Research and Experimentation on Intramural Uterine Fibroid using a combination of Vitamin D3, EGCG and B-complex: A personal study.

(Warning: Graphic descriptions lol 😛)

    I am making this post in hopes that the information may help anyone else suffering from fibroids (as they are VERY common in the female population between the ages of 18-45), and possibly provide another option for their reduction aside from surgery.

    At the beginning of this year, I started having abdominal symptoms that are unusual for me. It started with a random sharp abdominal pain that came out of nowhere while walking around, causing me to have a hard time moving and even breathing. I decided to rest and see what happens the next day as usually any odd things that happen (could be stress related) tends to go away with rest for me. When I woke up, I was still having abdominal pain. Since this was unusual, and I had no explanation for it that I could think of, I went to the nearby clinic to get it looked at. After a series of tests, they found nothing. No infection, no anything.

    Ok, so I left it alone. My boyfriend visited me out of concern and I talked to him about my symptoms. We decided to see if having sex would help make any of the symptoms go away, and though hesitant that I would hurt more, I agree because, duh. Who doesn't want to try that lol 😇. To my surprise, all negative abdominal symptoms went away. Cool. 😁 

    Several months later I started gaining abdominal weight every day (though I didn't eat much, and primarily ate very healthy). This was my first red flag, as I don't gain weight easily. I was always feeling full, and had no appetite as a result of that, so I technically should be losing weight as the amount of calories consumed was drastically less than what I was burning off via my regular daily schedule. I even went to another clinic to get tested for STD's or any other thing that could have invisible symptoms. Nothing came back except for "microscopic traces of blood in urine sample." 

    Of course after that, I went on Google to look up what all could cause blood in urine, aside from STDs, UTIs, etc that I already tested. This is where I started seeing information on uterine/ ovarian cysts/ cancer/ fibroids/ ect. I started paying close attention to any new symptoms in order to help narrow down which of the above it could be, so I could know which test to get seen for next, as I wanted to eliminate any of the smaller tests before requesting bigger tests.

    My second red flag came with my monthly period. Aside from the usual abdominal period pain, I now had extreme rectal pain to accompany it. It felt like lighting, or electrical shock inside your anus while doing simple things like sit down (which is all you want to do on your period). At this point, I scheduled an appointment with my OBGYN for a yearly pap. I told her what was going on, and what I suspect, and she told me that I would have to have an ultrasound done in order to further investigate it. Though my pap results came back really healthy, my uterus felt a bit enlarged and she can feel a lump via pressing on my lower abdomen.

    That's all I needed to know lol. Any hint of suspicion from a medical doctor that I may have (as I narrowed it down to) a uterine fibroid, caused me to immediately look up ways to make it go away. My ultrasound appointment was a month away (guh 😯😴) but I already started research and experimenting on myself the very same day with anything that I could find that didn't require surgery.

Here is some of the information that I found:

Journals posted on the National Library of Medicine had some interesting findings regarding Vitamin D, and Green Tea.

                                                    ------------------ Vitamin D ---------------------

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6619469/#:~:text=The%20significant%20role%20of%20vit,is%20associated%20with%20a%20reduced

"A double-blind clinical trial was performed on 69 patients. Group A (n=35) was treated with vit D 50,000 IU every 2 weeks for 10 weeks, while group B (n=34) received placebo with same color and shape. Fibroid size significantly changed in vit D group. Vit D group significantly decreased as compared to placebo group (52.58 vs 61.11 mm, respectively) (P=0.006), while by analyzing data with paired t test, the size of fibroid in control group did not change significantly (P=0.315)."

After talking to my boss, a pharmacist, he said to also look into studies on EGCG (found in green tea) and fibroids.

                                                   ------------------------ ECGC ------------------------

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3742155/#:~:text=Epigallocatechin%20gallate%20(EGCG)%20treatment%20decreases,%2C%20800%20mg%2Fday).

"A total of 39 reproductive-age women (age 18–50 years, with symptomatic Uterine Fibroid) were recruited for this study. All subjects had at least one fibroid lesion 2 cm3 or larger, as confirmed by transvaginal ultrasonography. The subjects were randomized to oral daily treatment with either 800 mg of green tea extract (45% EGCG) or placebo (800 mg of brown rice) for 4 months, and UF volumes were measured at the end, also by transvaginal ultrasonography. 

    In the placebo group (n = 11), fibroid volume increased (24.3%) over the study period; however, patients randomized to green tea extract (n = 22, 800 mg/day) treatment showed significant reduction (32.6%, P = 0.0001) in total UF volume. In addition, EGCG treatment significantly reduced fibroid-specific symptom severity (32.4%, P = 0.0001) and induced significant improvement in HRQL (18.53%, P = 0.01) compared to the placebo group. Anemia also significantly improved by 0.7 g/dL (P = 0.02) in the EGCG treatment group, while average blood loss significantly decreased from 71 mL/month to 45 mL/month (P = 0.001). No adverse effects, endometrial hyperplasia, or other endometrial pathology were observed in either group."

    After reading that journal article, I came across another study that included BOTH Vitamin D3, Green Tea, and now added Vitamin B6.

"RESULTS: One Uterine Fibroid developed in the control group, but none in the treated group. UF size significantly decreased from 10.73 ± 5.52 cm3 at baseline to 7.98 ± 4.00 cm3 after 4 months of treatment (p<0.0001), while it remained unchanged in the control group (10.21 ± 5.83 cm3 at T0 to 10.62 ± 6.28 cm3 at T1). Menstrual bleeding and anemia ameliorated only in the treated women.

    The treatment group shows a reduction of 35% in the UF volume size after treatment with EGCG, vitamin D and vitamin B6 for four months. Instead, the control group received no treatment (following the “wait and see” approach) and experienced a 4% increase in the UF volume size."

https://www.ijmdat.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/03/e300.pdf

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    That was enough statistically significant results for me to start seeing what I can do to my own fibroid. I decided to take a prenatal multivitamin, 4,000 iu of Vitamin D3, 1,000 mg of Green Tea capsules, 250mg of Magnesium (because "muscle health"), 1 capsule of Vitamin B-Complex (which contains 100mg of B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6, B-12 each, 100 mg of Biotin, 100 mg of Inositol, an 20 mg of Choline) every single day (with food, because for some reason the B complex specifically made me sick to my stomach if I didn't). Here are my daily vitamins to test myself with (I am not affiliate with any of these brands, but I do love Alive! vitamins in general lol) :

    About 1 week of doing this, all of my abdominal symptoms went away. I didn't have weight gain (was actually losing weight now), didn't feel full, didn't have a loss of appetite, etc. My abdominal area was feeling normal. Could be the result of placebo effect, but time will tell. 

    Finally, my appointment came along, and I had an ultrasound done. Turns out that I in fact do have a non-cancerous uterine fibroid (intramural specifically- in the uterine muscle walls, at the back of my uterus which may push on my bladder or give me back pain should it grow larger), and a rather large one at that (8 cm x 6 cm x 7 cm- about the size of an apple). Any options suggested to me were pretty much surgery only, as anything else would either prevent me from being able to have kids (I currently don't have any, but also don't want to rule it out either), or force me into menopause prematurely. Fibroids tend to grow with hormones (estrogen primarily that is known as of yet), and menopause reduces hormones, thus, reducing fibroids. Also, if you have fibroids, you are highly likely to also be Vitamin D3 deficient. Any surgery to remove them can always cause cancer to develop, or even cause the fibroids to grow back, so the cons for surgery outweighed the pros for me. I don't see the point in removing them, if they may grow back and possibly cause me to have cancer from surgery on my uterus. 

    Here are my ultrasound photos of the fibroid:

    I don't want to have surgery, don't want to be out of work for 6 weeks (the minimal amount of down time for the smallest surgery option), don't want to not be able to have kid, and don't want to go into menopause, so I asked my doctor if I can re-schedule another ultrasound 3 months away to see if I can reduce the size on my own (similar time frame to the studies I posted). She said yes. I don't know what size my fibroid was a month ago when she first suspected that I had one, and I started taking the vitamins, but the primary symptoms that originally caused me to see several doctors did go away so I would like to think that it was likely larger to some degree. As of right now, I know its current size, so I have numbers to work with.

--- Will update increase or decrease in size results at the end of November 2022 when I get my ultrasound results back. 😊---

--- Update 1: Appointment was pushed back until December 9, 2022 due to hurricane. Will post  results then.--- 

--- Update 1a: Nov 30, 2022- Current observational symptoms: All negative primary symptoms are still gone. I still have bleeding in between periods (period ends, then no bleeding for 4 days, then light bleeding again for 4-5 days. Bleeding stops completely around ovulation and doesn't return until period starts) though severity is decreasing. The amount of bleeding in between periods seems to lessen every month from originally bleeding like a second period, to now somewhat bleeding one day and spotting the rest. -- 

--- Update after appointment follow-up: ---

Doctor said that the size is exactly the same. She stated that fibroids don't shrink (which is odd to me because studies show that they have), but she did say that it is a good thing that it hasn't grown at all in the 5 months that I have been experimenting on myself, and that I should keep doing what I am because it is at least keeping it at bay. 

Disney Princess Personality test in conjunction with the Myers-Briggs Typology Test ! Fun for kids.

I found this really cool photo that someone made, listing each Disney Princess as Myers-Briggs Personality Type test results. I think this is pretty fun, so I have been posting the link to the sample test so that people can see what their result is, and then compare it to the different Disney princesses :) I have always been a fan of Belle, she is my all time favorite, and she is an INTJ personality type. I took this test months ago for a psychology class of mine, and got the EXACT same results! Pretty funny :p . I made this photo huge, so to read the descriptions of them, right click on the photo, click "view image" and if you need it bigger, there is usually an icon at the top of your browser that allows you to zoom in more (usually you have to go to the "view" part of your toolbar at the top left). Have fun! Share your results!

Here is the link to the assessment-

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Source- http://simbaga.tumblr.com/post/70050509947/got-a-request-from-morphississ-for-a-disney

Menstrual Cycle Health Benefits from Green Tea: A personal study

Sorry guys, this is a post specifically for the ladies.

 This is my own personal study, that I have been experimenting on myself with. I learned something awesome about green tea, that will help you with your painful periods.  I don't take pain medications for ANYTHING. No Ibuprofen, no Tylenol, Midol, nada. Not with headaches, the flu, nothing (I just deal with the pain, hoping to build a pain tolerance or an amazing immune system of STEEL! hahaa). I don't want my body to get used to having to take pain pills for minor things, then build an immunity against it, as well as damage my liver/ get stomach ulcers, then not work when I really need it to. I DID try ibuprofen ONCE because I was hurting so bad (I felt like puking every single time I would breathe), BUT, all it did, was stall the pain until the next day (when it's usually gone for me). NO THANKS! I want the pain DONE AND OVER WITH.

For those of you who don't know me personally, I'm a HUGE TEA junkie. Specifically green teas, white teas, fruity flavored teas (NOT tea with fruit syrup poured into it like at restaurants). So naturally, places like Teavana are my heaven (www.teavana.com), or therepublicoftea.com now that Starbucks bought and closed all the Teavana stores -_-. The more obsessed with tea I've been, the more I've noticed some things.

-------------- Currently known health benefits of green tea: ----------------

Research shows that green tea benefits many other things for your body. It improves cognitive functioning, helps your memory and spatial learning, gives you a feeling of well-being, increases bone density, helps prevent cavities and tooth decay, helps blood pressure, helps cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, ETC. So many other reasons to drink it!

 

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/11-benefits-of-green-tea-that-you-didnt-know-about.html

http://www.blisstree.com/2013/01/31/food/nutrition/benefits-of-green-tea/

 

Other than the obvious health reports and studies out there, I'm adding to the list, YOUR PERIOD!  I don't know if this is already a known thing posted somewhere else on the internet, as far as I know (without looking it up), it isn't.

Now to the point: I noticed that if you drink green tea regularly, but especially and mainly a few days to a week before your period, it'll actually make your period far less heavy (we all know the first days are the worst), and no where NEAR as painful (it wont be postponed to the next day either like on ibuprofen). It's more like, the last 2 days of your period. At least for me, since this has only been tested ON ME. Usually I cant move, breathe, eat, drink, NOTHING but SLEEP on the first day since I hurt so bad. Ever since I started rinking green tea more than usual, I noticed that when I drank green tea around the start of my period, it lightened it up a lot, and had little to no pain. I've been making sure I do it every month haha. It has also worked if i only drink green tea a few days prior to my period instead of regularly.

This has only been tested with the drink. NOT the "tea" from soda fountains, and not that garbage ARIZONA that claims to be tea (isn't even really tea at all).

I'm talking more along the lines of home brewed tea from loose leaf or tea bags, and a very small amount  of store made teas -if you don't want to make it yourself-  like my personal faves: 

(for those who love sweet tea, there's:)

Sweet Leaf Tea

(for those who love lightly sweetened tea, there's:)

 Honest Tea

These are the only store bought ones I've tested myself with (and several home brewed ones since I LOVE making tea for some weird reason, like a hobby). I would like to add that "herbal tea" is just that: herbs. There are no actual tea leaves in it, but you can mix an herbal tea with a green or white tea to give it flavor if you like.

I'm not sure about the green tea supplement capsules yet. I'm actually testing myself on those right now as a matter of fact. If they work, I'll add it to the end of this. 

No matter WHAT amount of green tea you drink, AVOID ALL SALT FOODS before your period!! Everyone knows salt DESTROYS YOU around your period (if you didn't know that, now you do, because it RETAINS WATER and makes you even more bloated, which causes more pain). I think salt also counters the awesome effects of the green tea (sad face for my love of salt n vinegar chips and salt n vinegar popcorn), because you will still hurt. I was curious who would win the battle between green tea and salt, so I ate some while also drinking the tea before my period lol. That was NO BUENO. Not a good idea lol. Salt wins, and it isnt a good win lol.

So there you go. Another reason to invest in the good green stuff. If you find this same info on another site, give me the link to read it. If you actually try this, and find that it works for you, LET ME KNOW! :D

Also, SHARE this information with every girl that you know! Save a fellow girl some pain, will ya? :)

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UPDATE: 8/22/2012

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The green tea capsules/ supplements didn't work at ALL. At least not for me, you can still try them yourself.  Some of you in the comments say that it works for you. This might be one of those body chemistry differences, where its different for different people, but its worth a try if you haven't yet.

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UPDATE: 5/20/2018

I found that drinking brewed green tea with local honey (im not a fan of store bought honey, I like to find local bee keepers and buy from them since they tend to have more nutrients in the honey and they take care of the bees- Gallberry honey is my fav, Wildflower is my 2nd fav) when you are starting to feel sick is very helpful in reducing the symptoms of getting sick. It might even prevent you from getting sick altogether depending on how soon you do it. I work in a place where I am surrounded by sick people all day every day and when I feel any potential sick symptom coming on, I immediately brew a green tea with honey (maybe also with lemon), and take a zinc tablet if I have any. I don't get sick, and on the rare occasion, I might only get a stuffy nose instead of a full blown cold or flu. Green tea has antioxidants, [good quality] honey has antiviral,antibacterial, antimicrobial, antifungal, and antioxidative effects, with a high nutritional value (per research by Maryam Alsadat Hashemipour- read the discussion part of the study in link below). Zinc fights early cold symptoms.
http://www.woundsresearch.com/article/antiviral-activities-honey-royal-jelly-and-acyclovir-against-hsv-1

 

My first entry

I'm going to make this a good one before my other posts follow hahaha. Alright, I've been pretty in love with this etsy site:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AidansMonsters

if that link doesnt work, then:

https://aidforaidan.wordpress.com/aidans-monsters/

 

It's a link to a 5 year old boy that sells his drawings of monsters to help pay for his chemo because he has leukemia. I thought this is by far an awesome thing for a 5 year old to do. His drawings are awesome! I wanted to buy his nosferatu drawing but someone beat me to it :( . I'm surprised he knows who nosferatu is. Major props :D. But for $12 each, I think that's a great price to help an ill child AND get some bad ass drawings. If I were a pediatrician, I'd have so many of these hanging in my office.

These 2, the Scream monster (yes from the old movie scream) and  Nosferatu, are my favorites!

 

Which one is your favorite?