Many women suffering with uterine fibroids recognize the unattractive options offered by conventional medicine. These include hormone drugs and various surgical procedures. Often women who have opted for surgery are dismayed when new fibroid tumors appear only a few months following their procedure.
Not surprisingly, this is why so many women pursue natural alternative treatment approaches for uterine fibroid tumors. However the results with natural approaches are mixed. Some experience fast and lasting results, some experience slow and lasting results, some have only minimal improvement and some will complain that their efforts were a total waste of time.
Why so many different outcomes? Well, we have to acknowledge that the same could be said about a variety of conventional treatments. Not all patients respond to the same treatments due to a number of variables. Also, when discussing natural fibroid treatment, not all of the programs are the same. Since excessive estrogen fuels the growth of fibroids, most programs aim to address estrogen dominance and help a woman bring her estrogen-progesterone ratio into balance.
With the most common and widely known natural approaches, major changes in diet are necessary along with multiple herbal and nutritional supplements. Often detoxification programs are part of the program as well.
Many women fail at these natural treatment programs for uterine fibroids because they are rigorous and require dedication and consistent compliance. For most people big diet and lifestyle changes are difficult to adjust to and many things get in the way of successful execution.
Other reasons such programs fail is that despite dietary and lifestyle changes, women are still exposed to sources of estrogen in certain foods or in their environment. Many women are unwilling to abandon pharmaceutical contraception. All oral and injected contraceptive drugs use some amount of estrogen in their formula. Some post-menopausal women are unwilling to part with estrogen replacement drugs that help control hot flashes. Additionally, some medications such as corticosteroids create havoc with hormone levels.
The top foods to be avoided are soy and flax products. Regarding the environment, a woman may be doing everything right in her program yet continue to experience growing fibroid tumors because she lives on a farm or near a golf course where she is exposed to high levels of herbicides — known xenoestrogens. In the most ironic examples, the very supplements recommended to shrink fibroids may contain soy or other phytoestrogens.
If a woman has found success with such a program she has improved her overall wellness and shrunk the fibroid tumor. The remains of the fibroid usually stay in the uterus.
Some programs aim at dissolving the tumors rapidly using systemic enzymes that contain a fibroid-eating enzyme (fibrinolytic enzyme). All fibrotic tissue is digested and the uterus is cleared any remains of fibroid tumors. These programs can work very well but by themselves do not address the underlying cause of the condition. If enzymes are continued as maintenance, the enzymes will dissolve fibrotic tissue before it becomes a tumor. If the enzymes are not continued indefinitely, the tumors may return.
Most often women experience failure with enzyme programs because the enzyme formula is not potent enough (look for a professional strength product), they do not take a dose high enough for long enough, the enzymes are not taken between meals or not taken consistently like clockwork, or the fibroids are so old that they are encased in calcium and the enzymes can’t get to the tumor to digest it.
Dosing with enzymes may require experimentation until an activation dose is found. Often this means exceeding the recommended dose on the label. It is understandable that anyone would likely be hesitant in doing this. However, a pure systemic enzyme product has no toxic dose, and taking large amounts poses no risk. For calcium encased tumors, taking magnesium citrate helps dissolve the excessive calcium so enzymes can do their work.
Clearly the best way to avoid failure using a natural uterine fibroid treatment program is to combine the best that each approach has to offer and follow it consistently. Fortunately, a simple and fool-proof program is currently available that utilizes systemic enzymes and two other products to provide a comprehensive natural approach (assuming other sources of estrogen are avoided).