Medical Questions » Female Problems Questions » Question No. 388
| Question: | I have been told that my painful periods are due to fibroids in my uterus. What are these, and are they cancerous? |
| Answer: | The uterus (or womb) is made up of muscular tissue, fibtous tissue and glandular tissue. After childbirth, the uterus must shrink from a very large distended size, back to its usual shape and size, which resembles that of a small pear. It is thought that the stress on the uterus during pregnancy may result in some minor injury to the fibrous tissue in the uterine wall, and after the uterus contracts, this fibrous tissue repairs itself in an abnormal way. The result is the formation of one or more hard fibrous balls in the wall of the uterus, which may be the size of a golf ball or larger.
When the uterus contracts to force out the blood and wastes during a period, these fibrous balls distort the uterus, and cause the muscles to go into painful cramps.
Fibroids are not cancerous, but they can certainly cause considerable distress to a woman, and because their symptoms can mimic a cancer, they are always thoroughly investigated.
If the uterine cramps and discomfort are very distressing, the uterus can be removed in a hysterectomy operation, or if the women wishes to have more children, the individual fibroid masses can be cut out of the uterus.
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