Health Center - Reproductive and Pelvic Health
No matter your age, the health of your reproductive and urinary organs—your pelvic organs—is important. If something goes wrong "down there," it affects your overall health and quality of life. Get answers to all of your most pressing questions and put an end to embarrassing symptoms.
When Something Goes Wrong "Down There"
Most women, however, don't even know they have fibroids because they have no symptoms. Still, an estimated 20 to 25 percent of all women between the ages of 30 and 60 have symptoms related to their fibroids. Women are most likely to be diagnosed in their 40s. That could be because fibroids tend to get larger with age.
You have a higher risk of developing fibroids if you are obese or if you have high blood pressure. Conversely, the risk decreases every time you give birth.
Once you reach menopause, however, fibroids usually shrink because they rely primarily on estrogen, as well as progesterone, to grow, and at menopause, these hormones decline.
Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)
You have stress urinary incontinence (SUI) if a little (or a lot) of urine escapes when you laugh, sneeze, cough or otherwise strain. The condition affects about 13 million people in the United States, most of them women. Overall, one-third of women will develop SUI within five years of a vaginal delivery. While about one in three women experience some form of incontinence, including SUI, less than half tell their health care professionals about it. In fact, about 61 percent of women had a problem with SUI for four years or more before they sought medical help.
The thing is, without medical treatment, SUI won't go away. And, it may get worse with age.
Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)
Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) occurs when one or more organ in your pelvis—your uterus, urethra, bladder urethra or bladder—shifts downward and bulges into your vagina. Some studies find the condition affects up to 40 percent of women aged 50 to 70, and one study of 1,000 women seeking routine gynecologic care found 76 percent had some form of POP. Most women, however, don't have any symptoms.
The risk of POP increases with each vaginal birth (up to five), with age and with excessive weight.
Do you have a pelvic health condition?
Do you tend to limit your activities when you have your period for fear of having an "accident"?
Do you experience severe cramps or heavy bleeding when you menstruate?
Do you feel a heaviness in your lower abdomen, almost as if something within you is dropping?
Do you have frequent and unexplained pelvic pressure or pain?
