What Causes Uterine Fibroids? What you need to know.

A study from the National Institute of Health suggested the majority of women will develop uterine fibroids at some point during their lifetime. 

These benign uterine growths can range in size from that of a pea to that of a melon, and symptoms can vary from none at all to heavy or painful periods, bleeding between periods, pain during intercourse, and lower back pain – to name a few.

A diagnosis of uterine fibroids can often mean just one thing – a prescription for the birth control pill as a way to control the growth of the fibroids and the symptoms you’re experiencing. This treatment does not get down to the root cause of this health issue or actually address it longterm. Hormonal birth control comes with a raft of side effects and can actually exacerbate hormonal imbalances.  The other option presented is often surgery – and most of us, quite rightly, want to avoid invasive surgery as much as possible.

The good news is that these are not the only two paths open to most women with fibroids. You can treat fibroids naturally – reducing the size of those you have now, preventing the growth of more, and reversing the problem. The first step to understanding how best to treat fibroids is knowing what causes them to happen.

What causes uterine fibroids?

According to Western medicine, no one knows for sure. What we do know is that they seem to be affected by our hormones – in other words, excess estrogen in the body seems to make them grow, and they will often decrease in size after menopause (when overall body estrogen is lower). The root cause is estrogen excess or estrogen dominance in the body’s ecosystem.

To treat fibroids and alleviate symptoms you need to make food and lifestyle choices that support your body in processing and eliminating this excess estrogen as efficiently and rapidly as possible. You need to create a low estrogen environment in your body.

You may have heard that women with fibroids should specifically avoid meat and dairy products from animals treated with synthetic hormones – this is because synthetic hormones (another example would be the birth control pill) are unnecessary and powerful estrogens that can create estrogen dominance and provoke fibroids to grow. But, just as some foods are bad for fibroids – some foods are very good for fibroids and can do the opposite, making them shrink and eventually disappear.  

Part of the fibroids puzzle is also genetics – if you have fibroids, it’s quite likely your mom or sisters also have this health issue. It’s also more likely that a daughter of your’s will be at higher risk of developing fibroids in her teens and 20s. You can of course stop this domino effect in its tracks by ensuring you address the estrogen excess that is the source of the problem.

How to treat fibroids naturally

For decades, here at FLO Living, we’ve offered the alternative to drugs and surgery that has been so effective in minimizing the growth and painful symptoms of uterine fibroids. What makes our approach unique is that we get to the underlying causes of this issue – the estrogen dominance and hormonal imbalance – thus decreasing the likelihood of recurrence.

The FLO Living protocol inherently decreases excess estrogen and elevates progesterone levels to bring the hormones in balance. It’s about food choices, but it’s also about eliminating sources of synthetic estrogen from your life – pesticides, chemical-based beauty products and cosmetics, even generic household cleaners. 

There are 5 stages to treating fibroids naturally:

1. Reduce your estrogen overload with changes to your diet and daily routine 
2. Improve your lymphatic drainage through movement, sweating, and self-care 
3. Reduce your gut inflammation and support your microbiome with fermented foods and probiotics
4. Improve your liver function to encourage elimination of excess estrogen 
5. Eat more of these 5 hormone balancing foods and take these 3 specialized supplements 

The emotion-fibroid connection

At FLO Living, we understand that our mental health and physical health are connected. Stress and unprocessed anger can play a role in developing that toxic internal environment where problems like fibroids thrive. Traditional Chinese Medicine points to a connection between the emotional state and fibroid growth. Fibroids are specifically indicative of the energy of the Sacral Chakra or Second Chakra in this practice. Abuse, trauma, blocked creativity, resentment can all act as blockers that need to be worked through.

More and more research indicates how stress can impact our physical health.  Stress weakens the immune system and suppresses the overall optimal function of the body. An increase in cortisol, the stress hormone, causes an imbalance in progesterone – creating progesterone deficiency and estrogen dominance. Our body’s have a feedback loop and the impact of stress and anger on our physical health can be profound and extend far beyond raised blood pressure.

Investigating your relationship with stress and anger and finding healthy outlets for their expression can be a key component in your healing journey. This can mean managing daily stress levels, prioritizing self-care, and elevating the amount of pleasure in your life.

Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!

To your FLO,

Alisa

What Period-Type are you?

How do you know if your hormones are healthy?  The answer is in your period!

The color of your flow, frequency of your period, and symptoms you have each month can tell you a lot about your health. There are 5 different PERIOD TYPES, and knowing which one you have will help you get healthy now and prevent disease in the future.

Click here to take The V-SIGN TYPE™ Quiz NOW