Nowadays, some young women in their 20s often feel abdominal pain and backache, and are diagnosed with uterine fibroids by doctors. The occurrence of this disease in young women may be caused by long-term use of weight-loss drugs.
Every woman dreams of being slim and graceful, so various weight-loss drugs and methods have appeared in women’s lives, and weight loss has almost become a life topic for people. Regardless of the effect of weight loss, the impact of weight-loss drugs on women’s health should not be underestimated. Some young women in their 20s often feel abdominal pain and backache, and are diagnosed with uterine fibroids by doctors. The occurrence of this disease in young women may be caused by long-term use of weight-loss drugs.
Uterine fibroids, also known as leiomyomas, are the most common benign tumors in the female reproductive system, mostly occurring in women aged 35 to 45. About 1 in every 4 to 5 women over 35 has uterine fibroids. In recent years, due to the deterioration of the living environment, the increase of women’s work pressure, the acceleration of the pace of life and other factors, the number of patients with uterine fibroids has shown a younger trend. 20% to 30% of the patients are women in their early 20s, and uterine fibroids have a serious negative impact on their physical and mental health and quality of life.
Early Signs Should Not Be Ignored
The symptoms of patients with uterine fibroids and their severity are mainly related to the growth site, growth rate, size of the fibroids, and whether there is degeneration or other complications. If women have the following 5 situations, they need to be alert and are advised to go to the hospital for further examination in time.
(1) Changes in Menstruation: If your normal menstrual cycle changes, with increased menstrual flow, prolonged menstrual period and irregular menstruation, you need to go to a regular hospital for examination to find the cause.
(2) Pain: Most patients with uterine fibroids have no sense of pain, but a small number of people experience lower abdominal pain after the fibroids become infected or the uterus is deformed.
(3) Mass: A mass can be felt in the lower abdomen, especially when the bladder is full of urine, the mass is more obvious to touch.
(4) A sense of oppression: Most patients with uterine fibroids have no feeling at all. However, if the fibroids are located low, even if the tumor is small, it can compress adjacent organs such as the bladder, leading to difficulty in urination; if it compresses the rectum, it may cause difficulty in defecation; if the compressed part is the ureter, it may cause symptoms such as low back pain.
(5) Infertility: A small number of uterine fibroids can cause infertility, because the fibroids lead to uterine deformation, thus affecting the implantation of fertilized eggs.
Therefore, once women find the above phenomena, they should hurry to a professional gynecological hospital for diagnosis and treatment. Paying attention to the early signs of diseases is an important principle for women to maintain their own health.
Fibroid Degeneration Harms Health
Benign tumors themselves are not terrible, but their complications are very harmful. They are not only often complicated with fallopian tube and ovarian lesions, but also easily coexist with adenocarcinoma of the uterine body and cervical cancer; they are also an important cause of infertility. Medical research has found that the infertility rate of patients with uterine fibroids is about 30% to 40%, which is much higher than the infertility rate of the general population (10%).
The reason why uterine fibroids cause infertility is often that the fibroids just block the cervix or the inner mouth of the fallopian tube, thus affecting the passage of sperm, or the fibroids occupy the position where the fertilized egg implants, making it impossible to implant. Even if pregnant, it often leads to abortion due to affecting embryonic development. As for the late pregnancy, it may cause premature delivery, hinder delivery or cause postpartum hemorrhage due to abnormal uterine contractility. Therefore, do not despise uterine fibroids just because they are the most common.
Correct Treatment and Regular Physical Examination
The treatment of uterine fibroids should be determined according to the patient’s age, symptoms, tumor size, location, and fertility requirements. It is generally divided into conservative drug treatment and surgical treatment. When drugs cannot control the growth of fibroids, or the fibroids are too large or too many, surgical treatment should be considered.
Traditional surgical treatment of uterine fibroids usually adopts total hysterectomy or myomectomy. This open surgery causes great damage to the patient’s body and takes a long time to recover. Removing the uterus will bring great physical and psychological harm to women, and it is easy to have problems such as premature menopause and endocrine disorders after surgery.
Since some patients with uterine fibroids have no obvious symptoms, gynecological experts suggest having a regular physical examination every six months or a year, which is very effective for early detection of uterine fibroids. If uterine fibroids are found, re-examination should generally be done every 3 to 6 months. If the fibroids increase significantly and the bleeding is severe, surgical treatment should be performed.
Regulate Emotions for Effective Prevention
The formation of uterine fibroids is related to long-term and massive estrogen stimulation. Animal experiments have shown that high-fat foods promote the production and release of certain hormones, so the incidence of uterine fibroids in obese women is significantly higher than that in women with normal weight. Therefore, developing good eating habits, such as regular and quantitative diet and adhering to a low-fat diet, has a certain inhibitory effect on uterine fibroids.
With the progress and development of medicine, the causes of habitual abortion have been basically identified: 50% to 60% of early abortions are caused by chromosomal abnormalities of fertilized eggs. This kind of abortion reduces the birth of congenitally malformed children and is a natural elimination phenomenon of human beings. However, after excluding congenital factors such as chromosomal abnormalities of both spouses and congenital uterine malformation, most abortions caused by acquired factors can be avoided.
Endometritis Can Lead to Embryonic Death
Chronic endometritis is the most common cause of abortion. A 1997 study by British scientists proved that about 90% of abortions are related to gynecological inflammation. In the early stage of embryonic development, it needs to absorb nutrients from the mother through small root-like villous tissue. Chronic inflammation of the endometrium will affect the development of villi. At this time, just like the roots are necrotic and the branches and leaves will wither, natural abortion will occur with the death of the embryo.
Countermeasures: Endometritis is characterized by increased leucorrhea, prolonged menstrual period, lumbosacral pain, etc. Experienced doctors can make a diagnosis according to the patient’s symptoms and B-ultrasound examination. Women preparing for pregnancy who have such symptoms should go for examination and treatment in time.
Chronic Vaginitis Can Produce Sperm Antibodies
The female reproductive tract has a thin epithelium, which is medically called the epithelial barrier. This natural barrier can not only prevent female genital infection, but also avoid direct contact between subepithelial lymphocytes and semen. When inflammation damages this barrier, semen will directly contact these lymphocytes, prompting women to produce antibodies (anti-sperm antibodies or anti-endometrial antibodies).
Countermeasures:
① Actively treat genital inflammation before pregnancy until cured.
② Conduct immunological examination at the same time. If antibody positive is found, wait until cured before considering pregnancy.
③ Avoid sexual intercourse during menstruation to avoid infection and antibody production.
Irregular Menstruation Can Affect Villus Development
Abortions caused by irregular menstruation are more common in those with early menstruation and prolonged menstrual period. These manifestations are actually what is medically called dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Patients have low progesterone levels. Once pregnant, the progesterone level is even more insufficient, which can cause the mother’s immune rejection of the embryo, affect villus development, and lead to abortion.
Countermeasures: Before pregnancy, the menstrual cycle should be adjusted to return to a normal state to fully prepare for embryonic implantation and development. Patients with dysfunctional uterine bleeding can take drug treatment or surgical treatment to maintain their own health.
In addition, medical experts such as Dr. Sophia Carter, a gynecologist with 20 years of clinical experience, point out that in addition to long-term use of weight-loss drugs, factors such as premature female development, hormone pollution in the diet environment, excessive mental stress, anxiety, endocrine disorders, delayed childbirth and bad living habits are also important reasons for the younger trend of uterine fibroids patients. Uterine fibroids are essentially solid masses formed by excessive proliferation of uterine smooth muscle cells, and the exact cause is not clear, but the stimulating effect of estrogen is significant. For young women, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and regular physical examination are the key to preventing and early detecting uterine fibroids.