There are a variety of management options for fibroids. Picking a strategy that’s right for you will depend on a number of factors, including the size and number of fibroids and the symptoms they are causing. Based on this information and your goals and values, you and your provider can create a treatment plan that works for you.
So you have fibroids… Maybe you had an ultrasound to investigate pelvic pain or heavy periods, or you had imaging done for a non gynecologic reason and fibroids were noted incidentally. However they were found, now you know you’ve got them. This is a common scenario in our offices at Kamm McKenzie; once fibroids are identified the obvious next questions are: what are fibroids, and what needs to be done about them!?
As many of you are aware, I have two daughters and at dinner we were discussing the importance of October as breast cancer awareness month. (Their grandmother had breast cancer.) To my surprise they brought up #FreetheNip…Well, how could it be that I take care of many women, most of whom have nipples and didn’t know about this movement? But my daughters did…I had to hash it out.
We at Kamm McKenzie are updating our Pap smear guidelines to follow the most recent recommendations. In the past, many women have been advised to have annual Pap smears or Pap smears every 3 years. The most recently updated guidelines as of April 2021 have changed to increase the duration between screenings due to our evolving knowledge of how cervical cancer develops. We have learned it takes many many years to go from an abnormal Pap to cervical cancer, thus allowing us to space out the time between screenings.
Presentation of symptoms with endometriosis is variable. I was always taught that someone with the most severe endometriosis can be asymptomatic and someone with the tiniest amount can have severe pain. The most common symptom is pelvic pain, especially with periods.
patients have not had any imaging to show they even have a current cyst. Or they have been seen in the emergency department recently and were told that a cyst could be causing their pain. As you can imagine, the answer is not always so clear. Why is that? Because it is natural for women of reproductive age to make cysts each month! So the emergency room provider, if they do not find anything emergent, will often tell you it could be the little cyst causing your pain.
