VIA: Elev8.com
What are fibroids? Where did they come from?
The most common type of fibroid is called a uterine fibroid. It is a benign (not cancerous) tumor of a woman’s uterus. Fibroids develop with the uterine wall or attach to it. They may grow as a single tumor or in clusters. Uterine fibroids can cause excessive menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain, and frequent urination. Fibroids start in the muscle tissue of the uterus.
They can grow into the uterine cavity, into the thickness of the uterine wall, or on the surface of the uterus into the abdominal cavity. Although these tumors are called fibroids, this term is misleading because they consist of muscle tissue, not fibrous tissue.
It is estimated that 40 percent of African-American women suffer from fibroids before menopause. Doctors speculate that African-American women are more likely to develop fibroids because of the tendency to keloid in which scar tissue is formed. Fibroids are really a muscular sort of scar growth within the wall of the uterus. As puzzling as this is, doctors feel this is why African-American women are more likely to develop fibroids than other groups.
