The Cause of Fibroids and Cysts in Women
Episode 245
Are fibroids and cysts really the enemy, or could they be your body’s way of protecting you? In this eye-opening episode of Integrative You Radio , we unravel the truth behind these common conditions affecting women’s health. Learn how environmental toxins, hidden gut issues, and hormonal imbalances contribute to the development of fibroids and cysts in the female reproductive system. Discover why these conditions are often misunderstood and how they can serve as a vital protective mechanism against harmful substances. Dive into actionable insights on detoxification, gut health, and smarter lifestyle choices to address the root causes of these issues. Whether you’re currently dealing with fibroids, concerned about prevention, or a parent looking for healthier options for the next generation, this episode offers transformative strategies and solutions. Tune in now to gain a deeper understanding of your body’s resilience and how to empower your healing journey. What you’ll learn: Fibroids and Cysts as Protective Mechanisms Rather than being solely harmful, fibroids and cysts often develop as your body’s way of walling off toxins, infections, or other harmful substances, protecting vital systems from further damage. Hidden Culprits Behind Reproductive Health Issues Environmental toxins, dietary choices, and undiagnosed gut issues play a significant role in the development of fibroids and cysts, with fat-soluble toxins accumulating in reproductive tissues over time. Holistic Prevention and Solutions Addressing these issues requires a personalized approach, including detoxifying the liver, balancing blood sugar, and switching to toxin-free personal care products to support long-term health and prevention.. Quotes: "Your body is incredibly intelligent—fibroids and cysts aren’t just random; they’re protective mechanisms, walling off toxins and harmful substances to keep you safe. The key is understanding what’s causing them and addressing the root issues."- Dr. Nicole "Fib
Topics: fibroids, cysts, health, toxins, unknown, issues, reproductive, protective
Key takeaways from this episode
- ## Integrative You Radio: The Cause of Fibroids and Cysts in Women
- Fibroids and cysts can act as protective mechanisms, walling off toxins or infections to safeguard vital organs.
- Environmental toxins, particularly fat-soluble ones, can accumulate in reproductive tissues, contributing to the formation of these growths.
- Undiagnosed gut issues and blood sugar imbalances are significant, often overlooked, factors in the development of fibroids and cysts.
- A holistic approach focusing on liver detoxification, improving gut health, and reducing exposure to personal care and environmental toxins is key to prevention and resolution.
Pull quotes
This is the place where you become limitless. **Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior.
We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare.
If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place. **Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive.
Transcript
**Unknown:** Welcome to Integrative U Radio, hosted by Dr. Nick Carruthers and yours truly, Dr. Nicole Rivera. This is the place where you become limitless.
**Unknown:** We are covering the latest and greatest topics, of course, in a disruptive fashion, around integrative medicine, mental health, and human behavior. We are also covering how those topics affect the human and family dynamics. We will be sprinkling in some truth bombs for our healthpreneurs so they can join us in our mission to evolve healthcare. If you are health curious and growth focused, you are in the right place.
**Unknown:** But buckle up, because this is real, this is raw, and this is disruptive. This is Integrative U Radio. What's up, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Integrative U Radio.
**Unknown:** So I'm talking about a really, really interesting topic today, which is why cysts and fibroids, especially in the female reproductive system, are actually a protective mechanism and not always harmful. So we're, we're gonna get into that, because those of you that are like, "No, they are harmful," and, "I've had, you know, terrible pain and periods, and my cyst has ruptured," et cetera, listen, I get it, and we're not discrediting any of that. Because of course, if you do have a multitude of cysts, fibroids, it takes up space. It's going to create blockages.
**Unknown:** It is going to affect blood flow. It is going to create pain. It is going to affect nerve receptors. So yes, that is all bad.
**Unknown:** But the reason why it developed in the first place is actually your body's way of protecting you. So we're gonna talk about this. A couple of things that I want to set as the foundation. One, your reproductive organs are in an extremely, extremely close proximity to your bladder and to your rectum, which is part of your colon, your digestive system.
**Unknown:** So there is a lot of opportunity for someone who has reoccurring urinary tract infections, reoccurring bladder infections, for those infections to then affect the vaginal tract, the uterus, the ovaries, the reproductive system altogether. In addition to that, one of the most, most common things that I see is that people are walking around with unknown digestive issues, and what I mean by that is it doesn't mean that you have diarrhea or constipation. Yeah, maybe you have those things sometimes. Maybe you just get irritated if you eat the wrong thing, too much of something, but at the end of the day, especially if you are rooted in the US, there are a boatload of toxins in everything you eat and drink, even if you are someone who is going the organic route.
**Unknown:** Because one, there is a difference between organic and genetically modified, and two, you haven't eaten that your whole life. You know, so many people are like, "I don't understand how you're finding X, Y, or Z, you know, going on. I, I've been eating organic for the past year, past five years." I'm like, "Yeah, but what did you do before that?" We've all had exposures, and that stuff doesn't always leave the body unless it's provoked to leave the body. And it's not that your body doesn't know how to detox.
**Unknown:** Don't get me wrong. There are genetic variables on how well you detox, but it's like the, the pool filter or the vacuum filter that you kept using the vacuum, using the vacuum, using the vacuum, and you never dump the filter. That compounding effect creates a clogging of the filter. So organs like your liver, and your kidneys, and your lymphatic system, which are part of your detox, natural detox pathways, they're overloaded.
**Unknown:** They're not filtering bad stuff out after day to day, you know, week to week, month to month, year to year. They're... If the compounding effect is too extreme, you're holding onto those toxins, even though you changed your diet. And guys, for those of you that have done, like, one liver detox in your whole life or, like, one enema or one colonic, like, that doesn't cut it.
**Unknown:** You can't spend 20 to 30 years putting shit in and think that, you know, your 21-day cleanse is gonna get everything out. You know, I'm not here to be the bearer of bad news or say that healing is difficult. It's just... Like, it doesn't make logical sense that you, you know, you did a juice cleanse for five days, and now everything's all good in the hood.
**Unknown:** It's the same thing, you don't work out five days in your life and think that you're gonna have abs for the rest of your life. It's just not how the body works. So some of the things that I want to talk about is, one, okay, so if we have things going on in the gastrointestinal system, like you're getting exposed to heavy metals, you're getting... Heavy metals, uh, come from fish consumption, mercury, aluminum, think of aluminum foil, um, aluminum pans.
**Unknown:** You know, you have Teflon with your non-stick cookware. And then we have a boatload of different types of pesticides, and acaricides, and herbicides that are used in the agricultural process. In addition to that, you know, the things that animals are eating is usually grains that are chemically treated. Um, those grains are genetically modified in addition to be chemically treated, because they're being treated for mold and, um, all different types of, um, contaminations.
**Unknown:** So you're getting exposed to these different chemicals by eating the produce, by eating the meat, drinking the milk, drinking your, you know, your tap water. So it's coming from all different angles.So if you are being exposed to these different things, there are certain types of toxins that are going to infiltrate different types of tissues in the body, and there's actually a boatload of s- toxins that are classified as fat-soluble. So what does that mean? So think about women.
**Unknown:** You know, it's actually good for women to have some level of fat tissue, adipose tissue as we call it, in their pelvic region. You know, they, they've said one of the reasons why men will be attracted to curvy women is because if... This is usually unconscious, like they're not consciously thinking this nowadays. They just think, "Wow, nice ass." But unconsciously, it's like she's fertile.
**Unknown:** She can reproduce, and this goes back to our genes and aspects of our genes that haven't changed from many, many, many, many years ago. So having... You know, a lot of women tend to have some level of, of fat tissue in that area, and that could be natural. And then there are other women that are going to have more fat tissue primarily because there are...
**Unknown:** there's a fat accumulation from diet, or there could be a fat accumulation from certain toxins that is coming in through the diet. So we could have a tendency to have more fat on our abdomen because of that. We also have a tendency to have more fat on our abdomen when our liver isn't detoxing properly and also when we have really bad blood sugar. The thing with blood sugar, I've talked about this in many other podcasts but to give you a high level, because this is way more common than people think.
**Unknown:** People think when I say blood sugar, they're like, "Oh, I'm not a diabetic. Doesn't run in my family." But there is a huge epidemic of individuals waking up not hungry, drinking a cup of coffee. Nowadays, coffee, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, you know, even our local coffee shops pumped full of sugar, like especially your chain places. You know, tons and tons and tons of sugar.
**Unknown:** Sugar in the milk, sugar in the oat milk, sugar in the syrups, et cetera. Starting your day with that, not eating until 11:00, noon, some people 2:00, 3:00 in the afternoon, and then naturally they're going to crave carbohydrates, so you're gonna overeat and tend to eat carbohydrates that could be healthy. It could be, oh, I had a smoothie bowl. Oh, I had a sushi roll.
**Unknown:** Tons of carbs. Rice. You know, a smoothie's gonna be all fruit. Maybe it's going to have oat milk in it, et cetera.
**Unknown:** And then some people are just going straight up for, you know, the pizza, the hamburger, um, the sandwich, et cetera. So you're putting, you're putting yourself in a blood sugar crisis when that's what your day looks like. You know people, "Oh, I eat one meal a day." This was me for 15 years, 20 years of my life. Major blood sugar crisis.
**Unknown:** Did I have diabetes? No. I didn't at all, but I had insulin issues, and I had excess fat tissue on my abdomen. So there's a multitude of reasons why we can have excess fat tissue in our abdomen, pelvic bowl region where our reproductive organs are chilling and where they sit.
**Unknown:** So some of it is genetics based off of our shape and our ethnicity, and some of it's good. There is something classified as white adipose tissue, which is actually very beneficial. It's something that regulates our hormones. But then of course, there's our yellow adipose tissue, which is gonna come from poor blood sugar, uh, poor functioning liver, bad diet, et cetera.
**Unknown:** So the point that I'm trying to make is that there is ironically a multitude of fat-soluble chemicals that are in lubricants that are used for sex, condoms, tampons, pads, underwear. Tampons really take the cake, uh, when it comes to dioxins. So if you start to research... I actually did a, uh, toxicology report on tampons when I was in school, which was, you know, comical but very informative.
**Unknown:** And, uh, you know, essentially they use bleach in order to make the tampons a certain color. Dioxin, you can look at... You can literally look at the package insert, and you're going to... There's my dog, by the way.
**Unknown:** You're gonna look at the package ins- insert, and you'll find that there is an iteration of dioxin that's in your tampons. Um, also if you're getting just conventional pads or panty liners, uh, the same chemicals exist. Obviously, that's going to be more on the outer, um, portions of the vagina. It still will be absorbed through the skin, but obvious- obviously, if it's going directly into the vaginal tract the way a tampon is, the vaginal walls are extremely, extremely absorbent.
**Unknown:** It's going directly into the bloodstream. So you're going to have more intense absorption of those chemicals when it comes to tampon use. But, you know, condoms again, they also contain very specific chemicals, uh, benzenes, uh, being some of the chemicals, and then when you get into the, like, lubricants, the, it- it's the same story. So if you start doing your due diligence to look at the different chemicals that exist in these things that are directly entering the vaginal tract or at least being worn for multiple hours, like specific chemicals that are in underwear.
**Unknown:** Most underwear, most clothing nowadays is made from polyester and, um, gosh, now I'm forgetting the other one. Uh, it's like a new... Instead of using polyester, they're using, I think it's polyethylene.Anyway, the moral of the story is they're both extremely toxic, and especially these are things that are being used in fast fashion and big production. So, you know, a lot of us that are, are still, you know, since we were young going to Victoria's Secret and we're just like, "Oh, that's my store where I get all my really comfy underwear," you know, big production companies, they're using poor quality.
**Unknown:** You know, I remember when I started getting into this world and I wanted to buy more organic cotton underwear and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, how much money am I spending on underwear right now?" But then when you understand this bigger concept, you know, you're like, "Okay, let me make the investment," or just don't wear underwear. Um, but at the end of the day, what happens is these chemicals go directly into either the vaginal tract or the outside of, of the vaginal tract through, again, pads, panty liners, tampons, et cetera, and they're fat soluble. So these chemicals, your body is going to make an effort. It's gonna make an effort to say, "We gotta get this out of here, and if we can't get it out of here, we gotta store it somewhere." And so some of these chemicals will go directly into the fat tissue.
**Unknown:** And if we have a tendency to have a lot of excess tissue, fat tissue being one, and even just fibrous tissue as well around our uterus, 'cause maybe we have a very low grade of endometriosis, which could just mean maybe you're not diagnosed, but you have really bad periods, really painful periods, really heavy cramping, um, heavy bleeding, clots coming out with blood. Those are all signs that you have excess fibrous tissue. You might also in addition have fat tissue that's all around your reproductive organs. So what this is telling us is that there is excess tissue, and there...
**Unknown:** This is... There's a high probability that these toxins are gonna go into that excess tissue in order to try to get it out of the bloodstream. Because if it goes into the bloodstream, this can make you very sick. So the body's gonna do its due diligence to adapt to the situation and to say, "Hide this away so that we can prevent this from getting into the bloodstream, getting into the brain, getting into the spinal cord." So i- it's all a protective mechanism.
**Unknown:** But what happens is if there is an accumulation of enough toxins, and there is certain toxins that are very harmful, your body is going to create a wall around it, and that wall or that encapsulation is what we call a cyst or a fibroid, and that's why sometimes we have fatty-based cysts or we have, uh, fluid-based cysts, um, and a variety of other materials, and this is going to be because it's walling off something that is extremely harmful. In my experience, these cysts and fibroids are more correlated to toxins, second runner-up, parasites, which we will get into in just a moment, and then lastly is going to be harmful bacteria. Harmful bacteria is not always going to be the, the catalyst to fibroids and cysts because our body has innate mechanisms in order to fight that off. But the problem is, is that women are getting reoccurring, you know, UTIs or bacterial vaginosis, partly because our microbiomes, um, because you have a microbiome in your gut, your skin, your vaginal tract.
**Unknown:** Our microbiomes are completely wiped out, all the good bacteria is wiped out, and it's partly wiped out from these toxins, partly wiped out from excess, um, antimicrobial cleansing through our soaps, our body washes, our douches, things like that. Um, and then also the amount of, uh, pesticides that we're exposed to is affecting the microbiome of the gut, and a lot of the personal products that we're using on our bodies that are chock-full of chemicals is wiping out the microbiome on our skin and even in the vaginal tract. So that's... The bacteria is a probability for cyst development or fibroid development, but I do see that you're going to see it more with toxins and even with parasite infections.
**Unknown:** You may be thinking, "Holy shit, what is she talking about? Can I have parasites in my vagina?" It is possible. It is not, uh, it is not not possible. Um, it's not crazy common, but this is definitely something that can happen in the event that you have massive parasite infections in your gut 'cause again, your descending colon and your rectum back up to your uterus.
**Unknown:** So if you have something like Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, meaning you have ulcers in your rectum or in your colon, whatever organisms that are in there creating the inflammation can escape, and they can go other places. So this is one of the reasons why we can actually have parasites affecting our reproductive system. And so again, your body is so smart, it's like, "What the fuck is that? Wall it off.
**Unknown:** Trap it. Encapsulate it." And so this is one of the reasons why when people have a cyst rupture, it's not just painful, like they can get very sick. They can get flu-like, and it's because if it opens, whatever comes out, now the body is trying to deal with that. It's, it's upregulating the immune system in order to fight and deal with whatever was released.
**Unknown:** This is one of the reasons why you'll see more natural cancer practitioners advocating against biopsies because this is the same idea.What do you think a tumor is? A tumor is the body's innate response to wall off something super fucking harmful. But it's not inaccurate when they say it's, it's a cancer cell. What you have to understand is that when your tissue...
**Unknown:** Y- your tissue thrives on oxygen, hence why we breathe air. So it takes in oxygen, and that creates the health of tissue and the health of your cells. But when something has to learn how to live without oxygen, so there's a certain tissue or a certain part of an organ that is bombarded with infections or toxins, what has to happen is that the body has to adapt. And so instead of living on oxygen, it has to learn how to live without it.
**Unknown:** And so there's a mutation that will happen, and that mutation is going to change the cells, and under a microscope, that's what we call cancer cells. But when we're dealing with a tumor, cancerous tumor, is not only have we had a change in the tissue because the tissue had to learn how to live without oxygen, but in addition to that, it's also walling off something extremely harmful, and that could be toxins, it could be parasites, it could be bacteria, it could be mold, it could be a combination of those things. And so they go, they do a biopsy, pierce it, extract, and now you're going to have a spillage out. So this is not, you know, a podcast specifically on that topic, which is a very loaded topic, but it's, it's a similar concept.
**Unknown:** And so what we need to understand is that fibroids and cysts that are developing in our reproductive system, even in our respiratory system, this is a, an adaption that your body innately does intelligently in order to wall off things, uh, that are harmful to your reproductive organs. So it's a matter of investigating what is it walling off. What is going on in my reproductive organs, around my reproductive organs? What is going on in my gut, in my rectum, in my descending colon, in my bladder?
**Unknown:** What's going on in the lymph nodes that are in my pelvic bowl, all those lymph nodes in your bikini line? Like, what's going on in that whole area that's potentially causing it? Because I'm sure that, you know, m- majority of women that are dealing with this, they're just being told, like, "Oh, you know, it's a hormonal imbalance," and they're being recommended different medications or different hormone replacement therapies. It doesn't fucking do anything 'cause it's not the problem.
**Unknown:** Yes, do you have hormonal imbalance? Yeah, of course. Because if you have an excess of tissue, especially fat tissue, you're gonna have major estrogen imbalances. But most estrogen imbalances actually go back to liver dysfunction, it goes back to blood sugar dysfunction.
**Unknown:** You know, if you have progesterone issues, you... This could be something that's coming from the reproductive organs. This could be something coming from the brain. The brain is the regulator.
**Unknown:** Your pituitary gland is the regulator of your hormones. This could be too much stress hormones because guess what? If you're running from a tiger or you are gonna fight a tiger, your body's not prioritizing reproduction, it's prioritizing survival. And people don't realize nowadays if you get a bad email or you get in a bad fight with your husband or your wife, like, that triggers the exact same response as if you have to fight a tiger or run.
**Unknown:** It's an... It's a sympathetic overdrive. It's the same thing. Your body doesn't know the difference.
**Unknown:** Doesn't know the difference between the nasty email from your boss and, "Fuck, I gotta fight this tiger or I'm gonna die." It doesn't know the difference. So this is some of the faults in our genetic evolution, but this is why this modern age is creating so much fucking anxiety and depression for people is because... I, I, I talked to a 13-year-old the other day, and I was like, "Wow, your nervous system is so taxed." Like, you know, I, I dropped this pen, and she's like... A- and this, this is something that's happening younger and younger, and we're just in this, this age of, of technology and overstimulation and do, do, do, go, go, go, be the best, competitive, uh, go to this sport, be the best ballerina, you know, be super smart, pass your SATs, go to the best college.
**Unknown:** And it's like, what the fuck? I just wanna have a little fun and laugh with my friends, you know? And, and it's like that's the same for us as adults. Like, how many of us have belly laughed?
**Unknown:** When is the last time that we laughed until we, like, literally almost peed our pants, you know? It's just we've lost this art of just having fun, having fun with the simple things, not having to go to this lavish dinner and spend a bunch of money. Just, like, sit around and have some good food and just have a great conversation, laugh, be playful, have no strings attached to, you know, to the interaction. And so at the end of the day, the whole moral of the story here is that, one, I want you to have an emotional freedom around this concept that I have fibroids and cysts.
**Unknown:** What's wrong with me? Is this gonna turn into cancer? Because it's your body's ability to do its job properly, but the thing is is that you're not getting quality data. You're not getting quality information about what's actually causing it, and the cause is not j- should not be siloed to your reproductive organs.
**Unknown:** It should be about lookingat all of the systems that, one, work with your reproductive organs but also surround your reproductive organs. And I will, I will say this with confidence, most people, most Americans are walking around with gut issues, if they know it or they don't, silent gut issues let's call them, and that is because we have been poisoned from day one. And that's from the, the baby formula to, you know, the, the different cereals that are geared towards children to all of the crap that's on our food as, as we... that we eat as we age.
**Unknown:** So overall, this is a huge culprit for the reproductive organ or the reproductive problems that I see in addition to the history of tampons and other usages. And then of course, throw some birth control on top and we have a whole other set of problems because that's now manipulating our hormonal levels, which is then driving further liver dysfunction. So here we are. So do not think that there's something wrong with you.
**Unknown:** Do not think that you are genetically doomed to have this. Um, the probability that it runs in families is because of the toxins that have been passed down generation to generation. Yes, that does happen. And your body is doing what it needs to do, it just needs intervention.
**Unknown:** It needs some help to expel out the things that are creating the problem, getting rid of the toxins, getting rid of the infections, and then the body will be able to function optimally. But you need better data, diverse data, and you need a strategy that actually is relevant to you where you're at in this current moment so that you're not wasting precious assets like time and money. So comment below and let me know if you want me to expand on any part of this topic. Um, but like I said, if you are looking for resources, you know where to find us at Integrative View.
**Unknown:** We still are practicing and doing amazing work in this area. Um, and, you know, and also prevention. This is, this podcast is about prevention. If you are a mom of a young woman, um, you know, there are a lot of other options outside of using tampons and our conventional pads.
**Unknown:** There's organic options. You know, there are different period-based underwears. Like, there, there's a lot of, a lot of different things that will allow you to prevent this in the future. We thank you so much for being an avid listener of Integrative View Radio, formerly known as Integrative Wellness Radio.
**Unknown:** We appreciate all of your support. We love your comments. Please visit us on social media as well as our website to see all of the fun things happening behind the scenes and the new amazing content and courses that is being rolled out on a monthly basis. We hope to see you there.
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About Integrative You Radio
Integrative You Radio is a root cause medicine and integrative medicine podcast hosted by Dr. Nicole Rivera and Dr. Nick Carruthers — two integrative doctors who build personalized wellness protocols from your DNA, minerals, hormones, gut, and nervous system rather than from a population template. Looking for an integrative doctor who reads your labs together instead of in isolation? This is the show.
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