The incidence of uterine fibroids could be as high 80% of all women in the U.S. While the majority of women usually have no symptoms, 1 in 4 will have symptoms severe enough to require treatment. Fibroids can cause problems in pregnancy, create chronic pain, make intercourse intolerable, cause excessive bleeding and in extreme cases dramatically enlarge the abdomen.

While surgery can attack the fibroids in different ways, each procedure has its drawbacks. However, the main problem is that surgery does not address the common reason a woman has fibroid tumors to begin with.

The growth of fibrotic tissue is driven by one of two things: trauma (such as an injury that formed scar tissue) and excessive ESTROGEN. Many post-menopausal women will ask, "How can this be? I don't produce estrogen as I used to." This is a good question. The answer is that there has to be a balance between PROGESTERONE and estrogen. Without adequate levels of progesterone, whatever amount of estrogen present dominates the receptor sites of cells and drives the growth of fibrotic tissue. Our modern environment, diet and pharmaceuticals have created a crisis of hormone imbalance in both men and women, girls and boys that can be traced to excessive levels of estrogen.

Therefore, the treatment for uterine fibroid tumors must address the problem of estrogen dominance. If this underlying cause is ignored, fibroids will simply return, even after being surgically removed.

Returning the body to a more balanced hormone profile is not very difficult. Women must avoid all hormone drugs such as oral or implanted contraception, Women must avoid hormone replacement therapy that involves estrogen in any amount. Bio-identical hormone replacement may be acceptable depending upon where a woman is in the process of treating fibroids.

Estrogen is everywhere! Balancing the progesterone-estrogen balance means avoiding foods high in estrogen (yes, even phyto-estrogen). The top offenders are flax and soy. Food and oil products from these two are the biggest food sources of estrogen.

Forget all you have heard about the miracles of soy and flax. Both foods have good things to offer, however the bad thing - estrogen - outweighs any positive benefit derived from having them in your diet. Most of what we have learned about flax and soy has been part of a campaign by the big agribusinesses seeking markets for their top product.

Avoid exposure to chemicals that mimic estrogen (xenoestrogens) such as pesticides, herbicides, and fumes from solvents.

Supplement progesterone by using only pure, natural progesterone cream without additives. Be aware that many creams contain soy! Taking an herbal formula called Myomin has been shown to metabolize unhealthy estrogens and inhibit aromatase, a key enzyme involved in the synthesis of estrogen. For women and men, this action prevents the conversion of testosterone into unhealthy estrogens (estradiol and estrone), and leads to the unhindered production of more good estrogen (estriol) from progesterone, DHEA, and other hormones.

The best approach to shrinking uterine fibroids involves adding a professional systemic enzyme supplement that will lyse away (dissolve) the fibrin in the fibroid tumor.