Saturday, December 13, 2008

new Chinese herb formula

Switched to a new formula today, it contains the following, and according to my accupuncturist is good for both the fibroids and fertility during the luteal phase.

It contains:

Yu lin zhu (known as "fertility pearls", love the name!)
Dan Shen
Yu Jin
Jixue Tang

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm confused about the Dan Shen. The link says that it may stimulate estrogen production in the body. Wouldn't that be a bad thing?

Fibroid Shrinker said...

A good point, this is a similar issue for licorice, which also is said to be estrogenic but is featured in many Chinese medicines including ones supposed to be good for fibroids.

This page (http://www.moondragon.org/obgyn/disorders/fibroiduterus.html)
includes this quote:
Precaution: Dan shen stops fibroid bleeding, but it increases bloodstream estrogen levels. Do not use it on an ongoing basis.

Also, I am trying to get pregnant at the same time as shrinking my fibroids, so my practitioner may be considering it ok to have higher estrogen levels than one would for someone who is not trying to get pregnant.

So I think the fundamental thing is to only use these remedies when prescribed by a professional who is monitoring the length of their use and who is looking at your whole situation.

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's for sure. I am very wary of anything estrogenic though.

My accupuncturist recently put me on a "spleen tonic". After a week of taking it I looked up one of the ingredients, angelica sinesis. I didn't realize until I looked it up that it is another name for Dong Quai (Dang Gui). I am very hesitant to take that because I was taking a supplement containing that (and ginseng and licorice) for about a month near the beginning of this year. In January I had a routine physical/internal exam and my doctor didn't mention any palpable mass, and by May I had a 10cm fibroid which is easily palpable!

Thankfully, the gynecologist I saw thinks the location of it may not prevent pregnancy so she didn't suggest surgery. So now I am TTC.

Fibroid Shrinker said...

Yikes, given your experience that is indeed a concern. But as mentioned in one of my past posts, spleen issues seem to relate to fibroids too. Hope you've discussed plusses and minuses with your acupuncturist, also have you had any hormone level tests done lately?
Good luck with the TTC!

Anonymous said...

Actually, I've never had my hormone levels tested. Do you know the best way to do that?

Fibroid Shrinker said...

It can be done by blood test of through a saliva test. You would need to get a requisition from either your doctor, acupuncturist, or a chiropractor or naturopath. If you haven't gotten it before, it would be quite helpful to know I would think...