Natural vs. Chemical - Help Me Understand

Ok, somebody help me understand. One of my girlfriends told me a while back that she has uterine fibroids that made her look like she's about three months pregnant. At 38-years-old, her gynecologist prescribed her birth control pills to help the symptoms that are occurring and possibly shrink the fibroids. The pill was not helping her at all and they continued to grow which was causing major problems. The GYN then told her that she may have to take some other measures that would involve surgery because every other pill that was prescribed to her also didn't work. She then had to concern herself with the fact that she's married and hasn't had children yet and wasn't sure if the surgery was going to jeopardize her chances. Another girlfriend suggested that she may want to try to rid herself of the fibroids naturally. So, being a good friend, I started researching different ways she could rid herself of these fibroids and came up with some very interesting solutions.

There were several topics that I researched about my friend's fibroid issue - some being with her food and drink consumption. She loves to eat cheese. She can eat all kinds, but mainly cheddar, brie and feta. Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese, which she hasn't had much of because she's been on a weight loss regimen for a few years now. In my research, I found that eating or drinking a lot of dairy can attribute to getting fibroids. Another food item that I found helped increase her chances of fibroids was chicken that was not raised organically. Most chickens are given things (I'm not sure what - steroids, maybe) to make them bigger, so we as consumers can get our money's worth. Caffeine was other problem that I found both in what we drink, like coffee and what we eat, like chocolate, predominately, milk chocolate.

So, after all of this research, she began to make these changes in her eating and drinking. Can you guess what happened? Almost a year after changing these habits, she saw some significant changes in lower stomach area where the fibroids were dwelling. The fibroids were shrinking, measurably. Her body was feeling better and she definitely had been noticing changes in her "time of the month".

Now, I don't want to go against the pros, but why are doctors and pharmaceutical companies so gung ho on trying to push pills and surgeries that could harm our bodies instead of trying a more natural way of healing so our bodies won't go into shock from being cut open or digesting a pill that could do more harm than good? I have a great GYN. I think she's awesome, but I asked her about trying natural things first before having to take more severe methods and she told me that basically, it's our body and we are free to do what we want, but this is what she's learned and believes will help solve this particular problem.

I understand that natural remedies may not be the answer to all of our problems and I also understand that this method of curing isn't for everyone. I'm just trying to understand more fully, why we choose to drugs and/or surgeries first?

Comments

[rochelleganz]

I'm on a quest to shrink my fibroids naturally. There are a lot of alternatives out there, from diet changes to acupuncture to Chinese herbs to meditation. I've been gathering info on this topic and chronicling my journey on my blog, www.shrinkingfibroids.blogspot.com.

[SimJack]

Take a look around, have you forgotten what country we live in? Capitalism is one of the answers to your question, maybe THE answer. Consumerism is encouraged in our society whether it be for health care, food products or how many heated cup holders your cross-over has. We are a nation of consumers demanding the quick and easy fix, despite that the potential long term harm and cost might outweigh the benefit; 'Vanity' products and services from baldness to ED to 'plastic' surgery; highly processed fast food laden with synthetic chemicals leading to obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension and heart disease; most prescription drugs have a laundry list of deleterious potential side effects.

Consumer safety takes a back seat to financial gain by corporations. Cost cutting requires the inclusion of synthetic chemicals to their products, food or otherwise. If they have deleterious side affects, tough. The holy trinity of chemical/ag/pharma industry rules and lobbies the FDA, EPA, DoA; the American consumer not so much. It's telling when co's are allowed to use terms such as 'wholesome' as if this were a valid scientific description. And bottled water shouldn't be labeled 'No Fat' - it's only water. Natural means just that - produced in living organisms or by naturally occurring processes without any human meddling other than minimal processing for packaging. If it contains synthetic compounds synthesized in a laboratory and aren't routinely found in the natural world, then it probably isn't.

[LeftRight]

They are so big on pushing the pills because that's where they make their money!

My daughter has hypothyroidism, and has to take pills to make her thyroid work at all. For years she was on a more natural regimen which was working just fine, and included a small amount of thyroid medicine, and a good diet, exercise, etc.... The doctor changed her prescription one month (supposedly to save us some money on the prescription) and her thyroid levels just dropped! We had to go back to the original within one week!!! To top it all off, the prescription actually cost MORE, since it wasn't covered at the same rate under our insurance!

[DudeRasta]

The truth is they have no concern for health or well-being... they are more concerned with profit...
And let's face it how does the Doctor or the pharma companies profit, if there is a natural remedy?
This is another fine example of the failure of for-profit health care.