Pain During Sex Treatment Flashcards
Why Do Fibroids Lead to Painful Sex?
One explanation for the pain is the size of the fibroids. Large fibroids can produce pressure in the uterus and can cause intercourse to become painful. Cervical fibroids can also press on the cervix or actually hang through the cervical opening, making it exceedingly difficult for women to enjoy sexual relations. To make matters worse, fibroids growing in this area can also result in bleeding during sexual activity.
When intercourse becomes uncomfortable, women’s libido suffers. Another explanation for the loss of interest in sex is the hormones. Even small fibroid tumors can cause hormonal imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, which, in turn, affects the libido.
Fibroids can also produce other extremely unpleasant symptoms, such as:
Heavy menstrual bleeding Severe cramps Lower back pain Bloating Pelvic pressure Weight gain Frequent urge to urinate Constipation
Diagnosis of Fibroids
Many women have to go to five or more doctors in New York City to get diagnosed with fibroids. Often, fibroids aren’t even suspected until the woman is pregnant and they appear on an ultrasound. When you search for “fibroid specialist near me” in Forest Hills, one of the first results will be VIVA EVE, a company that has the best fibroids surgeons in NYC as part of their team. They’re fibroid specialists who know what to look for and how to treat you.
To find the exact location of your fibroids, tests (including ultrasound and MRI) are used to see into your uterus. Our state-of-the-art fibroid treatment center for uterine fibroids has the latest technology needed to make a correct diagnosis and to suggest the best course of treatment.
Until you undergo fibroid treatment to have fibroids removed by a gynecologist specializing in fibroids, the pain during sex may significantly affect your life and even lead to mood changes, low self esteem and depression. The VIVA EVE team provides extensive counseling and finds the right course of treatment for each individual patient, whether it is a traditional treatment like myomectomy or minimally invasive alternatives like uterine fibroid embolization (UFE).
What Causes of Fibroids?
The exact reason why women develop uterine fibroids is up for debate. Some of the reasons could be:
Genetic predisposition
Unbalanced estrogen and progesterone levels
Higher than normal body mass index
African American women, Ashkenazi Jews and women from Eastern Europe are a lot more likely to develop fibroids
The fibroid surgeon takes a complete medical history to understand what treatment will work for you and your condition. It may be as simple as taking low-dose birth control pills to balance your hormones. Your uterine fibroid specialist in NYC at a fibroid clinic like VIVA EVE may also recommend dietary changes to stop the fibroid growth.
Treatment for Fibroids
The best non-surgical method is a uterine fibroid embolization (UFE).
The treatment involves making a tiny incision in the upper thigh or arm so that the interventional radiologist can block only the arteries that are feeding the fibroids blood.
This blood supply is the reason fibroids are able to grow. The blood supply to the rest of the uterus is left untouched. Once the blood flow to the fibroids is reduced, they shrink and become inactive over time. This is when many of the patients see a dramatic decrease in their fibroid symptoms.
The procedure typically takes 1 to 1 and half hours to perform, followed by a two to three-hour recovery. No overnight stay is needed, and most women are usually fully recovered 5 days after the procedure.
Studies show that about 40 percent of UFE patients report increased sexual desire right away and nearly 80 percent of the women report wanting to have sex more than once a week after the treatment. Don’t limit your sexual desires because of fibroids. Consult a uterine fibroid specialist at VIVA EVE.
