Fibroid is a tumor that develops most often during a woman’s reproductive years. For some reasons, black women seem more likely to develop fibroids.In Almost half of all black women,more than 30 years of age, have fibroids compare with 20 percent of white women of the same age group.Interestingly, studies have found a low incidence of fibroids among women in Africa. Overall,however,fibroids tend to occur earlier and grow faster in black women.
Fibroid does not occur at all before puberty and generally stops growing when a woman reaches monopause.An estimated 25 percent of women over the age of 30 and in nearly 40 percent of women after the age of 40 have fibroi,and t is more common in over weight women.Ironically, the risk is lower if a woman has had a baby or smokes.My doctor friend says though fibroid is common, no one is really sure how or why they develop, or why it occurs repeatedly in one woman and another not having it at all.
These facts are, however, associated with fibroid;it grows rapidly during pregnancy, when a woman takes estrogen supplements, disappears when the body stops making estrogen.There is, is however, some discernment to this position in the medical word as some doctors some women who have fibroid have completely normal estrogen levels and that the reason it progresses more. During pregnency, results from increased blood supply that occurs,which may be the cause of enlargement as fibroids requires a lot of blood to survive.And there are some who attribute it to diet.Although its natural habitat is the uterus,it can also develop structure that contains smooth muscle cells and in very rare cases, extend to another organ when it grows too large to confine itself to its original location.It is a solid tumor that cotains mostly smooth muscle held together by fibrous tissue.It starts as multiple tumors that grow very slowly.A woman may, however, have a single fidroid the size of a grape fruit or even one so large that it fills the entire abdomen -on the other hand, s fibroid tumor may be so small that it can be seen only under a microscope.So, the first thing you should do is to encourage your girlfriend to see a gynecologyist to examine her so as to know how big or small her fibroid is.Unless it becomes a problem,a woman may not realise she has fibroid.Problems caused depend on location of the fibroid.Therefore,the doctor’s first cocern would be to isolate precise location of the tumors.This information determines the best treatment.
There are about five types of fibroids, which i will explain to better educate women on the subject.
1 submucous fibroid: This type occursn just beneath the lining of the uterus and can displace the linning as it grows. This displacement can lead to menstrual irregularities and discomforts.After a while, this fibroid may develop athin stalk called pedicle.The stalk remains attached to the uterine wall, but the fibroid IS ABLE TO "TRAVEL" when this happens ,the tumor may protrude into the uterus, which wiill then contract in an attempt to rid itself of this foreign body.The fibroid may also enter the vagina.As the fibroid moves around, the stalk may become twisted and lose blood,causing bleeding between periods.Infection may also occur.
2 Intramural fibroid: This round tumor is most commmonly found within the uterine wall.The uterus can become enlarged as the intramural fibroid grows
3 subserous fibroid: This type grows on the outer wall of the uterus,sometimes jutting out from the lining.A subserous fibroid can grow overly large without causing any recognisable symptoms untill it interferes with other organs, creating problem there.
4 Pendunculated fibroid: such a tumour develops when a suberous fibroid grows a stalk called a peduncle.As these tumors get bigger and bigger, the original blood supply may not be sfficient to feed the fibroid.if the tumor becomes twisted or begins to degenerate as the blood supply diminishes, it can cause servere pain.
interligamentoue fibroid: This tumor, which grows sideways between the layers of the broad ligament(brand of fibrous connective tissue) supporting the uterus, is extremely difficult to remove wiyhout interfering wiyh impotant organs or the blood supply to uterus.
Parasitic fibroid: when a fibroid attached itself to another organ, it transforms into the rares of all types- the parastic fibroid.As the tumor establishes a new source of blood, its uterine stalk gradually degenerates untill the fibroid is no longer attached to the uterus at all.
A fibroid tumor, one of the masses a physician most frequently feels during a pelvic examination, is easily recognised during exploration surgery.Many fibroid tumors, however are discovered while a physician is looking fot domething else or simply are not discovered at all.
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