Fibroids and Nerves: Do Fibroids Cause Nerve Pain and Compression
While uterine fibroids primarily grow in and affect the reproductive system, other organs and body parts around the area could also be affected. Depending on the growth’s location, fibroids can cause nerve pain, night sweats, and femoral nerve compression. Such pain could lead to difficulties performing even normal everyday tasks.
Diagnosing Fibroids
According to medical studies, most women are bound to have fibroids in their lifetime. They are most at risk around the age of 30 to 50 or sometime around menopause. Only a percentage of women with fibroids will have symptoms like nerve pain and night sweats. Treatment is not usually necessary unless the symptoms are severe, affect quality of life, or threaten the health and life of the patient.
The size of fibroids can be as small as a pea to as large as a watermelon. They can also grow in clusters. The bigger they are, the more they are likely it is for the patient to experience symptoms. They might also cause the patient to look like she’s several months pregnant.
Fibroids could grow in or outside the uterus. The symptoms they cause depend on how big they are and where they are. Most fibroids are either subserosal (under the outside uterine wall lining) or intramural (in the middle layer of the uterine walls). These growths tend to press inward into the womb or outward towards nearby organs and internal parts like the bladder, the bowels, and the spinal nerves.
When Fibroids Cause Nerve Pain
Fibroids that are large enough can put too much pressure on the pelvic nerves and cause pain that radiates down the leg and towards the hips, buttocks, and lower back. Subserosal fibroids at the lower part of the uterus could cause femoral nerve compression. Sciatica is also a common symptom when large fibroids grow at the back of the uterus and near the spine.
Nerve pain due to uterine fibroids is also observed to be heightened right around the patient’s period. This can be attributed to the increased pressure in the pelvic area due to the heavier blood flow. For women going through perimenopause and menopause, nerve pain could be felt with other symptoms like night sweats, fatigue, and trouble sleeping.
Coping with the Pain
When nerve pain is due to compression, the only logical solution is to remove what’s putting pressure on the nerve. In the case of fibroids, the tumors will either have to be removed or reduced in size so they do not affect the nerves.
Initially, a medical examination should be performed by a specialist so the symptoms could be assessed and a diagnosis could be made. There are imaging tests that could be performed as well for a more accurate picture of what’s causing the nerve pain and femoral nerve compression. Pain medication could be prescribed, but the focus of treatment will have to be to resolve the underlying cause which is the uterine fibroids growth. If surgery is necessary, the specialist should be able to discuss the surgical procedure along with the kind of pre- and post- operative care it requires, and the side effects among others.
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