Many women experience fibroids, which are a result of excess oestrogen (oestrogen dominance), which stimulates their growth. Although they don’t necessarily have to cause a problem, they can become problematic.

Dr John Lee said that normally they will disappear altogether at menopause and that to reduce them a progesterone regime should do the trick. My experience is that many women do suffer from fibroids around their thirties and forties and that they can be a real nuisance.

What are they?

Fibroids are round, firm, benign lumps on the muscular wall of the uterus, composed of smooth muscle and connective tissue, and seldom do you just get one. In size they start small and grow to something the size of an orange, but can get much bigger. The most usual consequences are painful and/or irregular periods and heavy bleeding, often accompanied by pain.

The usual option offered for treating fibroids is a hysterectomy and many women, depending on their age, opt for this. If you have a highly skilled surgeon they can just remove the uterus intact, but this is not usually the case.

Treating fibroids naturally

Prevention is the best option, so ensuring that you have adequate supplies of progesterone is a priority.By using natural progesterone regularly it is often possible you should be able to shrink the fibroids in size without resorting to surgery, depending on their size.

Once menopause is under way the fibroids will begin to shrink naturally, but if you are around ten years or so away from your menopause you need to be aware that you are probably having anovulatory (non-ovulating) cycles and so you are producing much less progesterone than before but still the same amount of oestrogen. To check for this, have a blood or saliva test to check progesterone levels the week following your usual ovulation date. A low reading indicates lack of ovulation and the need to supplement with natural progesterone.

If you experience any of the common signs of oestrogen dominance you will want to keep an eye out for fibroids and take action sooner rather than later to avoid surgery.