Essential Oils for treatment of uterine fibroids?

Hello. I am exploring the possibility of having a hysterectomy but have recently heard about essential oils as a treatment for uterine fibroids. Has anyone used essential oils in this way? If so, please share your experience.

Thank you!
rgay

Essential oils won't help your fibroids. A fibroid tumor is composed of fibrous muscle tissue. The only way to shrink a fibroid is to reduce it's blood supply or reduce it's exposure to estrogen. Essential oils won't do either of those things.

You can rub them all over yourself but they won't make it past your dermis and will not enter your blood stream. Essential oils are not a specific molecule that has some magical property. I have heard oil distributors claim that "within 21 minutes the oils are in every cell of your entire body." Anyone who took basic high school biology knows that's not possible, because the oils are not individual molecules or compounds, and things get into cells in a variety of ways (phagocytosis, osmosis, active/passive transport, etc).

They might smell nice and calm you down, but they won't shrink your fibroids, they won't stop the bleeding, they won't make your cramps go away or reduce your clots. They cannot do those things. Don't waste your time or money.

I'm all for natural treatments, but I agree with TrillianAstra. Sadly, no amount of essential oils or even diet changes seemed to help me. Believe me, I tried EVERYTHING!

If you're looking for less drastic treatment methods, depending on the type of fibroid you have, you might discuss with your gyn about an outpatient hysteroscopic removal (generally only for small fibroids in the uterine cavity or near the surface of the uterine wall). If you have larger or more embedded types of fibroids, you can ask for a referral to an interventional radiologist to see if you're a candidate for Uterine Artery Embolization (aka Uterine Fibroid Embolization). Those procedures, or Accessa or MRgFUS, are the least invasive methods to get rid of fibroids. There is a lot of info on this web site, so please read up on all your options.

Always get a second opinion, or even third or fourth opinions! They will help guide your decisions. Good luck!!!

Diet did nothing to prevent them in me. I was a vegetarian for over 10 years, ate a plant based diet with lots of legumes, leafy greens, etc. I've been physically active my entire life (competitive running and cycling); never been over weight, haven't used hormonal birth control since I was 21. I do not meet any of the standard risk factor criteria for fibroids. I am having a Myosure hysteroscopy with D&C tomorrow to remove mine; it will only remove the 3 large ones within the uterine cavity, it won't touch the many small ones in the walls of my uterus.

If this doesn't work I may have to consider hysterectomy, which, although I am not wild about the idea, if it is indeed the best option to return my quality of life, I will definitely do it when the time comes. I am all for trying alternative therapies, but I don't think it's worth pursuing things that are not proven to work in any of the medical literature.