Can uterine fibroids be felt?

Women who have had uterine fibroids or have a little medical knowledge know that if you have uterine fibroids, you can usually feel a lump in your abdomen. Of course, this is not absolute, because everyone's physical condition is different, especially when the uterine fibroids are still growing, they are often not palpable. It is for this reason that it is recommended that women of childbearing age should develop the habit of gynecological examinations.

People with uterine fibroids can feel a lump in their abdomen, and the patients themselves can discover the location of this symptom.

Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyoma, are the most common benign tumors of the female reproductive system. They are formed by the proliferation of smooth muscle tissue and often occur between the ages of 35 and 50. According to statistics, about 20% of women over 35 years old develop uterine fibroids, but most patients do not discover the disease in time because the fibroids are small and asymptomatic. The clinically reported incidence of fibroids is much lower than the actual rate.

The main symptoms of uterine fibroids are as follows:

1. Abdominal mass:

Patients may feel a lump in their abdomen after the uterine fibroids grow out of the pelvic cavity. It is often obvious in the early morning when the bladder is full on an empty stomach. It is a common symptom of uterine fibroids. Because the uterus and fibroids are pushed upward, patients can easily touch them by themselves. If the uterus is larger than 4 to 5 months of pregnancy, it can be touched even when the bladder is not full. Uterine fibroids are generally located in the center of the lower abdomen, but in some cases they may be located on one side of the lower abdomen and may be hard or have an uneven feel. The larger ones tend to be degenerated, softer and smoother. Most do not grow quickly. In rare cases, the tumor may grow rapidly or be accompanied by dull pain, and malignant transformation should be suspected.

2. Pain:

The symptoms of this type of uterine fibroids are that the tumor compresses the pelvic blood vessels, causing congestion, or compresses the nerves, or the pedunculated submucosal fibroids can stimulate uterine contraction and be discharged from the uterine cavity to the outside, causing the cervical canal to become widened and painful; or the necrosis and infection of the fibroids cause pelvic inflammatory disease, adhesion, traction, etc. If some patients have red degeneration of uterine fibroids, the abdominal pain will be more severe and accompanied by fever. Acute and severe abdominal pain can also occur when the pedicle of a subserosal uterine fibroid is twisted or the axial torsion of the uterus occurs. Large subserosal fibroids grow into the broad ligament, which can not only compress the nerves and blood vessels and cause pain, but also compress the ureters and cause hydroureteral or renal pelvis, resulting in low back pain. Severe and progressively worsening dysmenorrhea is often caused by uterine fibroids with complications such as adenomyosis or endometriosis. This is also a common symptom of uterine fibroids.