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:
Subserosal – on the outside surface of your uterus
Intramural – within the muscular wall of your uterus
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:
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
Myomectomy:
Fibroid only taken out
Black women 2x more likely to get complications like excessive blood loss, scar tissue, fertility issues
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
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
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!
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Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!
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
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