“Meh wife have fry balls and now she doh want to sleep with meh any more.”

“Meh wife have fry balls and now she doh want to sleep with meh any more.” P. Read.

Aunty Margaret is a 39 year old lady who was recently diagnosed with fibroids after visiting her doctor with increased bleeding during her periods. She has since been debating whether or not she should have an operation to remove this as her periods are so unpredictable at the moment that she often soils her bedding. All the stress surrounding her diagnosis has reduced her sex drive and her husband is not very supportive at the moment.

Who gets it?

Fibroids are a common condition occurring in one in five women and are more likely to occur in women who near menopause or of of Afro-Caribbean descent. (1)

What is it?

It is a lump in the muscle layer of the womb and is believed to be influenced by raised levels of a hormone called oestrogen. They vary in size but most do not cause women any problems.

Symptoms

For some women, (30%) Fibroids cause symptoms including heavy periods, bleeding outside of normal period times, tummy pains with periods, changes to when they use the bathroom to pee or pass stools. (2)

Management

For these symptoms, doctors have a variety of methods to treat. There are injections, small devices which could be put inside the womb often used as a form of contraception, tablets to take frequently or tablets  only when on periods. If the symptoms cannot be managed with any of these methods, or the fibroids’ size concerns the doctor, she/he may consider surgical and other non-surgical means.

For most women, fibroids do not cause any problems and therefore doctors are likely to recommend leaving them alone and wait to see if the woman develops symptoms. Fortunately, most of these symptoms decrease after menopause.

What about herbs?

“…castor oil packs are a novel approach for fighting fibroids. I have been unable to find any scientific studies on the subject, but castor oil packs have been used for thousands of years throughout the world for a variety of ailments, including tumours. …” – Caribbean news article. (3)

There is no high quality evidence to support using castor oil as a remedy for fibroids and/or their symptoms. In addition, though there has been limited research into some chinese herbal remedies for treating this, there is not enough evidence to recommend their use.

Conclusion

Fibroids can have a major biological, psychological and social impacts on a person’s quality of life but there are many options for conservative, medical, and surgical management to empower women to live normal lives.

Further information and experiences: Link 

References

(1) Uche-Nwachi, E. O., et al. “The incidence of fibromyoma and polycystic ovary syndrome in women in Trinidad (2000–2003).” Online J. Biol. Sci. 9.4 (2009): 86-92.

(2) Impey, Lawrence, and Tim Child. Obstetrics and gynaecology. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

(3) http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100303/news/news91.html Accessed on: 27/10/15. 
(4) Liu, Jian Ping, et al. “Herbal preparations for uterine fibroids.” The Cochrane Library (2009). Link at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23633329?dopt=Abstract& Accessed on: 27/10/15.