Letters to the Editor

Alternative Treatment for Uterine Fibroids

 

I have come across an article entitled “Recovery from Uterine Fibroids” that was published on April 2008 in your magazine (currently archived on the website at www.vitalitymagazine.com/apr_08_bodymind). I have a question for the writer and I would appreciate it if you could please forward my message to her. Here is my message to April Love Bailey.

 

“Hello April, I came across your amazing article on the Vitality magazine website. I was looking online to find women who have had fibroids and have been able to control them naturally.

 

I have an orange-sized fibroid in my uterus. I am desperately looking for good surgeons in/around Toronto who do that and I realized that you were satisfied with your doctor’s work when she did the myomectomy. I too have changed my diet since I read a couple of articles about xeno-estrogens, but my current family physician discouraged me and told “you are wasting your money. Fibroids can’t be prevented naturally”. I’m glad that I found your helpful article so now I am more inspired to follow my diet more strictly. I would really appreciate it if you could please tell me the name of the doctor who did the surgery for you.

 

Regards, Nadine, Toronto

 

(Editor’s note: Because the writer of that article is based in the U.S. she is unable to recommend local surgeons and does not wish to give out health advice. So we forwarded the reader’s query to Dr. Zoltan Rona for his take.)

 

Response from Dr. Rona:

 

There is one issue that the article in Vitality did not discuss and I feel it is a very important one. About 30-70% of all women will have at least one fibroid in the uterus during their lifetime. Many of these women suffer from abdominal pains and abdominal bleeding leading to at least 300,000 hysterectomies in the U.S. every year.

 

Since vitamin D is an important modulator of many other hormones, it should not be surprising that uterine fibroids, a condition caused by an excess of estrogens relative to progesterone, can be reversed by optimizing vitamin D blood levels. Black women have as much as a 70% higher uterine fibroid rate than their white counterparts. Studies indicate that this all has to do with the levels of vitamin D being generally lower in black women. This is mostly because black skin does not manufacture vitamin D from sunshine as easily as lighter colour skin. It’s as if black men and women had their own inborn sun blockers. Other people that tend to have lower blood levels of vitamin D include the obese, people who use sunscreens, and those who have poor diets or problems with fat soluble vitamin absorption. 

 

Any woman, black or white, suffering from uterine fibroids would certainly benefit from vitamin D supplementation. Blood levels, of course, would have to be monitored on a regular basis to ensure safety. In Toronto, I recommend that women with serious fibroid problems make an appointment with Dr. Alvin Pettle.

 

Vitamin D, Black Women and Fibroids. http://torduange.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/vitamin-d-black-american-women-and-fibroids/

 

Further comment:

 

I am not opposed to surgery for some cases. It depends on the severity of the discomfort and whether or not there is any blood loss or anemia. Some women can live quite happily without the surgery and focus on doing all the natural things. Others cannot tolerate the discomfort and need to see the surgeon because all other conservative measures have failed. Myomectomies are preferred to hysterectomies. Keep your internal organs as long as you can within reason.

 

Public Wants Electric Trains – Not Diesel

 

Gerard Kennedy, MP for Parkdale High Park and Dr. David McKeown, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, joined over a thousand protesters on September 26 in the city’s west end to insist that Metrolinx use only electric trains for the new commuter trains that will run to the airport and Georgetown.

 

The protesters, which included as many kids as adults, formed a human train that marched along the sidewalks near the tracks. The daylong walk was organized by the Clean Train Coalition to continue the mounting pressure on the government to put in electric trains instead of diesel for the new rail link from Union Station to the airport and Georgetown. The main rally attracted many Toronto city councillors.

 

The provincial transit authority, Metrolinx, is proposing to run more than 450 diesel trains a day through Toronto’s west end, making it one of the busiest rail corridors on the planet. The health and environmental impacts that will result from the substantial increase in diesel fumes are at the root of the growing opposition to Metrolinx’s proposal.

 

The Clean Train Coalition likes the idea of expanding rail service within the GTA according to Mike Sullivan, member of the Clean Train Coalition. “All we’re asking for is that the government use electric trains. We are opposed to seeing taxpayer dollars spent on diesel trains that will expose our children to the many harmful chemicals found in diesel exhaust,” said Sullivan. www.cleantrain.ca.

 

John Gerretsen, Minister of Environment, has until October 5 to determine if the province is willing to accept the health and environmental impacts in order to fast track plans for this rail service.