Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during the childbearing years. They’re not associated with increased uterine cancer risk and almost never turn into cancer. They range in size from barely perceptible to the human eye to very large masses that can distort and enlarge the uterus. Many women have uterine fibroids sometime during their lives but luckily they don’t usually cause symptoms. However, in some women they might cause heavy menstrual bleeding, menstrual periods lasting more than a week, pelvic pain or pressure, frequent urination, difficulty emptying the bladder, constipation and back or leg pains.
Many women seek out Ayurvedic care for their fibroids. As with all the health problems we treat, we must first get to the root of the problem. And as usual, the root causes are usually more than one and they are different in each patient. But I’ll attempt to show you how we address the problem.
First, I always teach our patients how to think about their health problem using perspective on their condition, always leading back to the root cause.
Here is an example of how I do this, using fibroids as a good example.
First, we have to learn how to retrace our steps backwards as I tell the patient. For example, we first want to see what is causing the fibroid. Well, we know that it comes from an imbalance where the estrogen is high and the progesterone is low. So what would cause that to happen?
Well, the gall bladder! And yes, this is how it usually goes: the root of the problem is usually far removed from where the symptoms are occurring. The way it works is that the liver breaks down the estrogen everyday and dumps it into the bile to be then dumped into the bowel for removal from the body through the bowel movement. Our bodies are smart to get rid of estrogen everyday because while estrogen may cause growth, such as growth of the breasts and hips in puberty, we don’t want too much estrogen hanging around causing too much growth, such as a fibroid tumor.
So now that we know it is coming from the gall bladder, we next have to think of all the reasons why the bile is not flowing out of the gall bladder the way it should. It should be a liquid but at times it becomes thick like a sludge. And when it becomes sludge-like, kind of like a toothpaste, it can’t flow out of the gall bladder too well. Then the estrogen that’s just sitting and stagnating in the gall bladder reabsorbs back into the blood stream resulting in a situation of high estrogen/low progesterone.
So next we have to think of all the things that might have caused the bile to become thick: it could be if the person is drinking ice cold beverages or eating iced cold foods such as ice cream or frozen yogurt. The cold congeals the fats which are sitting in the bile. Remember, all the fats you eat in the diet have to go to the gall bladder to be emulsified into tiny globules to be absorbed into the bloodstream.
So if this is the case then the person has to stop doing that in order to thin out the bile again. We have numerous foods, herbs and spices which can also thin the bile.
Some people have bile sludge because their thyroid gland is weak. I wrote a whole chapter on this in my book called Healing the Thyroid With Ayurveda. So then one needs to see what is weakening the thyroid gland: the fluoride in the drinking water, the mercury in the flu shots, going to bed late, or eating a diet low in animal protein: don’t forget, the thyroid hormone is made from animal protein. Birth control pills can also depress thyroid function. And rushing and multitasking through the day REALLY weakens the thyroid gland.
In this case we must need to make sure the person stops doing all those things and then work on strengthening the thyroid gland again using various herbal formulas.
Sometimes the patient is in a state of fight or flight, which we call high Vata in Ayurveda, which stops the digestive tract from functioning properly, causing the gall bladder to become weak. So in this case we need to teach them how to get out of fight or flight or how to lower the Vata, by meditation, rest, going to bed early, resisting the temptation to multitask and rush through the day to allow their digestive tracts and gall bladder in particular to work properly again.
And too much stress contributes to the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands, which in the long run depletes progesterone, again resulting in a high estrogen/low progesterone ratio which leads to the formation of fibroids.
Once we have figured out all the specific imbalances going on in that particular patient we next have to give the herbs to prevent the release of cortisol when under stress and also herbs to recalibrate the ratio between estrogen and progesterone.
We then give the herbs to help prevent and shrink the fibroid. Notice that we give the herbs to shrink the fibroid as the last thing we do. We don’t want to make the mistake to just resort to those herbs without addressing all the underlying root causes which are feeding the growth of the fibroids in the first place. This is why the ancient doctors of Ayurveda said before any prescription is written, you have to first identify what that patient is doing wrong and tell them to stop doing it, otherwise the herbs won’t be able to be as effective in treating the problem.
Sometimes if the fibroid is too large, like the size of an orange or a grapefruit, it might be impossible to shrink it back down. It’s always worth a try, but if not, see if you can find a surgeon who will just remove the fibroid and leave the uterus intact, if at all possible.
But in any case, you should still fix all the underlying reasons that caused the fibroid to grow in the first place, because if you don’t then other problems could arise or you could start growing more fibroids or other growths such as uterine polyps, nodules on the thyroid or cysts on the breasts or ovaries. All of these are basically caused from the same underlying problems discussed here. I see many women having their fibroids removed yet no attempt was made to get at the root cause of the problem.
And one more thing! You must avoid unfermented soy, such as tofu, edamame and soy milk, as well as fennel seeds, whether used in a tea or chewed on after meals as both are highly estrogenic and will feed the fibroid. I’ve seen many women through the years who did not know this and were eating lots of tofu and drinking fennel tea everyday unaware that they were making their fibroid grow larger and larger each week.
I hope this information helps you in your efforts to prevent and shrink fibroid tumors.
Thank you