Natural Ways to Manage Fibroids

It’s not very common to choose natural ways to manage fibroids. Fibroids are benign (non-cancerous) tumors made of smooth muscle cells and fibrous connective tissue. Most often, hormone therapy and/or surgery are what’s offered to manage fibroids.

While I was not able to completely shrink my fibroids, there were several things that helped manage my symptoms. Aside from pain when the area was pressed on and heavy menstrul periods, it was almost as if they’d disappeared.

I’m sharing my experience, in hopes it may help someone else feel brave enough to go against the grain. Use the quick links below to skip to a certain topic or read through them all!

*This blog post contains various health information. Nothing is intended to be, nor should it be construed as, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any supplement(s) discussed and/or listed should be reviewed by your health professional before using. If you have a medical concern, please consult with an appropriately-licensed physician. If you think you have a medical emergency, contact your doctor immediately. Full medical disclosure here.

Fibroid Symptoms

Once I knew I had fibroids, there were a host of “annoyances” from the past several years I could pinpoint as related symptoms. I learned the hard way not to ignore seemingly little things, chalk it up to getting older, or assume everything’s fine because “its always like that”.

The following is a list of fibroid symptoms I experienced for years:

• Menorrhagia (Heavy Menstrual Periods)
• Lower back pain
• Tenderness when the area with fibroids was touched/pushed on
• Pain during intimacy

The following are additional symptoms that showed up a few months before my diagnosis:

• Intense, Steady Bloating (jeans didn’t fit)
• Persistent Nausea (led to weight loss)
• Intense Back Pain (hard to bend over and/or fully straighten my back)
• Fatigue
• Loss of breath when climbing stairs and/or doing other menial household tasks
• Paler skin
• Sharp pains anytime my lower abdominal area was touched/bumped/sat on (hello kids!)

Like any other health issue, different people experience different symptoms, which is why it’s important to reach out to a physician for proper diagnosis! I’ve talked with other women who experienced some of the same things and others were completely different. When in doubt, have it checked out!

Fibroid Diagnosis

After a pelvic exam, I was temporarily diagnosed with an ovarian cyst. The official diagnosis of uterine fibroids came after having abdominal and transvaginal ultrasounds. I was thankful it only took a few weeks in-between appointments as symptoms were getting debilitating.

Fibroids are classified by their location within the uterus. My larger one was a left fundal intramural fibroid that was partially submucosal, roughly the size of a lime, and most likely the main cause of symptoms. The small one was a right posterior fundal fibroid only 9×9 mm.

Conventional Ways to Manage Fibroids

There are a few ways to manage fibroids conventionally. I took time to research each one to make sure I understood what any potential side effects could be. I also touched base with my doctor to review any questions I had.

• Anti-Inflammatory Pain Killers – commonly used when symptoms are minimal
• Hormone Treatments – GnRH Agonists, Birth Control, Progesterone Therapy
• Ablation – endometrium (lining of the uterus) is destroyed along with any fibroids, via heat, microwave energy, hot water, an electrical current, or even freezing the tissues
• Uterine Artery Embolization – particles are injected into the blood vessels supplying blood to the fibroid causing it to shrink
• Myolysis – a focused energy delivery system is used to destroy the fibroid and shrink the blood vessels feeding it
• Myomectomy – cutting the fibroid from the uterus and then sewing the uterine muscle back together with several layers of stitches
• Hysterectomy – removal of the complete uterus and cervix

Reasons Why I Chose Something Different

I’ve learned enough in our natural health journey to know I didn’t want to pump my body full of synthetic hormones that could upset the endocrine system (hormone production) even more, weaken the gut lining, and/or trick the brain into thinking it needs to do something else. In my opinion, the side effects outweighed the potential relief.

Likewise, I wasn’t fond of the idea of using energy fields or synthetic particles to attack the area. There was no guarantee surrounding organs and/or vessels wouldn’t be affected. Although the ablation, uterine artery embolization, and myolysis are considered less invasive, it’s possible fibroids may grow back.

Due to the size and location of the larger fibroid, a myomectomy wasn’t an option. I wasn’t ready to sign up for a hysterectomy (considered major surgery) and I knew how healing whole foods and herbs could be. So with my doctor’s blessings, and an agreement to have another ultrasound in six months, I went a different route.

Natural Ways to Manage Fibroids

After careful consideration, I decided to try natural ways to manage the fibroids. I consulted with our nutritionist, scoured the internet for articles, and prayed for guidance. I understood positive results could take longer to see, but wanted to try. The following are things I personally tried to help manage my fibroid symptoms.

Whole food supplements

Right after my initial diagnosis of ovarian cysts, I started looking up what nutritional supplements could help. I started getting relief of the worst symptoms within 48 hours. The bloating and nausea decreased significantly. The lower abdominal area was not so sensitive to touch and back pain started subsiding.

These supplements support and feed various parts of the women’s reproductive system. If the organs themselves are healthy, communication with the body is better. If organs can’t properly signal what should/shouldn’t be there and/or request help, “toxicity” (anything that shouldn’t be there) starts to accumulate.

• Standard Process Utrophin PMG
• Standard Process Ovex P
• Standard Process Symplex F

Acupuncture

I had mixed results with this. I started seeing an acupuncturist roughly one month after the fibroid diagnosis. She preferred using Chinese herbs she was familiar with, so I stopped taking the whole food supplements.

Energetically, I felt better. Some of the symptoms that were previously manageable started flaring up again. With each follow up appointment, she would go through a list of questions, and seemed discouraged with the lack of results despite adjusting herbs and dosages.

For me, it was getting expensive and time-consuming, and wasn’t yielding the results I’d had with the whole food supplements. Now, others I know have had better success with acupuncture; so I suggest trying something at least a couple times since each body reacts differently.

I saw her for a couple months, until one appointment she looked at my tongue and said “You no have period tongue! Have pregnancy tongue. Go home and take test!” You can read how that story unfolded in my post “The Unexpected Wonder of Baby “R”“.

Dietary Changes

Thankfully, I felt a step ahead in this area since our kids have food sensitivities and we have a pretty clean diet. However, I still adjusted a few things.

Soy – I removed all forms of soy from my diet. I was already pretty strict about this ingredient (my kids have never had it), but it was in a few treats I’d indulge in. Amongst many other concerns, the Weston A. Price Foundation shares, “Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.” You can find their full list of adverse effects from soy here.

From there, I was more careful with what I ate. The few sweet treats I enjoyed went on break (no more chocolate bars) and the occasional alcoholic beverage stopped.

Side Note: It’s also important to reduce/avoid the following when trying to heal the body hormonally: Processed Sugars & Carbohydrates, MSG, Caffeine, Conventional red meat and dairy (added hormones in these).

Synthetic Chemicals & Fragrances

These have been removed from our house for several years, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the damaging effects many ingredients in household and personal care products can have on the endocrine and respiratory systems, not to mention cancer concerns and skin irritations. These industries are not heavily regulated.

I like to use the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) online database to research household cleaners. There you can see each ingredient in the product, how it’s rated, and possible health concerns. I explain how I use their Skin Deep® database to research personal care products in my post “How to Shop for Healthier Personal Care Products and Minimize Toxicity”.

Here are two examples of commonly used products that have poor ratings: Tide Glade

Manage Stress Level

This may seem like a “well, duh” thing, but hear me out. The two biggest flair ups I had, were right in the middle of extremely stressful life situations. The first time lead to my diagnosis. The second time was earlier this year, and even though I recognized what was happening and tried to regulate, it was not enough to calm the storm of symptoms.

According to the National Library of Medicine:

“In response to stress, the level of various hormones changes. Reactions to stress are associated with enhanced secretion of a number of hormones including glucocorticoids, catecholamines, growth hormone and prolactin, the effect of which is to increase mobilization of energy sources and adapt the individual to its new circumstance.”

Stress effects every single part of us, and sometimes life changes are necessary to keep it in check. Keeping a steady devotional/quiet time and having someone to talk to helped.

To Consider

I have not tried these, but know others who have, and have gotten relief: Abdominal Massage, Pelvic Floor Therapy, Castor Oil Packs.

Throughout all of this, I found HysterSisters to be a helpful website in learning about the various types of fibroids and treatment options. I still feel the whole food supplements helped the most and would highly recommend looking into those.

Maintaining open communication with the providers I worked with was key. And, I learned my lesson not to ignore things and was honest with how I felt treatments were or were not working.

After my surprise pregnancy and a couple years of managing them naturally, I did end up having a hysterectomy. It was not a decision made lightly, especially since the majority of my symptoms went away. Learn more about that in my post on recovering after a hysterectomy!

Have a question on something you’ve heard but’s not listed here? Have you tried any of these natural ways to manage fibroids? Leave me a comment!