Episode 69: Understanding Uterine Fibroids: Risk Factors, Prevention and Treatment Options

In this week’s episode, Dr. Lisa and Dr. Toni are discussing what you need to know about uterine fibroids. Did you know that by the age of 50, almost two-thirds of women experience fibroids? Listen in to discover risk factors, racial disparities, conventional and natural treatments available for fibroids.

What are uterine fibroids?

Fibroids are noncancerous tumors that grow in the uterus and range from pea to football sized. 

Fibroids disproportionately impact women of color. Black women are diagnosed with fibroids roughly three times as frequently as white women, develop them earlier in life and tend to experience larger and more numerous fibroids that cause more severe symptoms.

In the US, nearly a quarter of Black women between 18 and 30 have fibroids compared to about 6% of white women. By age 35, that number increases to 60%. 

Potential causes and risk factors:

  • Estrogen dominance, as estrogen can feed the growth of fibroid – see Episode 21 and 22
    • Xenoestrogens and hormone disrupting compounds – for more info see Episode 65
      • Commercially-Raised Animal Products:
      • Plastics & Canned Goods (many have plastic lining)
      • Personal Care Products (makeup, lotion, & perfumes)
      • Oral Contraceptives or birth control pill
      • Pharmaceutical medications
      • Food Additives & preservatives
      • Styrofoam products
      • Laundry & Dishwashing detergents
      • Household cleaners & air fresheners
      • Pesticides & Herbicides
    • Perimenopause due to with lower progesterone levels
    • Weight gain, as your fat cells make more estrogen
  • Poor liver detoxification of hormones
  • Low vitamin D status – impacted by your skin tone and levels of melanin in your skin 
    • Vitamin D deficiency occurs 10X in Black women compared women from other cultures
    • Vitamin D inhibits uterine fibroid growth
  • Stress – see Episode 24 for more info on stress and your adrenal glands

Signs and Symptoms:

  • Heavy menstrual bleeding
  • Menstrual periods lasting more than a week 
  • Anemia and fatigue
  • Pelvic pressure or pain, can be during intercourse
  • Frequent urination
  • Difficulty emptying the bladder
  • Constipation
  • Protruding abdomen or bloating
  • Backache or leg pains

3 locations:

  1. Subserosal – on the outside surface of your uterus
  2. Intramural – within the muscular wall of your uterus
  3. Submucous – bulging into your uterine cavity

May impact your fertility in the following ways:

  • Block fallopian tubes, cervix
  • Reduce where implantation can occur
  • Increase risk of miscarriage
  • C-section may be recommended for birth

Conventional Treatments:

  1. Uterine Fibroid Embolization
  • Non-surgical; outpatient procedure
  • Incision in upper thigh with catheter inserted into femoral artery using x-ray to guide/locate blood supply to fibroid
  • Microscopic inert particles injected into vessels that nourish the fibroid to block blood supply resulting in fibroids shrinking
  1. Myomectomy: 
    • Fibroid only taken out
    • Black women 2x more likely to get complications like excessive blood loss, scar tissue, fertility issues
  2. Hysterectomy 
    • Removal of uterus
    • Black women 2.5x more likely to get than other cultures in the US

Prevention:

  • Optimize vitamin D levels
  • Supporting liver detoxification pathways
    • Green tea
    • Cruciferous vegetables
    • Garlic, onions, beets
    • Herbs: turmeric, milk thistle, yellow dock

Support regular bowel movements – see Episode 63 for more info on addressing constipation

Avoid xenoestrogens and plastics (even BPA free plastic) – see Episode 65 for more info

Limit alcohol

Support healthy weight and body fat percentage

Exercise 

Reduce stress

Consider hormone testing and if needed:

  • Support progesterone with vitex or bioidentical progesterone
  • Support estrogen detoxification with DIM, I3C 

Naturopathic treatment includes:

Above prevention strategies plus

  • Replace iron if deficient
  • Castor oil packs topically on abdomen to reduce inflammation and support circulation
  • Herbs to reduce bleeding like yarrow, shepherd’s purse

This Week’s Mama Must Have: 

Dr. Toni is loving the inspiring and motivational book Untamed by Glennon Doyle.

Dr. Lisa has committed to daily reading time and has read 4 books so far since Jan 2021. She loves getting books from free little libraries and just started Girl on a Train.

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing info session for expecting parents looking for increased calm, confidence and comfort during labour and birth is May 30. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Dr. Lisa’s Wild Collective in Fall 2021: get on the waitlist: wildcollectivetoronto.com

Email us or connect with us on  Facebook  and  Instagram

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Episode 67: The Mind-Body Connection Behind Autoimmunity with Kari Klein

In today’s episode, Dr. Toni welcomes back transformational coach Kari Klein to talk about the mind-body connection behind autoimmune conditions and how the mind is a key to true healing, bringing the idea of stress management to a whole new level. If you have the tendency to overthink things and you’re feeling a lot of pressure, overwhelm and fear, you need to listen in on this conversation, even if you don’t have an autoimmune condition.

In Episode 9, Kari shared her story of recognizing and addressing hormone imbalance which impacted her brain function and mood.

As a mom and chiropractor trained in functional neurology, Kari Klein has offered wellness care for families for many years. By providing transformational coaching and deep-dive conversations that produce a new level of self-awareness, Kari is passionate about guiding women and men to discover themselves and their potential, unlocking their power and connecting them with the knowledge of who they fully are and what they are really here to do. 

What is an autoimmune condition?

With autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus, your immune system is triggered to create antibodies against your own tissue.

It is common for women to experience the onset or flare of an autoimmune condition postpartum or soon after having kids.

A naturopathic approach to addressing autoimmune conditions involves supporting your immune system’s balance, gut and liver health, and stress management. 

In this episode, we discuss:

  • The focus on doing vs. being human
  • How you can get mis-identified with your body and the chaos of your life instead of the essence of who you are
  • How when you connect with how you are designed by nature, it is easier to manage stress
  • Where expectations, pressures and demands around being a mom come from and the autopilot setting you can be living in that can keep you feeling separate
  • How to recognize the training or programming you picked up so you can let it go
  • Why you don’t need to be better and how to reconnect to your true nature and your intuition
  • The impact of fear on your health and your inability to be present with your kids
  • How the mind can create burnout and help you heal from burnout
  • The power behind recognizing that you’re not broken and don’t need to be fixed

Kari mentions the book Why Don’t Zebras Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky

Want to connect with Kari? Email her at kari@kariklein.ca and find her on Facebook and Instagram @thislifekariklein 

Today’s Mama Must Have:

Kari loves using Sistema® lunch boxes with separate containers for her little guy. 

Dr. Toni can’t imagine life without a simple white noise machine (set on rainfall setting) and a fan to help support a full night’s sleep.

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on  Facebook  and  Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Episode 65: Green At Home with Emma Rohmann

In this episode, Dr. Lisa is talking with environmental engineer Emma Rohmann about the importance of reducing toxins at home. You may not realize that hormone disrupting chemicals in personal care and household products can cause harm in your body at small doses, and may be involved in earlier ages of menopause and even earlier ages of puberty in your kids. Now that you know, find out how you can be a more conscious consumer without getting overwhelmed!

Emma is a mom of 2 and the founder of Green at Home and The Healthy Home Method. With over a decade of experience as an accredited green building consultant and project manager, she now helps moms and moms-to-be reduce toxins at home without overwhelm, do a lifestyle overhaul, and prevent losing time and money on stuff that doesn’t work. Her online guides, courses, Healthy Home membership and personalized programs blend the science with the practical application needed to help drive healthy changes in our busy lives. Emma is a trained David Suzuki Foundation Queen of Green Coach, a guest lecturer at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, and holds a certificate in Environmental Health from the University of Arizona. You can learn more from Emma on The Missing Pillar of Health Podcast and at greenathome.ca.

In this episode, we discuss: 

  • Common misconceptions you may have around personal care and household products 
    • It wouldn’t be allowed to be sold if it weren’t tested and safe.
    • It’s only a little bit, and well within the safe limits allowed.
  • The biggest concerns of the impact of hormone disrupting chemicals on you and your family including:
    • Cancer
    • Early onset of puberty in both girls and boys
    • Early onset of menopause
  • How focusing on swapping out personal care and cleaning products is the easiest way to start reducing your toxin exposure at home
  • The importance of avoiding “green-washing” on the front label of your products, as well as products that don’t really work
  • Emma’s favourite deodorants – Green Beaver, Routine and Beauty Counter
  • The importance of avoiding the catch-all term fragrance on the ingredient list of your personal care products, which can contribute to development of allergies and asthma and contain hormone disrupting phthalates 
  • How a previous winner of the Allergen of the Year award is often found in natural laundry soap
  • Emma’s label-reading training can be found HERE  
  • Some resources for looking up products you currently use:
  • The importance of properly filtered water to avoid trace amounts of medication in tap water and other contaminants
  • A safer way to use plastic to reduce your exposure to hormone disrupting bisphenol compounds if you can’t completely avoid plastic
  • How avoidance is key, in addition to supporting your body’s detoxification pathways
  • Getting your kids more involved with cleaning the house by having them involved in making easy and effective cleaning products

Want more info?

Room-by-Room Checklist, Cleaners Recipes & Other Resources: greenathome.ca/learn  

Podcast on Environmental Racism & Social Determinants of Health

Advocacy: Environmental Defence Canada

Connect with Emma on Facebook and on Instagram

This Week’s Mama Must Have: 

Dr. Lisa loves using coconut oil for dry skin and Badger Balm for dry hands. 

Email us or connect with us on  Facebook  and  Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!