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You Can Heal Your Fibroids
(uterine tumors) ( Brief Article)
Author/s: Patricia Mason Woods
Issue: April, 2000
Four sisters share how they coped with benign uterine tumors
SINCE PUBERTY my periods had been moderate and regular. But when I was in my early thirties, the bleeding got heavier and lower-back pain kicked in. An ultrasound test revealed two small fibroids, or nonmalignant growths in the smooth muscle and fibrous connective tissue of the uterus. Although my symptoms were only mild back pain and pressure in my lower abdomen, my doctor said I should consider having "it"--my uterus--taken out because "it" was giving me trouble that would likely get worse.
Turned off by his cold disregard for my body, I found a more sensitive doctor who recommended checking the fibroids every six months to see if or how much they grew. In the meantime, I also increased my exercise and decreased my intake of beef and foods high in fat and sugar. Over a period of a year, my doctor didn't notice any growth in my fibroids, and my symptoms lessened. Since my tumors stopped bothering me, we decided not to bother them.
What causes fibroids is not known, but more than 30 percent of all women over age 30 have them. African-American women get them at two to five times the rate for White women, develop them earlier and have more severe symptoms. Experts suspect that the hormone estrogen stimulates fibroid growth, as the tumors often grow faster during pregnancy, when estrogen levels are high, and often shrink after menopause. Tumor sizes range from as small as a pea to larger than a grapefruit, and symptoms include * heavy menstrual bleeding * frequent urination * constipation * leg and pelvic pain * pain during sexual intercourse * anemia * infertility.
But there's no need to suffer with fibroids. "Today women have more choices than ever before," says Dr. Ernst G. Bartsich, clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the New York Hospital--Cornell Medical Center in New York City. "In the absence of cancer there's no need for hysterectomies. Removing the uterus should always be the last resort."
Below, three other women describe the successful options they chose that allowed them to keep their uterus and restore their physical, psychological and sexual health.
`My doctor was surprised to find no fibroid.'
Latrice, 33, of Long Beach, California (who didn't want her last name used), says her OB-GYN found her lemon-size fibroid in 1996 after she complained of heavy bleeding and ten-day periods. She was extremely anemic (had a low level of iron in her blood) and fatigued most of the time. Her doctor urged her to have the tumor surgically removed. Latrice says she was "freaked out" by the pain but felt surgery was premature. She sought help from Beverly Coleman, M.P.H., Dipl.Ac., a licensed herbalist and acupuncturist in Sedona, Arizona. Coleman, the author of The Safe Use of Herbs (Naches Publications, $15.95), says a sedentary lifestyle and a diet high in animal fats and refined foods (white flour and sugar) cause a build-up of toxins that contribute to fibroid tumors. By using natural remedies, she says, women can shrink fibroids or prevent further growth.
Her recommendations for Latrice included limiting her intake of refined foods, dairy products and caffeine, which contribute to tumor growth; taking a blend of Chinese herbs specifically formulated to increase her blood circulation and shrink and eliminate the tumor; applying castor-oil wraps to her lower abdomen with a heating pad daily to clear congestion in the lymph nodes; wearing a supermagnet taped beneath her abdomen with the negative side toward the skin to stop inflammation and tumor growth; and having monthly acupuncture treatments (sometimes combined with an electrical current). Lattice also took liquid chlorophyll and spirulina for anemia and focused on her spiritual growth.
After two to three months of holistic care, Latrice suffered a severe bleeding episode at work. When she got home, she found she had expelled a huge blood clot. Several months later, during her next OB-GYN visit, Latrice's doctor could no longer find her fibroid. "My doctor was also surprised by the dramatic increase in my red blood cells," she recalls.
In addition to nutritional changes, Coleman advises drinking herbal teas to support kidney and liver function. Exercise is also key. She warns women not to be discouraged if they don't see immediate results, because natural remedies work more slowly than medical ones. Always use natural remedies under the supervision of a qualified health-care practitioner.
To reach Beverly Coleman, visit her Web site at www.beverlycoleman.com. To find a licensed herbalist and acupuncturist in your area, contact the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at (703) 548-9004.
`Stop the pain--but save my uterus.'
Forty-year-old Debora of New Rochelle, New York, had always had heavy menstrual periods and pelvic pain, which had worsened over the years. While en route to her general practitioner's office for a checkup in 1989, she felt an especially intense pain in her side. A sonogram revealed a fibroid the size of an orange. Her doctor said he would monitor it for a while and told Debora to note all her symptoms and when they occurred.
Despite the excessive bleeding and almost unbearable pain, her doctor advised her to do nothing unless she decided to have children, in which ease he would refer her to a fertility specialist. So Debora survived on Advil and plenty of hot tea, which soothed her. "It got so bad that I had only three good days out of each month," she recalls.
Over an eight-year period she changed OB-GYNs five times, and, incredibly, all but one of them agreed with the first doctor. The exception, a female, suggested she look into a procedure called myomectomy, which removes fibroids but leaves the uterus intact. Frustrated and desperate, Debora quickly learned all she could about this technique. "Having children was not a main focus for me--stopping the pain and keeping my uterus were," she says.
Her research led her to Bartsich of New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, who specializes in myomectomy. He found that Debora's fibroids were so large and numerous that they threatened to rupture her uterus. During the procedure, while Debora was under general anesthesia, the doctor removed 15 fibroids through a bikini incision in her lower abdomen. Afterward she stayed in the hospital for three nights. In a week she felt so well she had to force herself to take it easy. After two weeks, she could drive and take short walks. In all, Debora missed about 17 days of work. The next time her period came, she had no pain.
Bartsich says the removed fibroids will not return, though it's possible for new fibroids to grow. For referral to a surgeon in your area who performs myomectomy, ask your OB-GYN, or call the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at (800) 673-8444.
`I feel better than I have in years.'
Charlotte Harris of Irvington, New Jersey, now 44, was first told she had a tiny fibroid shortly after giving birth to her son, Adonis, in 1971. A few years later she noticed that her menstrual bleeding and pain were growing more intense with each cycle. On some of her worst period days, Charlotte forced herself to stay at work; as soon as she got home, all she did was lie in bed. "I'd get so bloated, sometimes I swear I could actually see myself blowing up," she says. "It got to me psychologically and physically."
During the second month of her second pregnancy, Charlotte looked four to five months' pregnant. When she miscarried in her fourth month, doctors blamed it on the fibroid, then the size of a two-and-a-half-month-old fetus. "My doctor recommended a partial hysterectomy," she says, "but I thought I might want another child."
Then one day last fall she heard a radio ad about a new procedure called uterine artery embolization, available at a nearby hospital. In this procedure tiny plastic beads smaller than grains of sand are injected into catheters, or thin tubes, which are inserted into groin arteries leading to the uterus. The beads block blood flow to the fibroids, causing them to shrink as much as 65 percent, according to Dr. Steven P. Lipman of the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey, the interventional radiologist who performed Charlotte's procedure. After staying in the hospital overnight, Charlotte says she felt no pain, just a "gassy, full feeling" for a few days. She was back at work in a week. "I feel better than I have in years," Charlotte says. "My periods aren't heavy at all, and I don't get that sick feeling anymore."
Experts do not know yet how embolization may affect fertility, so it's not recommended for women who want to start a family. For additional information about the procedure and to locate an interventional radiologist in your area, contact the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology at (800) 488-7284.
Patricia Mason Woods frequently writes about women's health. She lives in Washington, D.C.
"Black women have choices when dealing with fibroids," says writer Patricia Mason Woods. She spoke to three sisters who tried different methods of treatment in "You Can Heal Your Fibroids."
COPYRIGHT 2000 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group
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