Enlarged Uterus Causes
As a woman ages, she keeps on becoming susceptible to a large number of reproductive system disorders. One of such common problems is the enlargement of uterus. It may occur either during or after the childbearing age. An enlarged uterus usually leads to increase in the size of the abdomen, which is physically visible. However, sometimes, this does not happen but the woman can feel the problem from inside. There are a number of underlying factors that can result in enlarged uterus. The following account briefly describes the major enlarged uterus causes.
Causes of Enlarged Uterus
Cause 1: Presence of fibroid is one of the common causes of enlarged uterus, called uterine fibroids. According to studies, around 40-45% of female population suffer from fibroids in the uterus at some point in life. Fibroids are described as non-cancerous growths of a woman’s uterus. They mostly occur during the childbearing age. They may occur anywhere on the inside, outside or even within the uterus wall. Fibroids may develop as a single tumor or in groups. Even the size of the fibroids ranges from a pea to that of a melon. Presence of fibroids is indicated by pain in the pelvis, heavy menstrual bleeding, pain during sexual intercourse, frequent urge to urinate, constipation, abdominal pain or pressure and lower backache. Sometimes, uterine fibroids are small and cause no discomfort. In such cases, doctors ignore the need to remove them. Otherwise, surgical techniques such as myomectomy and hysterectomy are used to treat the disorder.
Cause 2: Cancer of the endometrium is another enlarged uterus cause. Women over 45 years of age, on hormone replacement therapy, on breast cancer treatment, suffering from obesity or bearing colorectal cancer are at higher risk of developing endometrial cancer. The characteristic symptoms are pain during intercourse, difficulty in urination and vaginal bleeding between menstruation or after menopause. Because of these uncomfortable symptoms, endometrial cancer mostly gets detected at an early stage. In this case, the enlarged uterus treatment often involves surgical removal of the uterus, which eliminates endometrial cancer as well.
Cause 3: Enlarged uterus causes include ovarian cysts. They are fluid-filled pockets or sacs present either on the surface or within an ovary. The problem of ovarian cyst is quite common among women. They present little or negligible discomfort, and thus, are benign in many cases. There are many cases reported to have shown disappearance of ovarian cysts on their own. However, in some unfortunate cases, the ovarian cysts rupture and cause serious medical complications. The common symptoms of enlarged uterus caused by ovarian cysts are pressure and pain in the abdomen, backache, difficulty in passing urine, painful menstruation and abnormal bleeding and breast tenderness. Ovarian cysts are of several types. These are endometriomas (which develop in females suffering from endometriosis), dermoid cysts (which can enlarge and become painful), functional cysts (which mostly develops during menstruation), cystadenomas (which enlarges leading to weight gain and large abdomen) and polycystic cysts that develops in numerous follicle cysts. Read more on ovarian cancer.
Cause 4: The condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus starts growing within the uterine muscular wall is medically termed as adenomyosis. This is another disorder that is one of the enlarged uterus causes. It mostly occurs in women in their late 30s. Adenomyosis is generally benign but is quite painful. It is also symptomized by menstrual cramps, heavy bleeding during periods, passage of blood clots during menstruation and vaginal bleeding between periods. It can be treated quite effectively with anti-inflammatory medicines and hormone therapy. In some serious cases of adenomyosis, hysterectomy may be required.
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