Fibroids Linked to Relaxers?

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

Thanks is not enough. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with fibroids and I had intense pain with week long cycles. Because of this my doctor proposed a hysterectomy. Fast forward to four months ago, I had an ultrasound, told the tech my story, she said," They recommended what?! There is nothing wrong with your uterus and your fibroid is the size of a DIME in a place that would NOT keep you from being able to conceive. I'm so glad you went with your gut instinct and refused that surgery because there's no way you'd need something that drastic."

Doctors are 80 some-odd percent (Forgive me as it's late and I don't remember the exact number) MORE likely to recommend hysterectomies to African American women. There are so many women (my older sister included) that were "sold" (aka told that they NEEDED) hysterectomies when in fact they didn't. We may not have all of the answers but we ARE in control of what we put on and into our bodies.

I personally am open to any and all information. What I can't use, I stick it in my mental filing cabinet so that I may use it later or share it with someone that could benefit from it. Whether they're caused by relaxers, hormones/toxins in food, various plastics, bad diets, etc., I want to know. So, Thank you OP. I appreciate the post. (This was my first time reading it.)

my doctor did too as well as some other procedure. I declined both. My mother told me I should have told him "kiss my black a$$" because he obviously didn't care about me as a patient. A black patient. He also said that hysterectomies do not cause early menopause when i brought up one of my concerns

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

Knowledge and information is the only intent that I took from this article. I had major problems with Fibroids most of my life. I had surgery and they grew back and then last year I finally got rid of them for good.

I had been relaxed for a long time but I truly believe that the problems with the fibroids stemmed from diet and stress. However, while I was suffering from them, any little bit of information and research that I could get was welcomed. I then decided what to or not to believe.

Thanks OP

myoung may i ask how you got rid of them for good?

 

[My Friend]

Estrogen, one of two hormones produced by a woman's ovaries, also might play a role in fibroid growth. Since estrogen controls the growth of the uterus, Dr. Stringer says it may influence the uterus to develop fibroids.

He adds that if a woman with fibroids takes birth control pills that contain estrogen, it is proven that the fibroids will grow faster and larger. And obesity, which Stringer makes clear does not cause fibroids, can increase a woman's chances of getting them.

If you don't have fibroids, he says that certain lifestyle factors, such as exercising and following a low-fat nutritional diet, may prevent or slow fibroid growth, but it will not shrink a pre-existing fibroid.

 

[CurlyMoo]

Thanks is not enough. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with fibroids and I had intense pain with week long cycles. Because of this my doctor proposed a hysterectomy. Fast forward to four months ago, I had an ultrasound, told the tech my story, she said," They recommended what?! There is nothing wrong with your uterus and your fibroid is the size of a DIME in a place that would NOT keep you from being able to conceive. I'm so glad you went with your gut instinct and refused that surgery because there's no way you'd need something that drastic."

Doctors are 80 some-odd percent (Forgive me as it's late and I don't remember the exact number) MORE likely to recommend hysterectomies to African American women. There are so many women (my older sister included) that were "sold" (aka told that they NEEDED) hysterectomies when in fact they didn't. We may not have all of the answers but we ARE in control of what we put on and into our bodies.

I personally am open to any and all information. What I can't use, I stick it in my mental filing cabinet so that I may use it later or share it with someone that could benefit from it. Whether they're caused by relaxers, hormones/toxins in food, various plastics, bad diets, etc., I want to know. So, Thank you OP. I appreciate the post. (This was my first time reading it.)

It's terrible and IMO criminal what the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies are doing to women. Last month my sister called me up to thank me for being the only one to tell her that if she didn't want the hysterectomy; there had to be another way to deal with her fribroids. A friend of hers called her up and told her that his 70 something year old mother was hospitalized for hysterectomy related problems. He told her he's glad she made the decision not to remove her uterus.

The doctors told her she needed a blood transfusion because she lost so much blood. She refused the blood they were very persistent in giving her. They begged her to take at least one bag. I offered to give my blood they said no it would take a few days. I get the feeling there was a heffy price per bag of blood they would have charged her insurance company, because at the end of her stay her blood count was up and that was from fluids alone. People were telling her that she didn't need her uterus, she had enough kids.

This thread is making me realize I need to be tested for fribroids. I use to relax my hair, if that is a possible connection then I want to be checked out. Now that I know someone who gets rid of them I better move on this now before I leave this damn city.

 

[Nice & Wavy]

It is ' I ' who thanks you.

I had no idea about this and there are a lot of important people in my life that I need to share this with. Especially my friends who have pre-teen daughters are thinking about 'relaxing' their hair. They need to see this information and then 'pray' for direction.

If this 'forum' was on fire, I wouldn't waste time with a 'search' before trying to alert everyone. Right now, someone among us may be planning to get their scalps 'burned' , this thread is the fire extinquisher ...

IF relaxers or anything that is in the relaxer process, or color or shampoos/conditioners may be causing fibroids, then I want to know about it and pass the information along. I know its not a full study with all the bells and whistles, but at least it woke something up in me and made me go "hmmmmm...."

Sis, right now one of closet friends has been trying to conceive and she is so heartbroken. She's been going to Naturalists, Changed her diet to Vegan, and several other changes. THIS may be the answer that she needs.

I think about the fact that Honeycomb eats 100% Raw and she is dealing with them. It's a fact that whether we eat great or not good at all, they are hard to get rid of.

Good Information in Here:

My cousin shared this book with me and it's worth the price.

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2005

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I'm going to look into getting this book....thanks!

I wish more research was done to actually find the cause of fibroids. I can't really bother with the article. I am a member of a board that has 1000s of women suffering from fibroids and 80% of them are white women. I know women who are natural, relaxed, yt, black suffering from this awful condition.

I understand and I'm just grateful that at least they already have begun the process of doing research on this because it has been a serious problem for women. You are right, there are lots of white women too that are dealing with them, and I found out that there are white women who uses relaxers too! They also use those permanents to make their straight hair curly. Color may even be a factor for them because many of them do it.

Thanks is not enough. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with fibroids and I had intense pain with week long cycles. Because of this my doctor proposed a hysterectomy. Fast forward to four months ago, I had an ultrasound, told the tech my story, she said," They recommended what?! There is nothing wrong with your uterus and your fibroid is the size of a DIME in a place that would NOT keep you from being able to conceive. I'm so glad you went with your gut instinct and refused that surgery because there's no way you'd need something that drastic."

Doctors are 80 some-odd percent (Forgive me as it's late and I don't remember the exact number) MORE likely to recommend hysterectomies to African American women. There are so many women (my older sister included) that were "sold" (aka told that they NEEDED) hysterectomies when in fact they didn't. We may not have all of the answers but we ARE in control of what we put on and into our bodies.

I personally am open to any and all information.

What I can't use, I stick it in my mental filing cabinet so that I may use it later or share it with someone that could benefit from it. Whether they're caused by relaxers, hormones/toxins in food, various plastics, bad diets, etc., I want to know. So, Thank you OP. I appreciate the post. (This was my first time reading it.)

Thanks is not enough for this post! I too were told early on that I should have a hysterectomy by a doctor. I told him I did not want to get it and he insisted. Ticked me off so I found a doctor, a woman, who was pro-uterus. Anyway, after all the results of tests were in, she explained what the fibroids were up to and she said this: "Let's remove the fibroids that are there. I will remove everyone I see. If I go in and see that your uterus isn't good, and will cause a serious health risk for you, I will remove it. But, if your uterus is healthy, except the fibroids, I will leave it in. Deal?" I liked her approach so I said "Deal!" She performed the surgery and afterwards she told me "there is absolutely nothing wrong with your uterus. It's healthy and strong its just that you are growing these fibroids. She removed all that she saw, however she did inform me that its a possibility that they would return if they are in the lining of my uterus.

Well, they did return....not as they were at first, but a few did pop up. So, we decided since I was already in my 40's that we would wait until menopause kicked in so that they would begin to shrink. I dealt with all the stuff that comes with having fibroids all these years and now its better than ever! I have normal periods and sometimes, no period at all. My blood count is normal (iron level) and I am free from having to take meds of any kind. I may be having hot flashes, but I know its only temporary and will change.

my doctor did too as well as some other procedure. I declined both. My mother told me I should have told him "kiss my black a$$" because he obviously didn't care about me as a patient. A black patient. He also said that hysterectomies do not cause early menopause when i brought up one of my concerns

I felt the same way...he didn't care about me and how I felt, he just wanted to get rid of the uterus.

Estrogen, one of two hormones produced by a woman's ovaries, also might play a role in fibroid growth. Since estrogen controls the growth of the uterus, Dr. Stringer says it may influence the uterus to develop fibroids.

He adds that if a woman with fibroids takes birth control pills that contain estrogen, it is proven that the fibroids will grow faster and larger. And obesity, which Stringer makes clear does not cause fibroids, can increase a woman's chances of getting them.

If you don't have fibroids, he says that certain lifestyle factors, such as exercising and following a low-fat nutritional diet, may prevent or slow fibroid growth, but it will not shrink a pre-existing fibroid.

Yes, I've heard this as well. I also heard it could come from the chemicals we use on our lawn to kill weeds and bugs, sprays in the house to clean the bathroom and floors, etc. We don't know, but one thing is certain...I will not put relaxers on the back burner and say that its NOT the problem either. At least someone is looking into every aspect of the problem because as we can see.....there is something going on and its attacking us as women.

It's terrible and IMO criminal what the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies are doing to women. Last month my sister called me up to thank me for being the only one to tell her that if she didn't want the hysterectomy; there had to be another way to deal with her fribroids. A friend of hers called her up and told her that his 70 something year old mother was hospitalized for hysterectomy related problems. He told her he's glad she made the decision not to remove her uterus.

The doctors told her she needed a blood transfusion because she lost so much blood. She refused the blood they were very persistent in giving her. They begged her to take at least one bag. I offered to give my blood they said no it would take a few days. I get the feeling there was a heffy price per bag of blood they would have charged her insurance company, because at the end of her stay her blood count was up and that was from fluids alone. People were telling her that she didn't need her uterus, she had enough kids.

This thread is making me realize I need to be tested for fribroids. I use to relax my hair, if that is a possible connection then I want to be checked out. Now that I know someone who gets rid of them I better move on this now before I leave this damn city.

Oh, man...I don't blame her. She has had her uterus all this time she don't want to let go of it.

 

[texasqt]

Estrogen, one of two hormones produced by a woman's ovaries, also might play a role in fibroid growth. Since estrogen controls the growth of the uterus, Dr. Stringer says it may influence the uterus to develop fibroids.

He adds that if a woman with fibroids takes birth control pills that contain estrogen, it is proven that the fibroids will grow faster and larger. And obesity, which Stringer makes clear does not cause fibroids, can increase a woman's chances of getting them.

If you don't have fibroids, he says that certain lifestyle factors, such as exercising and following a low-fat nutritional diet, may prevent or slow fibroid growth, but it will not shrink a pre-existing fibroid.

What he should have said was, "if a woman starts TAKING birth control, she may develop fibroids." I didn't develop mine until after I started birth control at my doctor's recommendation to help "regulate" my already regulated cycle. She gave me a free month sample to get started too. Over the next few years, I gained weight and developed 6-7 fibroids (I was relaxed back then too). One fibroid grew to the size of a tennis ball but luckily I made the connection, got off the BC, starting eating healthy, exercising, did a few detoxes, lost the weight, and now when I go for my gyno check ups she doesn't even mention them. I'm not sure if they are still there but they definitely aren't causing any problems and they aren't growing any more. I'm going to get an update when I go for my visit next month.

Fibroids don't just grow and appear out of thin air and they are not hereditary. I'm the only one in my family who has them. They are only "hereditary" because the family maybe following the same health practices. Something triggers their growth and they feed off estrogen and other things (chemicals and waste) the body can't handle. Figure out what that something is and I'm sure you can starve those suckers! I believe that you can reverse the growth but that doesn't have any medical backing to it yet. Just my opinion.

 

[Nice & Wavy]

What he should have said was, "if a woman starts TAKING birth control, she may develop fibroids." I didn't develop mine until after I started birth control at my doctor's recommendation to help "regulate" my already regulated cycle. She gave me a free month sample to get started too. Over the next few years, I gained weight and developed 6-7 fibroids (I was relaxed back then too). One fibroid grew to the size of a tennis ball but luckily I made the connection, got off the BC, starting eating healthy, exercising, did a few detoxes, lost the weight, and now when I go for my gyno check ups she doesn't even mention them. I'm not sure if they are still there but they definitely aren't causing any problems and they aren't growing any more. I'm going to get an update when I go for my visit next month.

Fibroids don't just grow and appear out of thin air and they are not hereditary. I'm the only one in my family who has them. They are only "hereditary" because the family maybe following the same health practices. Something triggers their growth and they feed off estrogen and other things (chemicals and waste) the body can't handle. Figure out what that something is and I'm sure you can starve those suckers! I believe that you can reverse the growth but that doesn't have any medical backing to it yet. Just my opinion.

Thanks for your opinion...what you have said is important!

I didn't take any birth control until after I found out I had fibroids. It's funny how it happens differently to each person. But you said it right....we must learn how to starve those suckers!!!

 

[JinaRicci]

Thanks for posting N&W because this made me finally read the article. I had dismissed this because I thought of course they're going to find a correlation with the high numbers of black women who relax and high numbers with fibroids. To an extent that's true because 94% of the 23,580 women in this study use relaxers.

But surprisingly they found dose-reponse effects. The risk of fibroids increased with the frequency of relaxer use/year. At the same time, relaxer use increased with decreasing European ancestry (they used DNA) so could it just be that White heritage decreased the risk? They controlled for that and still found a positive association.

The study has issues. They didn't find a difference in risk between lye and no-lye so they thought a common ingredient like pthlates used in fragrance which have shown estrogenic effects could be the cause. But they couldn't confirm if pthlates were in fact present in the relaxers used. Also, the risk for fibroids didn't increase if relaxers were started early and that was a surprise since I would think that if it is estrogenic effects then your lifetime exposure to estrogen would make a difference.

But I still think this study is important. It's useful to understand long-term effects of any chemical. I don't know if relaxers, the process or your body's response to the chemicals increases the risk of fibroids but I think they're on to something. They collected so much data that I think will be useful for further investigation. This study is also part of the Black Women's Health study following 59,000 women and we need studies that address our health issues.

I like that the authors acknowledge the drawbacks of this study and make it a point to not conclude that relaxers cause fibroids until further studies establish this. If something in relaxers is a risk factor for fibroids then I take it to mean that it will add to your risk since fibroids like any tumors depend on a number of factors including your genetics. We will always find people who never used relaxers with fibroids or who used relaxers their whole life without fibroids.

I hope this study opens up ideas for other studies to understand why we're more at risk. Knowledge is power.

 

[Nice & Wavy]

Thanks is certainly not enough for this well thoughtout and informative post. You have given me hope that we here on LHCF can have discussions that are positive and give good feedback, even if we disagree.

Thanks again...love the info!

Thanks for posting N&W because this made me finally read the article. I had dismissed this because I thought of course they're going to find a correlation with the high numbers of black women who relax and high numbers with fibroids. To an extent that's true because 94% of the 23,580 women in this study use relaxers.

But surprisingly they found dose-reponse effects. The risk of fibroids increased with the frequency of relaxer use/year. At the same time, relaxer use increased with decreasing European ancestry (they used DNA) so could it just be that White heritage decreased the risk? They controlled for that and still found a positive association.

The study has issues. They didn't find a difference in risk between lye and no-lye so they thought a common ingredient like pthlates used in fragrance which have shown estrogenic effects could be the cause. But they couldn't confirm if pthlates were in fact present in the relaxers used. Also, the risk for fibroids didn't increase if relaxers were started early and that was a surprise since I would think that if it is estrogenic effects then your lifetime exposure to estrogen would make a difference.

But I still think this study is important. It's useful to understand long-term effects of any chemical. I don't know if relaxers, the process or your body's response to the chemicals increases the risk of fibroids but I think they're on to something. They collected so much data that I think will be useful for further investigation. This study is also part of the Black Women's Health study following 59,000 women and we need studies that address our health issues.

I like that the authors acknowledge the drawbacks of this study and make it a point to not conclude that relaxers cause fibroids until further studies establish this. If something in relaxers is a risk factor for fibroids then I take it to mean that it will add to your risk since fibroids like any tumors depend on a number of factors including your genetics. We will always find people who never used relaxers with fibroids or who used relaxers their whole life without fibroids.

I hope this study opens up ideas for other studies to understand why we're more at risk. Knowledge is power.

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

I think about the fact that @ Honeycomb eats 100% Raw and she is dealing with them. It's a fact that whether we eat great or not good at all, they are hard to get rid of.

My raw food journey has only been for a few months and at most, I hope to stop them from growing anymore. Shrinking them from diet and supplements would be icing on the cake.

You are right Nice & Wavy, they are very difficult to get rid of once you have them, but there are steps you can take to keep them from getting worse, diet is one way (again there are many factors as to why one woman may get them and another won't)

Someone also mentioned that diet plays a part in getting fibroids, and I agree to an extend. I, for the most part, have eaten a pretty healthy diet since my late 20's, not perfect, but really good. So it really surprised me to find out I had them, my mom had them (she had to get a hysterectomy) and my oldest sister had them (she's now in menopause and thankfully didn't have to have surgery but she suffered tremendously)---so for me it's more than likely hereditary, but I wonder what other factors may have contributed to me getting them.

There is a lady that has a center in Mexico that helps cancer patients through a vegan diet and she even mentioned that cancer tumors with strict diet are easier to get rid of than fibroid tumors, crazy isn't it??!!??---so the point of my raw/mostly raw journey is to at least stop their progression now that I know I have them.