Fibroids Treatment

With so many developments in the field of medicine, there are now increasing number of treatments available for all kinds of diseases. And treatments which were previously not so safe have improved significantly. Gynecology has equally benefited from the increasing advancements and nowadays there are a number of fibroids treatments women can go for.

In many cases women do not experience any symptoms if they have fibroids. Since these are benign tumors no steps for the treatment of fibroids need to be taken and they should just be monitored so that they do not grow to the point where they interfere with anything. Normally they grow quite slowly and after a certain age they tend to shrink.

However, when the patient does suffer from fibroid symptoms she has to get them treated. Some of the treatments for fibroids are:

Medications for fibroid treatment:
The medications used for treatment of fibroids are meant for the hormones which are related to the symptoms. These medications include:

Gonadotropin releasing hormones (GnRH) agonists:
These medications such as Lupron and Synarel reduce the levels of estrogen and progesterone to shrink the fibroids. They also improve anemia. This is why doctors prescribe it to patients before surgeries so that the fibroids get shrunk. Quite a few women experience hot flashes with the use of these medicines.

Progestin releasing intrauterine device (IUD):
Used to assuage pain and stop bleeding, progestin releasing IUD is to treat the symptoms and not the fibroid itself.

Androgens:
Although these drugs shrink fibroids and get rid of the symptoms, these drugs have side effects which make many women reluctant to use them. These side effects include weight gain, body hair growth, acne, headaches and depression. The voice may also be affected with the use of these drugs. This is why this treatment is hardly ever used.

Others:
There are some medicines which are not hormonal and can be used to relieve the pain caused by fibroids but they do not have any effect on the bleeding. These are non-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of fibroids. Then there are some medicines which reduce the bleeding associated with fibroids but they do not affect their size.

Hysterectomy as a fibroid treatment:
This is the only definitive fibroids treatment which has been proven as an effective one. But this is a major surgery after which women can not have any children. It can also remove ovaries but many women keep them.
Myomectomy:
In this form of surgical operation the fibroids are removed but the uterus remains intact. But the problem with this surgical operation is that the fibroids can come back. There are several options for myomectomy. These are:

Abdominal myomectomy:
This fibroid treatment is for those who have multiple fibroids or very big ones or those which are very deep.

Laparoscopic or robotic myomectomy:
If they are just a few fibroids, or ones which are small in size the doctor may go with this option. In this type of surgery, fine instruments are used to remove the fibroids from uterus. The inside of the body is viewed on a monitor with the help of a tiny camera which is attached to one of these fine instruments. The instrument is inserted via abdomen.

Hystroscopic myomectomy:
This operation is quite delicate so it requires a doctor with a lot of experience in this area and technique, and is done when the fibroids are confined inside the uterus.

Focused ultrasound surgery for fibroids treatment:
The good thing about this fibroids treatment is that it is a non-invasive technique and the uterus is not removed.

It requires an MRI scanner and the patient is taken inside the scanner so that the doctor can view the anatomy and look for the fibroids and their location. After detecting them, the doctors eliminate them without making any incisions. This is possible by focusing sound waves which are high in energy and which have high frequency. When they hit the tumor it gets destroyed.

The only problem with this technique is that it is a relatively new technology so researchers are still studying the long term health effects of this fibroids treatment.

Then there are some other treatments which are not very invasive and there are alternative medicines available which help with this problem.

One alternate medicine uterine fibroids treatment that has proven effective in many cases in the past can be found here.

Whatever approach is used, it is usually better to do some research about it and discuss it with your doctor to get his or her recommendation for the treatment most appropriate for you.