Fibroid Treatment During Pregnancy: For many women fibroids are a discovery that they make at a doctor’s visit during their pregnancy. The doctor does a scan (sonar or ultrasound) and not only identifies a pregnancy, but finds a fibroid. This can come as a shock since they had never known they had fibroids and can be concerning as they can worry about complications the fibroids can create in their pregnancy.

At that point, the woman would be referred to a gynaecologist who does another assessment. Not all fibroids require treatment, however the gynaecologist will advise more accordingly.

The best advice if you discover you have fibroids DURING your pregnancy:

• It is best to do nothing about treating the fibroids during the pregnancy. Rather let the pregnancy run its natural course.
• Many pregnancies are uncomplicated AND successful even if there are fibroids.
• Unfortunately, IF there are complications from the fibroids DURING pregnancy, very little can be done without affecting the growing baby.

The worst advice for fibroids WHILE pregnant:

• To seek surgical or non surgical treatment for fibroids WHILE PREGNANT – DO NOT treat fibroids during pregnancy – the risk of losing the baby is too high!

Once the pregnancy is complete;

• While you can now evaluate the fibroids it’s best to enjoy your time with your newborn and only seek to treat the fibroids at least 6 to 9 months later.
• Should your pregnancy not be successful, wait at least 2 months (8 weeks) before assessing the fibroid situation.

Questions to ask yourself in assessing the fibroids:

Do the fibroids cause you symptoms? Some common symptoms are:

• heavy periods
• passing clots
• anaemia
• tiredness
• bloating
• pressure on the bladder (needing to urinate a lot)

For more information on fibroid symptoms, see here.

If you have answered YES to any of the above, it’s time to take action. Discuss some treatment options with your gynae

• Surgical or non surgical
• If you favour non surgical, then uterine fibroid embolization is a very favourable and successful treatment option which we specialize in.

If you’re still trying to conceive, fibroids usually don’t interfere with conception but may cause infertility or pregnancy loss. Submucosal fibroids may prevent implantation and growth of an embryo. In such cases, doctors often recommend removing these fibroids before attempting pregnancy, or if you’ve had multiple miscarriages. Rarely, fibroids can distort or block your fallopian tubes, or interfere with the passage of sperm from your cervix to your fallopian tubes. Uterine fibroid embolization does not interfere with your chances of falling pregnant.

It is wise to consult with a fertility specialist if your only problem is that you are unable to have a baby.