The obvious first question. Leave it to me to make it third. 
These passages are taken directly from WebMD – Fibroids:
The correct medical term for what we’ve come to know as a fibroid is leiomyoma uteri. Leiomyoma uteri is a benign tumor made of smooth uterine muscle. Leio means “smooth,” my means “muscle,” and oma means “benign growth.” Fibroid tumors are therefore a collection of innocent uterine muscle cells that form a noticeable hard lump. Fibroids are grayish white, firm, round, and ring shaped. They come in all sizes, and it’s common to have several fibroids growing at once.
Found a good link that shows a picture of fibroids of multiple sizes. Once there, click the small thumbnail fibroid photo near the top. This will open a window that displays the larger image.
Fibroids are classified by location:
- Intramural or interstitial: fibroids in the outer or innermost layer of the uterus.
- Subserous/serosal: fibroids that protrude into the abdominal cavity and can be pedunculated (they grow on a stalk, like broccoli).
- Submucosal: fibroids that invade the endometrium.
- Parasitic: fibroids that migrate out of the uterus and invade the cervix or other pelvic organs, developing their own blood supply.
Personally, I was not familiar with the parasitic variety. One contributor (fibroid free) did have parasitic fibroids as a possible concern during her abdominal myomectomy. Thank you for sharing this information.
If you have thoughts or questions on uterine fibroid tumors in general (numbers, sizes, locations, etc.), post them here.
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Related Posts:
Can I pass a uterine fibroid?
Do uterine fibroids burst?
Psst… Where can I find pictures of fibroid tumors?
Would somebody tell me how much these dang fibroid tumors weigh?
September 28, 2006 at 3:23 am
i have lot of innocent tumors in my body can tell the soltions
September 29, 2006 at 1:32 am
I have information about fibroid tumors in the uterus. I do have a References page that lists medical resources. You can use that to find some information. Post what you know about your problem (locations of tumors) and we can start there.
Here is a link to my post about symptoms of fibroid tumors:
Uterine fibroid symptoms (not my idea of fun)
December 5, 2006 at 11:35 pm
Hey everyone! I came across this site while looking for informative online info regarding fibroids. I’m glad there are supportive sites, such as this,and women that completely understand what I’m going through! I went for a routine pap and pelvic exam in July ‘06, and the Dr. said she felt fibroids, but wanted to confirm it through an ultrasound;affirmative!
I’ve always been ‘chunky’, so i guess I overlooked that fact that my stomach protrudes. I’ve had low back pain, which gets worse upon exertion, but i just been dealing with it. As far as the cramping and blood clots, I just thought it was ‘me’… My periods were always heavy, so i never connected this with having fibroids. At this point, I’m scared, sad, and angry, as I’m 34, and have no children, but haven’t given up on possibly giving birth some day.. I was told i have 3 subserous fibroids and other smaller ones as well.. The largest is 75mm x 73 mm x 84mm (?), and at this point, my doctor wants to keep an eye on this.. I’l be scheduling another ultrasound tomorrow to get an update.. I’m not thrilled about having to go under the knife, but I will, only as a last resort. In the meantime, I’m trying to improve my diet in hopes that the next scan will show a reduction in fibroid size! Sorry about the long post, but thank you for listening!
December 9, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Hi cloud9,
Glad you found the site! I know this can be kind of scary but you will know more after your next ultrasound. I have a post that talks about treatment options:
Just what are your uterine fibroid treatment options?
Since you are interested in maintaining fertility, your treatment will probably involve some type of myomectomy. Click the link I listed above and look for those procedures. There are many women here dicussing their recovery experiences and you can ask whatever you like. You can also check the Forum for answers to questions. If you have any additional concerns or thoughts, don’t hesititate to leave a comment.
No need to apologize for the length of your post. Write as much as you want to get your concerns addressed or get your feelings out.
December 10, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Here Here for Long post!!! (ahh mine are always long LOL)
Cloud9 (-glad you have confirmation (well not glad – not glad anyone has fibroids) but that will enable you to find the right treatment option for you. Like Eclectic geek said – if you are looking to preserve your fertiltiy (like I was) them a myomectomy is the only option that does that. Lots of supprt here on this site !!
February 23, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I have a rather large fibroid on top of my uterus. I am scheduled for surgery in mid march. I feel no pain or have any symptoms, but my doctor thinks I should have it removed. Is there any other options besides surgery?
February 24, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Hi kendra,
You can check this page for treatment options. It will have links to other pages where women are discussing their post-op experiences including after the less-invasive or non-invasive procedures:
Just what are your uterine fibroid tumor treatment options?
You can also check the Forum page for a list of other discussions on the site.
I cannot say that you will be able to avoid surgery but it is best to know all the fibroid treatment options available and discuss them with your doctor.
March 28, 2007 at 8:47 am
Are you able to pass fibroid tumors or any other tumors when you go to the bathroom?
If so what would it look like?
April 10, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Hiya,
Kendra… Are you in the UK / Scotland? Did you post on SmartGroups in the past?
I’m Gel (Geraldine), and have suffered with fibroids for many years – coming up for 10 years now. I’ve undergone a few laporoscopies, hysteroscopy, sygmoidoscopy, hysteroscopic resection, blood transfusion of 6 units for severe anaemia caused by blood loss/blood clots and despite this, by some small miracle, went on to have a baby boy. He’ll be 4 in August this year! I dealt with my still ongoing fibroid issues after my son was born by having a Mirena coil fitted. It did some good (I didn’t bleed heavily and non stop), but I still bled for 3 weeks out of every 4. The 4th week was usually when I had thrush – caused by a Ph imbalance in my vagina caused by the prolonged presence of blood…
My coil became ineffective by the end of 2006 and when I was out Christmas shopping with my Mum, I flooded in a big way (and unexpectedly). I had tampons and towels with me but went through the lot and ended up looking around for the nearest “Boots”.
After seeing my GP and then having a scan, I was told the coil had moved out of position. In January, it was removed and replaced with a new one. So 3 months later (they say it takes 3 months to “settle in”), I was at a children’s party with my son and an hour into it and out of the blue, I flooded. I went to the loo and passed several blood clots.
I called my partner to come and look after our son while I went home. I got home and sat on the loo for over half an hour, unable to move because I was passing blood clot after blood clot.
When it died down, I put in a tampon (the heaviest duty purple one) and 15 minutes was all I had before I had to replace it. After a few hours of this I had a headache from the dehydration of passing so much blood…
I saw a GP on Monday last week and asked for Tranexamic Acid tablets (which have helped to reduce the bleeding and clots) and I asked for a letter to be sent to my gynae for an appointment.
I was back at the GP today asking for a blood test because I was tired all last week and I asked for an examination to see if the coil was still in place after such heavy bleeding. It is, thank goodnesss.
I’m hoping to get the blood test result tomorrow.
I thought my fibroids had stopped giving me grief, but apparently, not so! Hopefully the blood test will come back ok, as don’t feel much like having another transfusion!
Regards,
Gel x
June 3, 2007 at 1:33 am
Hi everyone,
I had a large fibroid in my utreus. jus tfor your advice i think i was the most scared person in the world when i found out about my 18 week baby sized febroid that was on the top of my utreus. i wanted to get my surgery as soon as possible but the thing was that all the OBGYN i went to wanted to take out my utreus. I didn’t want this to happen so i kept on trying and went to over six or seven doctors before i found Lewis Wyatt. i had lost hope from all the OBGYN but Lewis was the one that gave me hope. He was the only OBGYN that told me that there was no need to remove the utreus at all and in about couple of weeks my surgery was scheduled at April 23 2007 in Cedar Sinai Hospital in Baverly Hills. It took me about 3 days in the hospital to recover good enough to go home.
June 3, 2007 at 1:38 am
Ohhh pressed submit on accident so ill start back from where i left off
When I got home I couldn’t do anything but talk, which was annoying to my brothers but they and my family helped me through the recovery process which took about 4 weeks. To tell you the truth it isn’t that scary after the surgery becasue IT WAS A SUCCESS. I went for my routen check up but thats all.
Tips
1. Don’t be scared at all
2. Search for a great OBGYN which will give you hope
Thats all you need for you surgery