Some Good News About Endometriosis
Getting an endometriosis diagnosis may feel like awful news, and, for many women, it leaves more questions than answers. The truth is, there’s good news, and living well with this condition is absolutely possible.
When Should I See a Doctor for Fibroids?
As many as eight in 10 women of reproductive age in America experience uterine fibroids. For around 58% of them, troublesome symptoms or health concerns arise.
In Queens and White Plains, New York, board-certified OB/GYN Daniel S. Kushner, MD, understands that having fibroids can raise a lot of questions. This is especially true when you’re struggling with intrusive symptoms like heavy bleeding. You may have heard that fibroids — and their symptoms — may go away without treatment. Here’s what you should know.
Fibroids and hormones: The key connection
The first thing to know about fibroids is that they're generally benign: Fewer than one in 1,000 are cancerous. However, even noncancerous growths can cause some disruptive symptoms.
Understanding fibroids and whether they're likely to go away requires a crash course on hormones.
Estrogen and progesterone drive fibroid growth, which explains why they often grow during a woman’s reproductive years. When these hormone levels are normal, fibroids usually remain the same size or grow slowly.
When hormone levels drop, the opposite can happen. Fibroids often shrink in menopause.
Will my fibroids go away?
Fibroids aren’t like ovarian cysts, which almost always go away on their own within a few menstrual cycles. Unfortunately, most fibroids don't disappear without treatment. And even if they shrink, that doesn’t mean they vanish completely.
Here's what usually happens:
Smaller fibroids
Small fibroids often don't cause symptoms. If they do cause issues, they may shrink enough that symptoms lessen or go away.
Larger fibroids
Although larger fibroids might shrink slightly, they rarely vanish. Even if larger fibroids do shrink, they may continue causing problems like heavy bleeding.
Location can play a role in this. For example, fibroids inside the uterine cavity (submucosal fibroids) can still cause heavy bleeding even if they shrink. This can happen because large fibroids can distort the uterine lining, directly affecting menstruation and leading to heavy bleeding.
Fibroid treatment vs. waiting it out
Fibroids can behave unpredictably, so waiting for them to shrink naturally doesn't always help. If you're in your 20s or 30s, or even your early 40s, menopause could be a long way off, and it's not guaranteed that all of your fibroid symptoms will fade after menopause.
If you're suffering from heavy periods, pelvic pain, infertility, or other problems related to fibroids, schedule an evaluation with Dr. Kushner. There's no reason to suffer for months or even years when there are effective — and often minimally invasive — treatments available.
Hopeful options for fibroid symptom relief
Dr. Kushner offers a range of treatment options. He always strives to use the gentlest, least invasive approach possible to shrink or remove fibroids while resolving your symptoms.
In most cases, fibroid symptoms improve with approaches such as:
- Medication like GnRH agonists to shrink fibroids
- Hormone therapy for symptom management
- Transcervical radiofrequency ablation to destroy fibroid tissue
- Uterine artery embolization to cut off fibroid blood supply and trigger shrinkage
- Hysterectomy to remove the uterus (rare, only if other treatments fail)
Exciting new research is helping doctors better understand why fibroids form and how to treat them more effectively. A major 2025 genetic study uncovered new gene patterns, including one called HEATR3, that influence fibroid cell growth and reproductive health.
While these discoveries may lead to even more targeted treatments in the future, we already have excellent solutions available today. Dr. Kushner stays at the forefront of innovation and research in fibroid care, ensuring his patients benefit from the most advanced, evidence-based treatments available.
If you have fibroid symptoms, don't wait and wonder any longer. We can help. Contact Daniel S. Kushner, MD, to book your consultation. You can call the Queens office at 718-793-1995 or the White Plains office at 914-422-0222.
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