If your fibroids aren't bothering you, you don't need to do anything about them. Your doctor will check them during your regular visits to see if they have gotten bigger.
If your main symptoms are pain and heavy bleeding, try an over-the-counter pain medicine like ibuprofen. And ask your doctor about birth control pills. They can help you feel better and make your periods lighter. If you have anemia, take iron pills and eat foods that are high in iron.
If you're near menopause, you might try medicines to treat your symptoms. Heavy periods will stop after menopause.
A treatment called uterine fibroid embolization can shrink fibroids. It's not a surgery, so most women feel better soon. But fibroids may grow back.
Surgery can be used to remove uterine fibroids only (myomectomy). Or it can be used to remove the entire uterus (hysterectomy). Surgery is an option when:
- You still have heavy uterine bleeding or anemia after several months of treatment.
- Fibroids grow after menopause.
- Fibroid pain or pressure affects your quality of life.
- The fibroids cause urinary or bowel problems.
- There is a chance that you have cancer.
- Fibroids may be making it hard to get pregnant.
Procedures used to destroy fibroids include:
- MRI-guided focused ultrasound. It uses high-intensity ultrasound waves to break down the fibroids.
- Endometrial ablation. This treatment destroys the lining of the uterus.