Fibroids Awareness Day in Canada Date in the current year: July 21, 2024

Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyomas or simply fibroids, are benign (non-cancerous) smooth muscle tumors of the uterus. Their exact cause is unclear, but risk factors include family history of fibroids, obesity, and red meat consumption. Fibroids seem to be partly determined by hormone levels and tend to decrease in size after menopause.

Small fibroids usually cause no symptoms and do not require treatment. Larger tumors can cause symptoms such as painful and heavy periods, anemia resulting from increased menstrual bleeding, and, depending on the tumor’s size and location, frequent need to urinate, lower back pain, or pain during intercourse. Fibroids are not normally linked to infertility. Small tumors usually do not affect pregnancy, but larger fibroids may interfere with the fetus’s position or cause bleeding, miscarriage, or premature labor.

For decades, the surgical removal of the uterus (hysterectomy) was the go-to treatment method for fibroids. The other option was waiting until menopause for the symptoms to diminish. Luckily, these days are long gone; today, hysterectomy is normally recommended as the last option for large fibroids that cause extreme pain and bleeding.

A number of medications may be used to control the symptoms of fibroids (reduce pain, bleeding and crams, normalize iron levels) and even shrink tumors effectively. Minimally invasive procedures used to treat fibroids include:

• Uterine artery embolization to block blood flow to tumors, making them shrink
• Myoectomy: a minimally invasive procedure to remove one or more fibroids
• Endometrial ablation: a minimally invasive surgery used to remove the endometrial lining of the uterus along with small fibroids withing the uterus
• Radiofrequency ablation: fibroids are shrunk by being exposed to radio-frequency electrical energy

Fibroids Awareness Day was launched in 2022 by Vivre 100 Fibromes (Living Without Fibroids), a Quebec-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the care of Canadian women with uterine fibroids through raising awareness, providing support, and ensuring that women have better access to information about fibroids.

The main goal of Fibroids Awareness Day is to break the silence and isolation around this very common but often misunderstood disease. Many women with fibroids still think that suffering from symptoms until menopause or having a hysterectomy are their only options, so it is very important to let them know that there are non-invasive and minimally invasive treatment options that will significantly improve their quality of life.

You can get involved with Fibroids Awareness Day by learning more about uterine fibroids and available treatment options, sharing your experience with fibroids if you have any and feel comfortable sharing, donating to an organization that helps women with uterine fibroids or funds research, and spreading the word on social media with the hashtags #FibroidsAwarenessDay, #FightingFibroids and #Vivre100Fibromes.