Navigating the Emotional Toll of Uterine Fibroids: Strategies for Self-Care
Living with uterine fibroids might be incredibly challenging. Not only physically, but it can also take a toll on you emotionally as well. While there’s no permanent cure for uterine fibroids, lifestyle changes and self-care strategies can help you manage the symptoms and improve your overall well-being. Learn how uterine fibroids affect your emotions and self-care strategies to manage uterine fibroid symptoms in this article. Schedule an appointment at Doral Health and Wellness – Women’s Health Center.
Emotional Toll of Uterine Fibroids
Uterine fibroids, especially in younger women ages 29 to 39, take a heavy toll on their ability to be active and affect relationships with family and friends. According to a national survey in 2013 of 968 women with fibroids, many younger women reported feeling tired or worn out due to fibroids interfering with their physical, daily, and social activities. 1 out of 5 women found fibroids difficult to deal with while taking care of their home and children and this condition got in the way of their relationships with family and friends.
For women with fibroids, the possibility of future health complications leads to fear, anxiety, depression, and sadness. Among 968 women who participated in the 2013 national survey, 79% of women worried that their fibroids would grow, 63% of women feared future health complications, 55% had anxiety about the need for hysterectomy, and 54% worried that fibroids may turn into cancer.
In a 2014 report on the emotional impact of fibroids, researchers found women experienced severe symptoms from their fibroids and experienced a range of emotions while living with fibroids. Moreover, half of them believed they had no control over the fibroids because they had difficulty managing them and predicting the heavy menstrual flow.
This clearly shows that uterine fibroids take an emotional toll on many women’s lives which requires management.
Strategies for self-care
Certain self-care tips can improve your condition and improve your mood, including:
- Visit your OB-GYN regularly:
All women with fibroids symptoms or without symptoms should stay in touch with a gynecologist to get regular check-ups to monitor the size and growth of fibroids. For women, whether you experience symptoms or not, it’s a good opportunity to discuss the questions or concerns you may have about your condition. This consistent and open conversation between the gynecologist and you helps you build a strong partnership in care, especially when you have to talk about important matters and understand all the treatment options that are available for you.
- Healthy diet:
Consuming a healthy and balanced diet can ease your symptoms and reduce complications of uterine fibroids. In some cases, certain foods can decrease fibroid growth. Adding fiber-rich foods to your diet can promote bowel regularity and lower estrogen levels. You should also add foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids to your diet to manage inflammation. Additionally, consider removing processed foods like red meats and high-fat dairy from your diet.
- Note your symptoms:
Fibroids are very popular for heavy, and prolonged periods. As they grow in size, a woman may notice her abdomen become distended. The growing fibroid can also put pressure on the surrounding organs, like the bowel and bladder, which results in constipation, pelvic pressure, and urinary urgency. Other symptoms may include chronic discharge and fertility issues.
Noting your symptoms can be helpful for a woman to track symptoms over time and how she feels. Recording the symptoms and dates of what you experienced, makes it easier for your gynecologist to make a correct diagnosis and recommend the course of treatment. That’s why a woman should notice if her periods are getting heavier or last longer or if she is having more pain and pressure. It’s crucial to note the symptoms are severe enough for her to miss work. These moments can be captured alongwith the dates and changes can provide vital information for doctors to provide proper care.
- Regular exercise:
When you are dealing with painful and uncomfortable fibroids, exercise might be the last thing that comes to your mind. However, regular exercise can be a good self-care practice you can perform. Exercise may help to reduce symptoms like pain, cramping, and bloating. It also boosts endorphins, which are a natural suppressor of pain and maintain a positive hormonal balance. You should perform low-impact cardiovascular exercises, such as walking or moderate jogging, swimming, or cycling. Make sure you avoid activities that put a strain on your stomach and stay aware of your pulse.
- Maintain a healthy weight:
The research found that being obese or overweight may increase the risk of fibroids, so you need to maintain your weight. Maintaining a healthy weight can regulate hormone levels, as excess body fat can lead to higher estrogen levels, which leads to fibroid growth. The best ways to manage weight while dealing with fibroids are eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly within limits, and exploring exercises that don’t lead to discomfort caused by fibroids.
- Manage your stress:
When you experience negative emotions, your body responds in a certain way physically, which can increase your symptoms of discomfort from fibroids to high blood pressure to stomach ulcers, eczema, etc. The more stressful the event, the more you are likely to experience physical repercussions from the strong feeling you’re experiencing. It also intensifies hormonal imbalance and affects your fibroid growth. The fibroid symptoms weaken you and the stress may lead to a lack of sleep.
Not sleeping enough can put your body under additional stress, which triggers an increase in stress hormones during the day. Without good sleep, this makes it difficult to deal with life’s challenges. So, women with fibroids should manage their stress by implementing stress-reducing activities, such as yoga, meditation, deep breathing, and mindfulness. Sometimes a simple brisk walk or curling up with a good book can make you feel a lot better.
- Pelvic floor exercises:
Uterine fibroids often lead to pelvic pain, discomfort, and pressure, which sometimes affect your bladder and bowel function, and cause urinary incontinence or constipation. To strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and relieve the symptoms linked with fibroids, you should consider doing pelvic floor exercises, also known as Kegel exercises. These exercises are easy to do and can be performed almost anywhere, but they work best if you do them regularly.
Uterine fibroids are common in women which not only take physical but also emotional toll on the body as well. However, proper treatment and above mentioned strategies for self-care of uterine fibroids can help manage the emotional toll and improve overall symptoms.
Need help with uterine fibroids, visit our gynecology clinic in Brooklyn to get professional medical help. Call us to book your appointment now!!
At Doral Health and Wellness – Women’s Health Center, we have the best GYN doctor in Brooklyn, and we provide women with quality health care services. To schedule an appointment, you can visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11212 or call us on 1-347-384-5690. You can also visit our website at http://www.gynecologistbrooklyn.com/.