 |
| Butterfly pollinates Red Sage is a key herb for endometriosis treatment. Photo: Sarah Zukoff |
Up to one in ten women (5-15%) will have endometriosis at some point. Up to half (25-50%) of infertile women have endometriosis. And up to half (30-50%) of women with endometriosis will be infertile. Infertile women have between six to eight times more risk than fertile women.
The risk of endometriosis increases as a woman ages, and peaks around the age of 40 years old. Pelvic pain and painful menses are one of the hallmark symptoms. About 70 percent of endometriosis women experience painful menses. Yet as mentioned above, it can sometimes occur without pain.
Endometriosis occurs when endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus. Normally, only the uterus contains endometrial tissue. Because endometrial tissue will thicken and bleed and slough off during menses, when this occurs outside the uterus this can cause irritation, scar tissue and a buildup of fibrous tissue. This buildup of scar tissue and fibrous tissue outside the uterus can produce complications for nearby tissues and organs..
The cause of endometriosis is currently unknown, but there is reason to believe toxins may be involved. A 2016 review of research found that toxins such as dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls and bisphenol A (BPA) exposure during pregnancy increases the risk of endometriosis for the child later on. Other studies have shown exposure to dioxin later in life may also increase risk.
Herbal treatment for endometriosis
Traditional Chinese Medicine has been treating painful menstruation for centuries with herbs. Over the years as the endometriosis condition has become better diagnosed, TCM has perfected the herbal formulations. Today, TCM utilizes an herbal formula called Dan’e-fukang soft extract to treat most endometriosis cases.
Dan’e-fukang soft extract contains the following herbs:
• Red Sage – Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza)*
• White Turmeric – Ezhu (Curcuma zedoaria)*
• Sparganii root (Sparganium stoloniferum)
• Bupleurum root (Bupleurum spp.)
• Angelica (Angelica spp.)
• Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
• Corydalis root (Corydalis tuberose)
• Peony (Paeoniae Rubra)
• Cyperus (Cyperus rotundus)
*This formulation is largely composed of the first two herbs – Sage (Danshen) and White turmeric (Ezhu).
Dan’e-fukang treatment beats pharmaceuticals
This herbal treatment is so popular that there have been numerous studies conducted on its use for endometriosis. Researchers from China’s Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine conducted a 2017 review of the research and found 39 studies that involved 5,442 endometriosis patients.
Many of the studies treated one group of the patients with the TCM formula and another group with one or multiple pharmaceutical drugs used for this condition in allopathic medicine. These drugs included anazol, gestrinone, mifepristone, and marvelon.
In other words, the Dan’e-fukang herbal formula was tested side by side against these pharmaceutical drugs.
The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the results. They found 18 studies that tested the herbal formula against gestrinone. The meta-analysis of the results found that Dan’e-fukang was 8 percent more effective than gestrinone.
Furthermore, the herbal treatment resulted in over half the recurrence rate of the gestrinone treatment. Among the 822 patients from the five studies that followed patients for recurrence, 93 of 410 patients taking gestrinone had recurrence of the condition after treatment. This compares to just 41 of 412 patients that were given the herbal formula treatment.
There were eight studies that tested Dan’e-fukang against danazol. The researchers found that Dan’e-fukang matched the effectiveness of danazol.
The herbal remedy was tested against mifepristone in three studies. Here Dan’e-fukang was slightly more effective (by 2 percent) than mifepristone.
No adverse reactions in herbal treatment groups
The researchers also analyzed the side effects of the herbal treatments and the pharma treatments. They found no adverse reactions among any of the studies for the herbal formula.
Contrasting this, numerous adverse reactions were found among patients treated with the drugs. These included:
• abnormal liver function
• abnormal vaginal bleeding
• acne
• menstrual disorders
• weight gain
As we consider the combination of results above with adverse side effects, the only appropriate conclusion is the TCM herbal treatment outperformed the pharmaceutical treatments.
REFERENCES:
Yantao Li, Te Li, and Shilin Song, Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of Dan’e-Fukang Soft Extract for Endometriosis: A Meta-Analysis of 39 Randomized Controlled Trials Enrolling 5442 Patients. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2017, Article ID 9767391, 14 pages, 2017. doi:10.1155/2017/9767391
Bulletti C, Coccia ME, Battistoni S, Borini A. Endometriosis and infertility. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2010 Aug;27(8):441-7. doi: 10.1007/s10815-010-9436-1.
Abrao MS, Muzii L, Marana R. Anatomical causes of female infertility and their management. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2013 Dec;123 Suppl 2:S18-24. doi:
10.1016/j.ijgo.2013.09.008.
Wei M, Chen X, Zhao Y, Cao B, Zhao W. Effects of Prenatal Environmental Exposures on the Development of Endometriosis in Female Offspring. Reprod Sci. 2016 Sep;23(9):1129-38. doi: 10.1177/1933719116630418.