years before menopause, and they often continue for years afterward.
Every woman’s body is different. Some women are fortunate and their menopause does cause their fibroids to shrink, although this change does not always mean that the fibroid symptoms go away completely. And, for some women, menopause does not cause the fibroids to shrink at all, and THEY MAY EVEN CONTINUE GROWING, causing these women to experience painful, uncomfortable, and often debilitating symptoms long after they stop getting their periods.
If you are approaching menopause and are experiencing symptoms caused by fibroids, here’s what you need to know:
Waiting for menopause isn’t a solution. Women in perimenopause suffering from fibroid pain are often told by their doctors that because of the estrogen level decline associated with menopause, their symptoms will soon ease and the fibroids will shrink once they start going through “the change.” However, many experts agree that waiting for menopause is an ineffective solution that can do more harm than good.
Some women wait to pursue treatment for fibroids in the uterus hoping that no treatment will be needed. Almost every woman who postpones treatment of uterine fibroids ends up with fibroids larger than when they were first diagnosed, and many of those end up undergoing a hysterectomy (the surgical removal of the uterus) that might not have been necessary.
An increase in estrogen is the main problem. During the period before