Dr. John Lee on fibroids and natural progesterone cream

[Guest guest]

The following is an excerpt from Dr. John Lee's book " What Your Doctor

May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer, " published in 2002 not too long

before his death from heart problems, I believe, in which even he admits

that progesterone can stimulate the growth of some fibroids:

 

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Guidelines for Women with Uterine Fibroids

 

Fibroids (benign tumors that grow in the uterus) are the most common

reason that women visit a gynecologist in the ten or so years before

menopause. Fibroids tend to grow during the years before menopause and

then atrophy after menopause. This suggests that estrogen stimulates

fibroid growth, but we also know that once they get larger, progesterone

too can contribute to their growth. Many doctors prescribe Lupron

injections to block all sex hormone production. This causes the

fibroids to shrink, but they regrow when the injections are stopped.

The anti-progesterone drug RU-486 is also used to reduce the size of

larger fibroids.

 

Women with fibroids are often estrogen dominant and have low

progesterone levels. In women with smaller fibroids (the size of a

tangerine or smaller), when progesterone is restored to normal levels

the fibroids often stop growing and shrink a bit, which is likely due to

the progesterone's ability to help speed up the clearance of estrogens

from tissue. If this treatment can be continued through menopause,

hysterectomy can be avoided.

 

However, some fibroids, when they reach a certain " critical mass, " are

accompanied by degeneration or cell death in the interior part of the

fibroid, and will have an interaction with white blood cells that ends

up with the creation of more estrogen within the fibroid itself. It

also contains growth factors that are stimulated by progesterone. Under

these circumstances, surgical removal of the fibroid (myomectomy) or the

uterus (hysterectomy) may become necessary. When you think of treating

smaller fibroids, you should be thinking in terms of keeping your

estrogen milieu as low as possible; when treating larger fibroids, all

hormones should be kept as low as possible.

 

The last thing you want to do if you have fibroids is take estrogen,

which will stimulate them to grow. If you're estrogen dominant, then

it's important to use a supplemental progesterone, usually in doses of

20 mg. per day during the luteal phase of the cycle. Sometimes this

approach works to slow or stop fibroid growth, and sometimes it

doesn't. It is worth a try. Reducing stress, increasing exercise, and

reducing calories are also good strategies for slowing fibroid growth.

 

There are a number of techniques for removing fibroids without removing

the uterus. If your doctor doesn't know about these, find another one

who does! The difference in recovery time alone between laparoscopic

removal fibroids (for example) and hysterectomy is three weeks versus

three months.

 

Ultrasound tests can be obtained initially and after three months to

check results. A good result would show that the fibroid size hadn't

increased, or had increased by 10 to 15 percent. With post-menopausal

levels, fibroids usually atrophy.