Fibroids And Pregnancy

If you have fibroids and are worried about being able to get pregnant, or worried about what happens during your pregnancy and how fibroids affect it, you absolutely must read this article, as it contains vital info on fibroids and pregnancy.

Usually women who are pregnant, or suspect that they are, go in for a gynecological exam. Or, you go in for your annual (or semi-annual, if that's what your doctor recommends based on your medical history), pelvic exam. That's when a great many women discover that they also have fibroids. Perhaps they hadn't noticed any symptoms before, so they were completely unaware they had fibroids at all. In most instances, having fibroids will not affect your pregnancy. In fact, thousands of women with fibroids have carried to full term without any complications and have experienced a successful childbirth without adverse effect. In about 10-30% of these women, however, fibroids do cause problems during their pregnancy.

Some of these problems are minor, and are controllable, such as some pain and light spotting. This is usually caused by fibroids that extend on a stalk, called a peduncle, which may become twisted. For pain you can lie down with an ice pack to numb the area. If you experience either severe pain or excessive bleeding, you will need to seek immediate medical treatment. Otherwise, there's no need to treat your fibroids during pregnancy. Your medical practitioner will continue to monitor your fibroids throughout your pregnancy and you can discuss your options following pregnancy if you feel inclined to do something about them.

When you are pregnant, your body is flooded with hormones, particularly estrogen, which is associated with fibroid growth. So fibroids will grow during pregnancy, or grow larger if you already have them.



The three main types of fibroids are intramural (most common type, growing inside the uterine wall), subserosal (fibroids growing outside the uterus, and can intrude on other organs), and submucosal (only about 5% of fibroids, growing inside the uterus).

Following pregnancy, when hormonal levels return to normal, most fibroids tend to shrink because they no longer have an adequate supply of hormones to continue their growth.

You may also have a genetic predisposition toward fibroid growth. Remember, fibroids themselves are not harmful. They're non-cancerous and most don't require treatment. Again, while you are pregnant, it is highly recommended that you do not have any fibroid treatment done at all.

More serious potential consequences of fibroids and pregnancy are increased risk of early labor and miscarriage. With very large fibroids, very occasionally other serious problems may arise such as difficult or stalled labor, the need for a cesarean section (C-section), wrong position of the fetus (due to fibroids actually forcing your baby's position out of its normal area), labor obstruction (where fibroids have grown into the birth canal) and postpartum hemorrhaging.

With your doctor's care and monitoring, you should be able to complete your pregnancy with no problems. If any do arise, he or she will be ready to properly treat you and your baby.