What I've learned so far
I thought I would share some of what I've learned over the past year from various doctors including a naturopath. This may differ from what you've been told and I'm just a regular old person so you should definately talk to your doctor about any treatments options you might like to pursue.
Fibroids are spongy tissue that change size with the levels of your hormones in your cycle. They respond particularly much to estrogen, they aren't as sure about progesterone. Un-opposed estrogen in your body, that is estrogen that is not matched with a comparable level of progesterone, is believed to be a factor. Pain is caused partially by prostaglandins which fluctuate during the month as well; ibuprofen may be taken preventatively to help manage prostaglandin production but it isn't good for your liver.
Your liver is a key organ in balancing your hormones. This organ filters out excess hormones from your system and packs them up for excretion through the bowels. Constipation and sluggish bowel movements mean that your body isn't able to efficiently expel waste from the system; you should be having a bowel movement at least once a day otherwise this is you. What is worse is that in your intestines the body will reabsorb the excess hormones back into the system causing a build-up and making your liver work double-time. Many women have problems with constipation and progesterone during the second half of our cycle (post ovulation) is partially to blame.
Small dietary changes can really help your liver out; I tried these things suggested by my naturopathic doctor and my fibroid did not grow at all during the next 8 months.
* Drink at least 6 glasses of water each day
* Increase your consumption of foods that help detoxify your liver:
green leafy vegetable (chard, collard greens, spinach, etc.), garlic,
onions, artichokes, lemons
* Decrease your consumption of refined sugars (this can increase your body's production of stress hormones which might be linked)
* Eat organic foods only
* Decrease your consumption of meat
* Increase your consumption of fish to 2-3 times a week
I was taking vitamins and herbal supplements and used castor oil packs for about a month (they are a pain but they sure help you slow down and take a break before bed. I also greatly reduced the amount of stress in my life and increased the amount of exercise I was doing. I read about progesterone supplementation but my naturopath said that doing that would actually compromise my body's ability to produce progesterone on its own; instead she wanted to help coax my body back into balance. After about 6 months of treatment my cycle had changed. I no longer have PMS for 2 weeks out of every month and even my allergies have subsided. I'm amazed.
I have a 6cm intramural fibroid and the doctors have told me that you can't have a fibroid as large as I do without a major distortion of the uterus (an x-ray in June revealed that my uterus is wrapped around the fibroid to the right). Women who have one large fibroid tend to not get addition fibroids, women with multiple fibroids tend to get re-growth. I'm scheduled for an abdominal myomectomy at the beginning of October.
My younger sister just had an abdominal myomectomy this past March for multiple fibroids, she even had one pressing on a major artery at the back to the abdomen that doctors shrugged off for year as pain "in her head" without doing any diagnostics on her. She was on birth control pills (BCP) for the past 10 years at least, on "continuous cycling". I was never on BCP and I only have one fibroid. We've learned that our mother had a fibroid when she was in her 40s but was able to wait it out until menopause and our great grandmother had one the size of a "cantaloupe" and needed emergency surgery.
I hope this is helpful for you.
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