Period pain for many women can be very debilitating, so it will come as a great relief that something can be done about it.
However the question is what is the reason for the pain in the first place. It seems that many women suffer as a result of the development of fibroids which are benign growths around the uterus; they play a part in heavy periods and infertility.
This happened to one patient who suffered from severe period pains for many years. However when the fibroids were discovered, she was very young so her doctor decided the best course was simply to monitor them.
However the condition came to a head when the lady in question, Anna, got married and fell pregnant.
Fibroids grow because of changes in hormone changes during ovulation and pregnancy, but the pain can be excruciating for most women who suffer from this. Not just that, it is also possible that the fibroid can affect the actual birth of a baby by blocking the birth canal. In the case of Anna, she had to have a Caesarean.
Unfortunately, this didn’t stop the problem. Anna’s painful periods returned. She was referred though to a gynaecologist, Peter Barton-Smith who was working on a new technique using a robot which cuts the blood supply to the fibroids.
Anna told reporters: “I arranged to have the fibroids removed robotically the following month in August 2009. The surgeons found eight fibroids and removed all of them. They say I now have a 60 per cent chance I’ll be able to conceive.”
She added: “I was up walking the day after surgery, and was kept in hospital for three nights. Because they expand your abdomen with gas so they can see inside, I had awful wind pain right up in my shoulder, but this eased a few days later.”
Peter Barton-Smith said: “Fibroids are extremely common benign tumours that grow in the muscle layer of the womb.
“We don’t know what causes them, but the hormones oestrogen and progesterone fuel their growth, this is why they can grow rapidly during pregnancy and stop after the menopause.”
As for Anna, she is now pain free.