“ I’m going through IVF and I’ve just been diagnosed with a fibroid, do I need to have it removed?”

This is a question I get very frequently, so let's look at it. Here are my top three tips to figure out whether you need to remove that fibroid.

I wanted to share a story about a patient that I saw in my office this month. She was a young patient in her early thirties, and she came to me with this large fibroid. Now, she had been to the doctor maybe four years ago, but not a gynecologist. She went to a different doctor who said, "Oh yeah, your stomach is getting bigger, but maybe, you know, I think you're gaining weight, you should exercise a little bit more.” So that's what she did. She didn't go to the doctor for three years during COVID.

It’s July 1, and we are kicking off Fibroids Awareness Month, which is in July. 

Women suffering from back pain will see a doctor at some point in their workup. They may get a scan, either a CT scan or an ultrasound, and someone sees a fibroid. And then they come to my office saying, “I have a fibroid and it's causing my back pain.”

And then when I review the scans, I actually find out that it's a tiny fibroid or it's in front of the uterus, not in the back. And then I have to tell the patient, “hey, the fibroid is actually not causing your back pain.”

Depending on their location and size, fibroids can cause various symptoms. Treatment options for fibroids vary depending on their size and location. For more educational videos like this, visit The Fibroid Doc’s YouTube channel.