Symptoms
In a large proportion of affected women, bleeding abnormalities occur. Particularly when the myoma spreads towards the mucous membrane, there is prolonged (more than 7 days) and heavy bleeding, even outside normal menstruation. As a result, anaemia often occurs.
Violent abdominal cramps can also occur. If the myoma presses on the ureter, intestine or spine due to its size, problems with urination, constipation and back pain may occur. Especially in the case of submucous fibroids, miscarriages and premature births as well as malformations of the fetus are more frequent due to implantation problems and displacement symptoms.
During pregnancy, a reversible (reversible) increase in the size of fibroids is regularly observed, which, in addition to increased stimulation by the female sex hormone, is mainly caused by water retention. After birth, women with a myoma have been observed to have increased problems with placental dissolution and bleeding. After the menopause, the myomas are not expected to disappear. However, due to their hormone dependence, the tumors shrink massively and the symptoms disappear.
Pain
A myoma is a benign tumor that originates from the muscles of the uterus and often causes no symptoms. However, the myoma can also cause problems and symptoms. On the one hand, the myoma can cause spotting bleeding because the uterus is irritated by the myoma and mucous membrane can come off.Myoma can also cause pain.
Myoma pain varies greatly from woman to woman, but is usually a mild, occasional abdominal pain that is difficult to localize. In other women, on the other hand, the pain caused by the myoma is much stronger and can even become cramp-like. At this point at the latest, an appropriate therapy should be considered and the patient should consider having the myoma removed.
On the other hand, some patients describe the pain caused by the myoma more as a feeling of pressure, as if a slightly painful and unpleasant foreign body is sitting in the abdomen. Especially during sexual intercourse, women then complain of increasing pain and a growing feeling of pressure. It is quite understandable that the pain of the fibroid gets worse during sexual intercourse, because the penetration of the penis into the uterus causes further irritation of the uterine lining, which in turn activates pain fibers that transmit the pain to the brain.
In some cases, the pain caused by the myoma may even project itself not only onto the abdomen but also into the area of the bladder. This is because the large size of the myoma can cause the bladder to be repeatedly irritated. This can lead to an increased urge to urinate (micturition) and, in addition, the irritation of the bladder can cause recurring pain.
In rare cases, the myoma can expand to such an extent that even the rectum is displaced backwards by the myoma of the uterus, which in turn can irritate certain nerve fibres. This can then lead to back pain or even abdominal pain, and sometimes pelvic pain and/or leg pain also occurs. However, these pains are not very typical for a myoma and occur rather rarely.
Pain typical of a myoma includes abdominal pain and pain during and after sexual intercourse, although both types of pain can also occur in many other gynecological diseases and are not myoma-specific pain. It is not uncommon for a myoma to be discovered during pregnancy, since myomas are benign tumors of the uterine muscles, which very often cause no symptoms at all. Since pregnancy is the time for extensive screening of pregnant women, it is possible that during one of these examinations the woman may notice that she has fibroids which have not caused her any symptoms so far.
In addition, the woman produces more “female hormones” such as estrogens during pregnancy. As a result, the growth of the fibroids is stimulated, which means that the fibroid may well become larger during pregnancy. However, it is only in very rare cases that previously inconspicuous fibroids cause the woman major problems during pregnancy.
Nevertheless, it is possible that particularly large fibroids may affect the position of the child in the uterus. This can lead to the child being placed in the “wrong” position, such as the breech presentation, or to the early onset of labor. In addition, pregnancy is a great burden for the mother.
A pregnancy plus a myoma can lead to the mother’s bladder and intestines not only being constricted by the baby, but also being displaced by the myoma. On the one hand, this can give the patient the permanent feeling that she has to go to the toilet (increased urge to urinate), and on the other hand it can lead to constipation. In addition, fibroids can take up a lot of space in the uterus and make it impossible for the egg to settle down at the beginning of the pregnancy (nidation).
Therefore, due to the myoma, no pregnancy or only ectopic pregnancies can occur. Thus, even if in rare cases, a myoma can be the cause of infertility, which is why it should be removed to allow the egg to implant itself in the uterus. However, when treating a myoma, care should also be taken as to whether pregnancy is still desirable or not, since with some myoma treatments a subsequent pregnancy is no longer possible. All in all, however, it is rare for fibroids to cause the patient major problems before or during pregnancy.Nevertheless, it is important to know that a myoma can also lead to a lack of pregnancy, which is why if you wish to become pregnant, you should have a thorough examination by your gynaecologist (gynaecologist) to remove any larger fibroids before pregnancy, so that they do not cause any problems during pregnancy.
