How often is heavy bleeding a symptom of fibroids?
Well we know that of all the women that have hysterectomies, about 35% of them are for fibroids and the majority of that is for bleeding disorders. So I’m not sure that that number is known but that’s probably close. And how do women know that it’s time to talk to their doctor about their heavy bleeding? I think women should talk if there is a dramatic change. One of the things about bleeding is that it sometimes can sneak up on you. You bleed a little bit more this month than you did last month. And a little bit more next month. And before you know it a year and a half has gone by and you’ve forgotten what normal was for you a year ago or two years ago. I had one patient actually carried into my office by her husband because she couldn’t stand up. And she had had just progressive heavy bleeding over a period of time. So, you don’t want to wait that long. You want to discuss it early on when there’s a change. If you’re changing a menstrual pad every 2 hours or 1 hour, that’s not normal
