shrinking fibroids while pregnant and TTC

I just wrote this info in response to a comment on an earlier post, thought I would share it here so everyone sees it.

Trying to shrink your fibroids while pregnant or TTC is not easy because many of the main fibroid shrinking methods are contraindicated during pregnancy (including 2 weeks after ovulation/intercourse when you may be pregnant but don't know for sure).

1. Chinese herbs that are "blood breakers" are contraindicated
2. Castor oil packs are contraindicated
3. Enzymes such as serrapeptase, nattokinase, etc. including Fibrovan, Vitalzym etc. are contraindicated
4. Strong detox herbs, and doing any kind of detox, are contraindicated
5. Tumeric is contraindicated.
6. Vitex or other things that work on your hormone level would be contraindicated

That doesn't leave you with much.

You can ask your practiioner if there are any Chinese herbs that would be helpful and that you could take while pregnant. Homeopathy is also supposed to be safe if you are pregnant so I would ask a practioner about that.

I have also read that red raspberry leaf, burdock, and dandelion are ok during pregnancy, as is eating lots of seaweed, but then again while helpful these may not be enough to shrink fibroids. (also about red raspberry leaf, I have had different opinions about it from acupuncturists, current one is against it so I am avoiding)

My gyn says that some women have trouble-free pregnancies even with fibroids. So that holds out hope.

Even though I was recently ok'd for TTC as I mentioned in a recent post, just found out that my fiancee's sperm needs some work. So while he deals with that, I am taking two more months to do a big fibroid-shrinking push with the strong herbs and enzymes in combo. Then, when I start TTC I will be doing my fibroid shrinking remedies only first 2 weeks of cycle when there is no chance that I'm pregnant.

evidence

For the record, just thought I would post some links here to studies showing evidence that natural methods can help with shrinking fibroids:

1. Study on combo of Chinese herbs, acupuncture, and other interventions
http://www.healing-arts.org/mehl-madrona/mmfibroids.htm
2. Study using Chinese herbs
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:9OgcDH_s7-UJ:www.bluepoppy.com/cfwebstorefb/index.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Dfeature.display%26feature_id%3D646+chai+hu+fibroids&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
3. Another study using Chinese herbs
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1471615?dopt=Citation

If any readers know of any others, please do share!

fibroid shrinking and TTC

I had another strategy session with my acupuncturist yesterday, to discusss fibroid shrinking strategies and the fact that my gyn has cleared me for TTC (trying to conceive).

Evidently, some of the herbs used for fibroid shrinking are not good to take if you might be pregnant. The ones that my acupuncturist refers to as the "blood breakers" in Chinese medicine, also tumeric is contra-indicated for pregnancy.

So, I am going to only use the herbs and tumeric (I'm going to add tumeric in pill form) for the two weeks between the start of my menstrual period and when I ovulate. Also my castor oil compresses will be limited to this time.

For the other two weeks when there is a possibility I may be pregnant, I am going to continue to work on my detox regimen, with my homeopathic detox remedy. (One I am done with detoxing all the heavy metals from my system -- still not done yet according to last urine test -- will go on to something else for that half of the month)

Throughout the entire month I will be continuing to take liver support herbs (milk thistle, etc.), a daily kelp pill, chlorophyll, and Green Magma. Also I am going to be adding seraptasase, protease, and nattokinase for enzyme therapy. I'm not using one of those expensive ones like Vitalzym, I showed my acupuncturist the ingredient lists for several of them and she said that they were a total rip-off and you can get the primary ingredients much more cheaply by themselves.

This is in addition to my basic vitamin regimin:

Megafoods iron-free one daily one per day
Standard Process Calcium Lactate 6 per day
Standard Process Catalyn 6 per day
Standard Process folic acid 1 per day
Standard process trace minerals 3 per day
Standard Process Magnesium lactate 2 per day
DHEA one per day
Pearl acidophilous one per day
Nordic naturals Ultra Omega one per day

enzyme therapy

Anyone doing internet research on fibroids will quickly find advertisments for various therapies that tout miracle cures. These include Neprinol, Vitalzym, and Fibrovan.

The ads sound too good to be true, but do they really work? These cures are various mixtures of enzymes, which are supposed to break down the fibrin which makes up the fibroid.

Unfortunately it's difficult to get proof about the efficacy of supplements. I did however just look back through the archives of the healing fibroids naturally yahoo group that I belong to. Althought there were many women who said it was a waste of money (they are expensive), there were a handful who reported good results.

The ones with results were also taking other supplements and doing other things, so it's hard to say if the enzyme therapy was the primary reason for their fibroid shrinkage. But it means that it might be worth trying.

In fact, I was just planning to discuss this and some other possible supplements in pill form with my acupuncturist tomorrow....as part of my stepping up the activity level a notch. (For awhile I was eating natto as a way to get the enzume, but I am a bit bored of the whole barbecue sauce thing....)

If any readers have tried one of these enzyme therapies, please leave a comment and tell us how it worked!

stress of maintaining a special diet

Just had a very insightful comment on a prior post, that I would like to share here to make sure people see it, and offer my own thoughts in response.

The comment:
I often find that following diet-related strategies creates problems in social situations. I have known for years that avoiding sugar controls my tendency toward acne. People who are in my life regularly can see evidence for this themselves, but some of them still tend to pressure me to have some "just for this special occasion" or because it is "just a little" or etc. Some try to be supportive and prepare things that they think are okay for me, but often I know there is hidden sugar in an ingredient. Sometimes I’ve had situations such as the one you mentioned with your mother and the microwaving in plastic. Now I’m trying to follow a “fibroid diet” that is even more restrictive. I find doing this in social situations to be EXTREMELY stressful. One morning at breakfast in a restaurant soon after my diagnosis when I was still very upset about having a tumor of any kind I just couldn’t keep myself from crying because of a comment someone made. So following the diet I think is healthier for me leads to more stress or more isolated lifestyle, unhealthy consequences.

I could not agree more. This is probably why I have more items for diet than for any other topic category on this blog. This is a huge issue, for several reasons.

• First of all, it's really hard to be the "wierd one" -- it would be just so much easier to fit in.
• Second, social situations in particular tend to be full of "party food" that is particularly bad for the anti-fibroid diet -- alcohol, cheese, fried foods, chocolate, pizza, cookies, meat and poultry of unknown origin, etc. That may be the only food to eat, or you may be tempted. Personally, I find it hard not to feel sorry for myself if I am munching on carrot sticks when everyone else is digging into the cheese and crackers, or whatever else yummy and verboten that is being served.
• Third, fibroids are something one doesn't want to talk about with everyone, so it's difficult to explain to people why you have to have such a restricted diet unless you spill the beans. Particularly in business situations obviously it is not appropriate to talk about such a personal problem. So I pray that when I'm at a work dinner I can find SOMETHING on the menu that I can eat, and really it's not always easy. (If I have to make some compromise, it's usually on the wheat, and I get some pasta hold the cheese). It can be even harder in social situations, where there is a limited selection of food and you risk hurting the feelings of the person who prepared it. One strategy for dinners at other people's homes, I always volunteer to bring something, and I make it something that fits my diet, like a salad. That way I know that if worse comes to worse, there is always at least one thing I can have. Some considerate hostesses will even ask about food restrictions since so many people have them now. For example, recently I went to a holiday dinner at a friend's and she asked if there's anything I can't eat. Rather than reciting the whole list, I decided to hone in on a key item so I told her "My doctor has strongly advised me not to eat meat containing hormones. So please let me know if what you are having is hormone-free or not, but don't feel like you need to get anything special on my account." Now, I was able to do this since I live in Northern California and people are pretty health conscious here, this obviously wouldn't work in many parts of the U.S. where it's hard to even get hormone-free meats and awareness of this issue is low. Turns out her reply was that she normally tries to get hormone-free meats anyways, and will make sure she does so this time. So I could enjoy chicken with everyone else, as a special treat!
• Fourth, it's hard to be the "picky eater." Either you feel awkward, demanding, or like you are drawing undue attention to yourself. People (like the example of my mom and the microwaved plastic) may think you are being sanctimonious or judging them. They also may try to justify their own food decisions (like eating a brownie) by trying to get you to join them, and making you feel guilty if you don't.
• Fifth, I'm not sure what to call this, I'll try "lack of food security." Feeling like you always have to worry about what you are going to eat when you are out and about. Not being to walk into a restaruant and find things you can eat. Hard to pick up things from a store to snack on, since most snack foods are bad and fibroid fighters are not supposed to eat cold foods directly from the refrigerator. As mentioned in a prior post, most energy bars don't really cut it either. It's just one other thing to worry about. And after a while I get sick of the goji berries. Food is just one of those basic needs, and always worrying about whether you can get something that will nourish you is more stress. I havn't cried at a restaurant, but a couple of times I have thrown a kind of temper tantrum and/or just gotten the heck out of the restaurant once I realize they can't feed me.

One of the big issues for me in starting the fibroid-fighting diet was getting my then-boyfriend now-fiancee to buy into it. He is one of those people with a high metabolism, and at 41 weighs the same as he did in college, even though he has a prodigious appetite. He loves eating out and he loves cocktails, fine wines, and port. As a result of him constantly taking me out to dinner and cooking for me, I gained ten pounds in the first few months after dating him. And I'm sure all the glasses of wine, red meat, cheese and chocolate that he, in all good loving attention, proffered to me were not exactly helping my fibroids.

To be honest, I think it would have been very difficult to make a radical change in my diet if I had not discovered that my fibroids had grown and were in the way of TTC, and I needed to make a big change if I wanted to get healthy again and having a chance of conceiving. I think I needed something that big in order to get full cooperation from my boyfriend. And even so, frankly it was very difficult for him to accept that I was now so restricted -- that we would have to search for restaurants that serve hormone-free meat, that I was supposed to cut way back on my alcohol, and that wine and cheese and crackers no longer constituted a good dinner, etc. At some level he seemed to feel that my not being able to, for example, share a dessert with him was a rejection of one way he likes to take care of me -- by feeding me.

Because he's an analytical engineering type, I ended up making a spreadsheet, with each row being a type of food and each column being a different book or other source concerning fibroids. I used it to show how for each thing I wanted to do -- either eat or avoid that particular food -- multiple sources said it was important, and I included the scientific reason why. This was helpful in convincing him. I also had a big talk with him and told him that I expected him to be supportive and to not thwart my efforts. He grumbled a lot but he seems to have gotten used to it.

On the other hand, I honestly think it would have been difficult for me to follow this regimen if I were not dating someone. It helps a lot to have one person who knows the whole story and can be supportive. As I mentioned in my first post, for years my life looked similar to that of one of the gals from Sex and the City, except with less sex. That meant lots of cosmopolitans, lots of parties, lots of blind dates -- in other words, lots of occasions where I was socially self-conscious and wanting to fit in, as well as didn't have very much control over my food. Not to mention, often when I was at a cocktail party and was depressed by the poor selection of men there, or felt nervous, I would reach for a glass of wine.

The basic problem here is that the Standard American Diet (I have seen it referred to as SAD) is extremely unhealthy! And most people have no idea, so once you become more enlightened you will tend to stand out, and also others may find it strange or even threatening. It seems that recently more people are aware of what a healthy diet truly is, but that's still a limited number of people.

One thing I haven't done is try to seek out others with similar eating habits. This would make sense especially if one lives in an area where this type of eating is particularly not mainstream. Like finding a local vegetarian or vegan club. Or seeing if there is a vegetarian or vegan meetup near you on meetup.com. I typed "dating site vegetarians" and a whole slew of sites popped up -- if you are single perhaps that could be a good way to meet a supportive partner!

why avoid wheat?

One element of my fibroid-fighting plan has been avoiding wheat. Some people may be wondering why. Here are some reasons:

1. Many people are sensitive to gluten and may not even realize it. Not eating foods you are sensitive to is helpful for one's health in general, especially when involved in a healing process.
2. Eating more alkaline foods and getting your body more alkaline is a good thing to do for fighting fibroids. Wheat is one of the most acid-forming foods, so avoiding wheat makes sense if you are trying to be more alkaline.
3. Detoxifying is something that is good for fibroid fighters. Many alternative health practitioners recommend avoiding wheat while you are doing a detox. My acupuncturist says it's because gluten "gums up the system at the time you are trying to get rid of things". This site has a more scientific explanation: http://ezinearticles.com/?Detox-Diets---Why-You-Should-Avoid-Wheat-and-Dairy&id=1012084

This blogger says that her pain from fibroids was reduced when she went gluten-free.

While poking around to write this post, I found this interesting page (http://www.everybody.co.nz/page-7dc7966b-1cdc-413d-b0d4-22fcb3ce1528.aspxe) which suggests that oats may be ok when following a gluen-free diet. Special gluten-free oats (not cross-contaminated with wheat) are now being produced: https://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/index.php?action=showdetails&product_ID=681

dangers of bisphenol A

Just got some excellent information from a comment on the last post, and wanted to share it with everyone.

For a long time I have been avoiding using plastic to store food, opting for glass containers instead. And avoiding drinking water out of plastic bottles. Plus I have been meaning to write an entry about how most canned food tastes funny to me, including the organic Whole Foods brand tomato paste, and that the Muir Glen brand which has an enamel lining tastes much better and feels like it must be healthier.

Some of this has been based on things I have read, and some has been just my own intuition. It's caused some friction in my family -- for example once when I was eating at her house my mom was really upset when I refused to eat something she had microwaved in a cheap plastic container.

Now here is more evidence that danger lurks in these food containers, specifically something called bisphenol A. Here is an article that describes the problem, specifically mentioning uterine fibroid risk. And here is another article that talks about which containers to avoid.

Something else for us fibroid fighters to be vigilant about!

fibroid fighting soup

Made a delicious fibroid-fighting soup today. I threw in my slow cooker the following:

1 oninon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 beets, chopped
1 cup dried green lentils
1 1-lb. bag baby carrots
several leaves kale, chopped
several pieces dried kelp
aprrox. 1/3 cup dried assorted mushrooms

The mushrooms I got from Fungus Among Us (http://www.fungusamongus.com/itmidx2.htm), it's the organic dried mushroom medly, which I keep in my freezer and throw into things as needed.

Put all ingredients in a large slow cooker, and fill to top with water and cook for 5 hours.

Delicious, easy and every ingredient helpful for fibroid fighting in some way!

special needs siblings

Energy medicine experts often say that fibroids are related to pent up anger and emotional trauma -- old stuff that is not being let go of.

I identified that one set of issues for me were things relating to growing up with a sister with cerebral palsy. This changed the dynamics of our family, forcing me to be preternaturally mature, and at the same time to be starved for attention.

As part of the fibroid healing process, I decided to look at this issue more closely and try to heal it. I used two books, one called The Normal Oneand another called Being the Other One: Growing Up with A Brother or Sister who has Special Needs.

I had mentioned these in a previous post, but am now done working with them. Thought I would share my thoughts on them for others who might have this similar thing in their lives. And for those who don't perhaps my approach to healing on this issue might be a useful one to apply to other issues you are facing.

Yesterday I was reading an article about business books, that said for the businessperson that a book is that nice happy medium between "I need to hire a consultant" and "I don't know anything about this topic." A book gives you a lot of information for $20 or less, and if you apply what's in it yourself you can get a lot of value. As a business consultant who writes books myself, I still think that there are things one can gain from working with a consultant that are not written in books. On the other hand, many times I feel in my consulting "if you had only read my book first, we could have started off at a more advanced point."

I feel that the same goes for personal self-help type books. There are lots of experts who share all their best techniques and illustrations in carefully crafted books. It takes a huge amount of effort to write a good book, so why not take advantage of this great source of learning that can be had relatively cheaply.

I read The Normal One first and it was really helpful to me to get validation that some of my rawer emotions were completely normal. It also helped me identify feelings that were partially-buried or ill-defined, and bring them into greater clarity for myself. However, I have to say that the book left me a bit frustrated, because it didn't have a lot of positive steps I could take to help myself heal.

That's where Being the Other One really shone. It's a much more positive and practical book. It is not as emotional in tone as The Normal One, but after reading one book of that type I was ready for something different. The part of Being the Other One that I liked the most was the chapter on how to heal yourself as an adult to address the impact that being the sibling of a special needs child has been. The book also has a section for parents of special needs children with siblings, which I hope that many parents in that situation will read.

Taken together, the two books were a good combination for me. The Normal One helped dredge up buried emotions, then The Normal One gave me an idea of what to do about them.

Here's how I used the books:
1. While reading, I underlined or put a star by each section that resonated for me. I then journaled about my own feelings relating to those.
2. In Being the Other One, on pages 108 and 109 there is a list of questions to think about, in order to reflect on your experience. I journaled about each of these.

After doing that, and talking with my coach about some of the things that came up, I was able to work through this issue for myself. Now I feel like I am done with it, that there is not so much energy attached to it anymore. And now I'm ready to give the books away, to an old friend who also had a special needs sibling.

This was an extremely useful process, and I encourage other fibroid fighters to identify emotional issues and work on them as part of your healing process.

playing with poison

My mom gives me her old Good Housekeeping magazines, and in the issue from last September found this scary article about the dangers of lead in many household objects. Such as costume jewelry!

As I have mentioned before, heavy metals are not something you need cluttering up your body if you are trying to get rid of fibroids. In the article it mentions that you can get lead tests at the hardware store. I promptly picked up a bunch and am going to test some things around the house...

Here's a link to the article. http://www.dienviro.com/s950/images/Playing_with_poison__lead.pdf

further refining my treatment plan

I had scheduled a meeting with my GP (who is an acupuncturist) for this afternoon right after the ultrasound, on purpose.

I have a kind of complicated regimen I have been doing, seeing actually two acupuncturists, this one and also another one who is a fertility specialist.

We decided that the approach the fertility specialist has been taking has not been aggressive enough (and also getting there was a pain and was adding to my stress). So I am going to work more intensively with my GP, who is going to put me on a more aggressive course of Chinese herbs -- more "blood breakers." She is going to add some more homeopathy, which we had been experimenting with lately.

Also I'm going to continue my work with the Body Talk / Reiki person as I feel like it's helpful (more on that later, have been meaning to write about it). I had been getting abdominal massage from the assistant of the fertility specialist, but for that I'm going to try switching to the Mayan abdominal massage, which I had written about in a previous post.

So feel like we have a good plan to step up the activities. Let's see how it works!

they shrunk! -- a bit

Hello everyone, today was my big sonohist (ultrasound where fluid is injected into the uterus to make it easier to see exactly what's going on in there. So the moment of reckoning to see how well my fibroid shrinking plan is working -- what kind of change there has been since my last sonohist in December and the subsequent start of my plan.

Looks like they have shrunk -- a bit.
One went from 5.7 to 5.2, and one went from 5.0 to 4.8
8.8% and 4% respectively.
Not a dramatic shrinkage, but shrinkage just the same. At least we are moving in the right direction. Not too bad for just under 5 months although of course I'm disappointed that it wasn't more.

The biggest change however was in my endometrium. In December the doctor said that it was so distorted that it was improbable that I could get pregnant and even if I did the baby would never have enough room. Now she says that it has a much more normal shape. It's still impinged, but now there is room in there for a baby. So overall even if it's hard to detect shrinking on the individual measurements (she said the measurements are difficult, it depends on what angle you get them from) at least the fibroids somehow seem to be getting out of the way.

So, while the fibroids are still definitely there and could cause problems, she wants me to try getting pregnant. So that is indeed progress!

So starting next month am going to get started on TTC stuff, and in the meantime am going to continue with my current fibroid shrinking program and try to step it up a notch. I have been so preoccupied with wedding stuff I have to admit that I have not been as good as I should have been with doing my castor oil packs and exercising, and also there are some other things I have read about that I want to try, like moxibustion and aromatherapy massage and cooking with seaweed and special mushrooms. So I feel like there is more I can do, and am going to redouble my efforts!