Uterine Fibroid Tumors

Estrogen is a hormone.  It is produced by the ovaries, and it’s the hormone responsible for the development of the female reproductive system during puberty.  It also stimulates the growth of the muscles of the uterus, and the thickening of the endometrial lining.

Hormones are essentially chemical messengers that travel from one organ to another, via the blood stream and instruct organs to perform specific actions at a cellular level.

Hormones affect the organs that have receptor sides.  Receptor sites are a group of cells that respond only to a specific hormone.  The cell will have receptors attached to it – receptors are microscopic structures that take a specific shape or configuration that match only the chemical composition of the hormone.  It works in a similar way to a key and a lock, if you imagine that hormones are keys, and receptors are locks.

When the hormone connects with the receptor, this gives the cells and the tissues that the cells make up, specific instructions, e.g. estrogen can tell the endometrial lining to thicken, and unfortunately, it can also tell fibroids to grow.

The more estrogen you have in your body, the more estrogen receptors you develop.  And the more estrogen receptors you develop, the more your body makes use of estrogen.

There are actually several types of estrogen:

• The estrogen your ovaries produce naturally

• Phytoestrogens – which are estrogens that occur naturally in plants, and are used by herbalists to help women who are going through menopause, and to help to block the effects of more powerful estrogens in women with estrogen-dependent disorders.

• Mycoestrogens – estrogens that are produced by fungi.  They mostly affect livestock and poultry, but you can find them growing on mouldy crops, such as rice, oats and wheat.

• Xenoestrogens – man-made chemicals that mimick the effect of estrogen in your body

We respect your privacy. Your information will be 100% confidential.