Do you suffer from excessive menstrual bleeding, or what the medical world terms as Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding (DUB)?

What is Abnormal Menstrual Bleeding?

Normally women menstruate once a month for 4 to 7 days and lose less than half a cup of blood. Frequent, prolonged and heavy bleeding results in chronic blood loss causing anaemia.

Heavy menstruation is usually described as flooding, large clots, changing pads frequently and during the night. Two thirds of women do not perceive this as being abnormal and never consult a physician.

The most common cause of abnormal bleeding is hormonal imbalance. This is more prevalent after the age of 40 as the patient approaches menopause. Benign growths within the cavity or the wall of the uterus, bleeding disorders, and chronic kidney and liver ailments can also cause abnormal bleeding. Your doctor should conduct a thorough medical examination to diagnose the cause of your DUB. Following this examination, you may be faced with several options for treatment.

1. Drug Therapy

The first line of action is most often drug therapy, usually being hormone replacement. There are many different types of hormones in varying doses, and in different forms (tablets, hormonal intrauterine devices, patches) It must also be noted that drug therapy may be a continuous treatment that you have to endure until you reach menopause. Some patients suffer from side effects associated with these drugs: depressive tendency, weight gain, and others. For some women this is the answer but the ineffectiveness of many of the drug prescribed by physicians for DUB, has resulted in a large proportion of women being referred for possible surgical management.

2. D & C

A dilatation and curettage us a procedure in which the physician manually scrapes away the endometriosis lining, which can possibly reduce the menstrual bleeding for several cycles. It is a method still used, even though excessive menstrual bleeding eventually returns. Physicians agree it is not a long term solution, but it is a method which can be used to retrieve a specimen of the endometrium for analysis.

3. Hysterectomy

It is an operation in which the "womb" or uterus is removed. The operation lasts on average 60 minutes. It is a definite cure for DUB, but it must not be forgotten that it is a major surgery. The hospital stay is approximately 5 days. Typical recovery time is 6 weeks but some women need up to 4 months for a complete recovery. Apart from the long recovery period, there are all the risks normally associated with major surgery, which your doctor can explain to you. There have also been studies noting psychosexual dysfunction, depression or psychological distress, and other side-effects.

4. Ablation

A third method called "ablation", starts with the distension of the uterus using liquid. The physician places a device inside your uterus to view which areas need to be burned or peeled away to stop the bleeding. The Physicians that perform these procedure must be highly trained, and not every doctor has the skills to do these operations. Some of the risks involved include the body absorbing too much fluid in the uterus which can cause serious problems. Other complications may include the uterus tearing and perforating.

5. Cavatern

The Cavaterm is a revolutionary minimally invasive technique that offers a long-term treatment for DUB. It is a balloon endometrial destruction device which is simple and effective. The Cavaterm system is safe and easy to use.

What is Mirena?

MIRENA is a hormone-releasing system placed in your uterus to prevent pregnancy for up to 5 years.

MIRENA is T-shaped. It contains a hormone called levonorgestrel. Levonorgestrel is a progestin hormone often used in birth control pills. MIRENA releases the hormone into the uterus. Only small amounts of the hormone enter your blood.

Two brown threads are attached to the stem of the T. You can check that MIRENA is in place by feeling for the threads at the top of your vagina with your fingers. Your healthcare provider can also remove MIRENA at any time by pulling on the threads. The threads are the only part of MIRENA you can feel when MIRENA is in your uterus.

How does MIRENA work?

There is no single explanation of how MIRENA works. It may stop release of your egg from your ovary, but this is not the way it works in most cases. It may block sperm from reaching or fertilizing your egg. It may make the lining of your uterus thin. We do not know which of these actions is most important for preventing pregnancy and most likely all of them work together.

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GYNECARE THERMACHOICE* is a minimally invasive treatment developed to reduce excessive menstrual bleeding (the medical term for this is menorrhagia/men-or-ra-jah) in pre-menopausal women who are having heavy periods due to benign (non-cancerous) causes.

GYNECARE THERMACHOICE, which takes about 30 minutes to perform, is simple, minimally-invasive and requires no hospital stay. It uses heat to treat the endometrium (en-do-me-tre-um), the lining of the uterus), can be performed under local anesthesia and requires no incision. Unlike a hysterectomy, GYNECARE THERMACHOICE allows you to preserve your uterus. Recovery is fast - many women return to their normal activities the next day.

Among the many health care issues that are important to women, concern about fibroids (usually benign [non-cancerous] growths within the muscle and connective tissue of the uterus) is one that a great many women share. According to the National Women's Health Resource Center (In Your Guide To Uterine Health, page 11), an estimated 3 out of every 4 women have fibroids. Most of the time these benign growths in the uterus do not cause any trouble and are not a cause for concern. Most women don't even know they have them.

However, as many as 25 percent of women in the U.S. have fibroids that cause at least some symptoms (Source: National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, Uterine Fibroids). Depending on their location in the uterus, how many there are and their size, fibroids can cause discomfort ranging from mild pelvic pressure to quite severe pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, pain during sex, miscarriages and problems conceiving - problems that often cause significant emotional distress, as well.

One of the most important things to realize is that, - no matter how many women have had fibroids before you, - your physical and emotional responses to the situation are uniquely your own. If you need to make a decision about treatment, it will need to be right for you.

That is why it is vital to learn all you can about fibroids, your specific condition, and the treatment choices available. Historically, benign uterine conditions like fibroids have been the reason for the vast majority of hysterectomies (surgical removal of the uterus) performed in the United States. But a hysterectomy is major surgery, which can have significant health and emotional consequences. For many women, other treatments may be better options, and you should learn all you can about them.

Dealing with fibroids also means that you will be considering health issues that are unique to you as a woman. As you consider your choices, take some time to understand yourself and reflect what is most important to you in terms of your personal health, lifestyle, emotional well-being, fertility and even your sexuality.

What are fibroids?

Although doctors and others may often refer to fibroids as a kind of "tumor" (and by other medical terms like "myomas," "fibromyomas," or "leimyomas"), don't let these words scare you. Fibroids are almost never cancerous. Fibroids are usually benign (non-cancerous) growths that appear within the muscle and connective tissue of the uterus. They usually develop from a single smooth muscle cell that continues to grow. You may have one fibroid or several; sometimes they grow in clusters. Fibroids can vary considerably in size. A fibroid can be as small as a pea, and most remain small. Fibroids can grow to be fairly large, larger than a grapefruit in some cases. Most of the time fibroids grow slowly but others develop more quickly. They typically grow larger over time.

Who gets uterine fibroids?

Fibroids are most common in women of childbearing age, especially in women between the ages of 30 and 40. Doctors find fibroids in up to 30 percent of these women. Studies suggest that as many as three out of four women have fibroids although they may be undiagnosed because they cause no symptoms.

There is a great deal still to learn about who gets fibroids and why, but researchers (Source: National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, Uterine Fibroids). have identified several possible risk factors:

• African-American women are 3-5 times more likely to have fibroids than white women.
• Women who are overweight for their height (based on body mass index or BMI) also seem to be at slightly higher risk for fibroids than women who are average weight for their height.
• Women who have given birth appear to be at lower risk for uterine fibroids.
• Some studies suggest that women who use oral contraceptives have a lower risk, as well (Source: National Women's Health Resource Center, In Your Guide To Uterine Health, page 11).

Little is conclusively known, however, about why fibroids develop in some women and not in others.

The information in this area of Gynecare.com will provide you with some basic facts and tools to help you understand fibroids and what can be done about them, and will help you talk with your doctor and other healthcare professionals about your condition and your treatment options.