If you’ve just been diagnosed with uterine fibroids, or suspect that you may have them, you’ll need to work closely with a clinician to build the right treatment plan for your condition and lifestyle. As you likely already know, not all doctors have the same levels of awareness around fibroids or familiarity with the impact the condition has on women’s lives.
Everything from bedside manner to the number of treatment paths available to you can vary wildly, depending on the clinician. In order to craft the right strategy for managing your uterine fibroids, you’ll need to find a doctor who’s a good match both in terms of personality and their overall approach towards care.
It can feel overwhelming to choose a doctor to help you through your fibroid treatment process, but there are a number of steps you can take to ensure that you find a clinician who’s a good fit for you. Here’s how to find the right medical partner to help manage your fibroids.
Find out who specializes in fibroids in your area
Believe it or not, not all gynaecologists are necessarily experts in treating uterine fibroids. Unfortunately, you can’t assume that a particular clinician is up to date with the latest research on fibroids, nor can you be sure that they’re knowledgeable about all the different types of treatment options available.
It’s critical to look for a doctor who is board-certified and has experience in treating fibroids. Conduct online research to check your local doctor’s credentials and find nearby clinicians who are specifically focused on fibroid treatment. Fibroids doctors are referred to as fibroid specialists, and many of them have been trained in Interventional Radiology.
Interventional radiology is a specialized field of medicine that offers minimally invasive and image-guided diagnoses and treatments for various diseases and conditions, including fibroids. This type of radiology leverages live image-guidance and small incisions to help treat fibroids, serving as a less-invasive alternative to traditional surgery.
Locating doctors who are certified fibroid specialists and/or interventional radiologists is a solid starting point for your search. Narrowing down your options to clinicians with these certifications can help you feel confident about choosing a practitioner that’s sufficiently knowledgeable about your condition.
Find out more and speak with our experts today!
Online background research is critical
Once you’ve made a list of doctors in your area who specialize in treating fibroids, it’s time to do some digging. Before reaching out to clinicians for your first appointment, research online to see if there are any doctors you can immediately filter out. Consider plugging their names into various sites where patients post about their personal experiences after an in-office visit.
Read reviews on Yelp, Google, Zocdoc, Healthgrades, and other platforms from patients who have been treated by the doctor you’re considering. Scan these reviews for any red flags, such as patients feeling like the clinician did not listen to their concerns or seemed fixated on a pre-set plan that wasn’t tailored to the patient’s unique needs.
While online reviews aren’t the only factor you should consider during your search for a doctor, they can help you gain a sense of a clinician’s personality and bedside manner, in a general sense. But even if a doctor has stellar online reviews, there’s an additional step you should take before committing to them.
Interview your doctor
Ask about the doctor’s experience with different treatments, including non-invasive options such as uterine fibroid embolization. Preferably, your doctor should have a wide range of experience in different fibroid management strategies, and won’t automatically jump to highly invasive procedures, such as a hysterectomy, as the first course of action.
Find out more about Jasmine’s uterine fibroid embolization story here.
Meeting with and researching your doctor before committing is the ideal way to ensure that you’ll have a trusted partner in managing your fibroids. Take your time, look for a doctor who is a board-certified specialist in fibroid procedures, and don’t feel pressure to work with a doctor who isn’t the right fit for you.
Here at Talking Fibroids, our goal is to educate people about Uterine Fibroids and their symptoms. Find out more about us here or get in contact with us today!
