An Excerpt from Dr. Duane Townsend's book,
The Maverick of Medicine Speaks to Women:
A World-Reowned Gynecologist's Solution
for a Better World in Women's Health Care.
Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine myomas, occur in up to 25% of females. They are more common in the 5th decade of life. They are a bit more common in black women but are found in women of various ethnic backgrounds. Women may have only one fibroid, but more commonly they will have several. Fibroids may be located on the outer surface of the uterus, with the walls or on the inside surface.
The problems associated with fibroids vary from nothing to heavy bleeding, pelvic or abdominal pressure, frequent urination and abdominal swelling when they become large. The chance of one of these tumors turning into cancer is less than .01%.
In the 1970s, I worked with a research group at UCLA and we found that these tumors arise from a single cell. Why some women develop these benign growths is unknown but some clues are present. The age at which these tumors most comonly develop is the age when many women begin to develop hormonal dysfunctions. In other words, many of the women with uterine myomas have signs of a condition referred to as “ESTROGEN EXCESS”.
I did not truly appreciate this concept of estrogen excess until I began treating women with isoflavones and natural progesterone cream. Estrogen excess [EE] in women most commonly begins to develop in their middle to late thirties and often gradually worsens until menopause. It is chacterized by premenstrual breast tenderness, irritability, bloating weight gain, drop in sexual desire, headaches and an increase of menstrual flow. These women have an adequate estrogen but inadequate progesterone to balance the estrogen. Reasons for EE may be due to failure to ovulate, failure to develop an adequate number of cells to produce progesterone and the additional production of estrogen in body fat. Restoring the hormone balance will frequently eliminate the signs and symptoms of estrogen excess. Diet plays an important role since few Japanese have EE and my vegetarian patients seldom have the signs and symptoms of EE. When natural progesterone is combined with a change in diet, exercise and isoflavones (plant estrogens), over 90% of women with show marked improvement of these problems associated with EE.
So what’s the role of estrogen excess in myomas? Estrogen causes myomas to grow. A drug, Lupron[R], shuts off the production of estrogen by medically inducing a temporary state of menopause. Over 80% of women who receive this drug will have shrinkage of their myomas. However, when the Lupron is stopped and woman resumes her production of estrogen the myomas regrow, at times at a very fast rate. Women in the menopause who have uterine myomas will experience a growth of these benign muscular tumors when given estrogen.
Estrogen is the nectar for myomas, but by modifying the estrogen environment naturally, it is possible to stop their growth and even cause them to decrease in size.
There are a number of treatment options for women with these tumors. It is folly to think that they will not grow once they are diagnosed. Most are present because of estrogen excess. Doesn’t it make sense to first of all restore the hormone balance regardless of the size of these tumors? When a health care provider says “we’ll just watch them” what is really being said is we’ll watch them until it is time to surgically remove the myomas or the uterus. Why wait? Act now!
For women who have myomas that require treatment because of symptoms such as heavy menstrual bleeding or pelvic pressure due to large size, the primary treatment option is myomectomy (surgical removal of the fibroid) either by an abdominal incision or laparoscopically (“band-aid” surgery). Most physicians recommend a hysterectomy: “You might as well have it out since it is essentially a worthless organ that can only cause problems.”
Another new treatment method is a technique called “Uterine Artery Embolization.” In this procedure, tiny beads are injected into the main blood supply of the uterus which shut off most of the blood supply to the myoma. The method is quite effective but many patients experience severe pain with this technique because of the sudden cessation of blood to the tissues. I personally do not recommend this method because of the severe side effects as well as because there are no long-term studies to determine the long-term side effects of this method.
Another technique currently being studied is the use of freezing to treat uterine myomas. The method is called “Cryomyolysis.” It was developed by a Roman physician Errico Zupi. What he does is to locate the major blood supply of the fibroid and then he laparoscopically (“band-aid” surgery] freezes the myoma in a fashion that essentially destroys the major blood supply. In contrast to “Uterine Artery Embolization,” Dr. Zupi focuses on just the blood supply to fibroid. Women who have been treated with this method have a rapid diminution of the problems caused by the myoma. At six months after treatment, there has been an average shrinkage of 50%. Studies are ongoing but the preliminary results are exciting as none of the women treated have had any problems after “Cryomyolysis.”
Uterine myomas are found in three major areas of the uterus: within the uterine cavity, within the wall of the uterus and on the surface of the organ. When these benign muscular tumors are found with the uterine cavity they are referred to as submucous myomas. They typically cause very heavy periods. Most of these lesions can be removed through the cervix or mouth of the uterus. This is referred as “resection of submucous myomas”. If a physician recommends this procedure, make certain that he/she has performed at least 15 of these procedures since in the hands of the neophyte there can be serious complications.
The most common location of myomas is within the wall of the uterus referred to as intramural myomas. They can cause heavy periods as well because they can interfere with normal contraction of the uterine muscles that is important is stopping menstrual flow.
The last major location is just beneath the lining that covers the uterus or serosa called subserosal fibroids. These tumors seldom cause heavy bleeding but when they became large they can cause pressure on the other pelvis organs such as the urinary bladder etc.
Uterine myomas seldom cause pain with sex.
To learn more about the management of your tumor with natural products, isoflavones and natural progesterone please see my book. If you desire a personal consultation about your particular problem either come visit me or contact me for an interactive session.
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An Excerpt from Dr. Duane Townsend's book,
The Maverick of Medicine Speaks to Women:
A World-Reowned Gynecologist's Solution
for a Better World in Women's Health Care.
