this much two weeks after my period. I am bleeding heavily like the most heavy flow day of my period and the blood is a lot darker than my normal period blood. Does anyone know what could be causing this? The only thing that I have been doing differently than past months is I just started working out 6 days a week, starting this past Monday, and eating healthy but that is it. I am really confused as to whats going on. I’m 24 so I know what my cycle should be like and this is really abnormal for me. I did a Google search about bleeding during ovulation and read it could be polyps, fibroids, miscarriage, so I am a little worried about what this is. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.-
ANSWER:
getting off the pill, working out,eat healthier these can all cause you cycles and possible the flow to change as well but if your concerned about it go see you gynecologists and he/she probably give you some thing to make the flow less heavy so your less likely to get anemia and other problems.
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QUESTION:
I’ve had 2 Lupron shots for fibroids, and I’m still bleeding.Why?My doc says this is unusual.I’m only 28.
I want to know the specifics of why Lupron shots aren’t working for me. My doctor says it’s prob b/c of the submucosal fibroids with lots of blood vessels. I have so many of them (20-30) and one large one and a few medium size ones. They cause so much pain and bleeding and I haven’t stopped bleeding since Jan 24. I had a depo-provera shot on Jan 18, a Lupron shot Feb 8 and another March 9. I had my heavy period already after the 1st Lupron shot from March 1st-9th. Before Jan, I would stop bleeding for a week to 10 days a month but now it just won’t stop bleeding. My blood count in Jan was 8.2 but it’s at least going up slowly with the Lurpon shots and taking 325mg of iron 3x/day and folic acid 3x/day. Two weeks ago my blood was up to 10.2. I had fibroids transvaginally removed 2 1/2 hrs ago already but prob didn’t get them all out. So this time I’m having abdominal surgery as well as a hysteroscopy. I’m just waiting for my blood level to go up now.-
ANSWER:
Has your doctor sent you to a specialist? Doctors are not omniscient and should be able to recognize when they’ve reached their limits.I will also point out that there are a couple more options available to you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibroids#Treatment
I had a similar (though not as bad) problem with fibroids. I had the uterine arterial embolization mentioned in the above article, and it worked outstandingly. Since the UAE, I have only enough period to let me know the plumbing is still working.
I did not have the HIFU treatment, but it sounds completely non-surgical and thus you wouldn’t have to deal with the problems that other techniques have.
When I was researching the UAE, I noticed from some support groups this trend: women with a lot of small fibroids did better with UAE, while women with one large fibroid did better with myomectomy. And when I say large, I mean a fibroid that is being talked about in terms of months, e.g. one fibroid that makes a person look three or five months pregnant. The advantage that UAE has for the first group is that the UAE killed all of the fibroids no matter what size, whereas the myomectomy only addresses fibroids that can be seen.
However, at this point if I needed to be treated again, I would go with the HIFU first to see how that helped and then go with the UAE if HIFU didn’t work. I personally would not even let the Lupron near me – that essentially creates an artificial menopause.
Note that I’m not even mentioning hysterectomy. I might have considered that if everything else failed, but it would have had to be a life-threatening, no other treatment had worked at all situation.
In the meantime, here’s a couple more things I found:
Cholesterol is a precursor chemical to estrogen, and it is the estrogen that is causing the problems. I recommend highly that you go on a cholesterol reducing lifestyle:
1. Minimize animal fats – especially sausages, bacon and (sadly) cheese. I would not eliminate beef as it is high in dietary iron, which is absorbed more easily than supplements.
2. Eliminate ANY deep-fried foods. Even foods fried in unsaturated fat has excess amounts of trans-fatty acids that cause LDL cholesterol.
3. Take niacin in a time-released multi-B formula.
4. Exercise as much as you can.
5. Iron – vitamin C increases absorption and calcium reduces absorption. Add lemon or lime juice to steak and any other iron source you consume; if you are eating steak, don’t have cheese or milk products, even if they are fat free. Also, don’t take a calcium supplement when you take your iron supplement, and do take a vitamin C supplement.Good luck, and I hope you get the treatment you need.
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QUESTION:
Is it normal to have low Hemoglobin and low B12 level, but my iron level is fine?
Could there be anyother reason other than my fibroids and heavy menstrual bleeding causing this?I recently had a laproscopy done and the nurse noticed that my my hemoglobin level was 81 which were from my test reults which were taken two weeks prior to the surgery. They re-tested me that same day and my level was 82. The doctor was not too concerned as I have fibroids and I have very heavy bleeding most of the time during my periods and he said that is most likely why my hemoglobin is so low.
Anyways, went to my family doctor and she was shocked that it was so low, my hemoglobin in October of 2005 was 139 (that was the last time I had a blood test – I know that`s bad, shortly after that I started having really really heavy periods).
She put me on iron supplements and i had another blood test about two weeks later and my hemoglobin is now at 83, my B12 is low, but my iron levels are fine.Any thoughts, feedback appreciated.
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ANSWER:
This could still be related to the fibroids if you are bleeding a lot. These levels could be because of heavy bleeding if your periods are irregular.I would recommend getting another opinion from a gyn that does not share the same office of the one you currently use to see what they think could be going on.
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QUESTION:
can someone tell me why i’m having a lot of pain cause the dr. doesnt know?
i having been having pain in and around my uterus with heavy bleeding when i have my period. the pain feels like contractions and i’m not pregnant. ive done had 4 kids had my tubes tied with my c section almost 8 mths ago. I’m in a a lot of pain now. dr. did sonogram on me tuesday cus he thought i had fibroids and said sonogram was fine that he didn’t know what else to do for me. ive been hurting for almost 2 mths now. the pain comes and goes.-
ANSWER:
This is sound serious. You need to get a second opinion.
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QUESTION:
Left Ovary cannot be seen in an ultra sound?
Why could that be?
A number of fibroids exist in my mothers uterus and possibly a pulp.
One of the fibroids exist in the submocosal location? Im not enitrely sure what this means but I believe its growth is causing the heavy menstrual bleeding of my mother and it does need to be operated on, cant anyone help me?-
ANSWER:
Fibroids are NOT cancer. I’ve had many fibroids resulting from a disease called endometriosis,. If your mother has massive fibroids, they can and will cause a lot of pain. They don’t belong there. This is what happens. I hope her Dr is going to do something about it. At first, I refused because I was only 35. That didn’t work. My endometriosis got so bad, I passed out from hemorrhage. Then I woke up in the hospital with a complete hysterectomy because the Dr told my husband he should sign the release form since I was unable. My husband did because he thought I was going to die. No, I knew differently. I only wish the Dr hadn’t gone so drastically. Oh well, So don’t worry, fibroids are never cancer, it’s only thick excessive tissue growth. And yes, it hurts. I hope your mom feels better. Make sure she gets another opinion, That is so very important.
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