Treating Fibroids - Medical Approach and Natural Options

Not all fibroids need treating, if they are causing no symptoms or problems then they can be left alone. Many fibroids shrink on their own especially when entering menopause.

But if they are causing problems, there are many options available. Fibroids can be cured or treated to stop your symptoms, help improve your chances for pregnancy and address the heavy bleeding.

There are different options and not everyone needs surgery or medications, and some women have found a lot of benefit in more natural approaches which is why Leio Health exists.

Medical Approach

If your fibroids are causing problems, your primary doctor (your GP) can begin medications to help address your symptoms. If these aren't working, they may refer you to see a hospital specialist - a gynaecologist. A gynaecologist can explore other options including surgery.

Medications

Fibroids love the hormone oestrogen, oestrogen is the hormone that controls our menstrual cycle and eencourages the ovaries to release an egg each month.

Oestrogen can encourage fibroids to grow and so some medicine options for fibroids can help by lowering the oestrogen to shrink the fibroids. These include hormone based medicines, like the pill. 

There are many different types of hormone based options:

• Combined oral contraceptive pill
• oral progestogen (mini pill)
• injected progestogen
• Other options

There are other medicines that are not hormone-based that can help with the pain or reduce the bleeding: Tranexamic Acid can be very effective for reducing the bleeding, and Mefanamic Acid can be effective for pain symptoms.

Surgery

There are different options for surgery to remove larger fibroids or specialist procedures to shrink them. These can be very effective, especially for larger fibroids - recovery can take 2-6 weeks and some are done without needing to stay overnight in hospital.

It is important to discuss all the options available with your medical team to know what is right for you.

Natural Options to Help Manage Symptoms

There are many different natural options available to help manage the symptoms such as pain, bloating, bleeding, anaemia. More and more evidence is growing to support how effective certain vitamins and minerals can be, as well as diet.

Diet can be very powerful, supporting our body to function the best it can. 

• Diet - particularly reducing caffeine, alcohol and sugar
• ECGC (Green Tea extract)
• Iron
• Vitamin C
• Magnesium
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin B
• Exercise
  

We have many blog posts exploring these different options and how they can help.

Medical disclaimer - This information is for education only and is not a diagnosis or medical advice. Heavy bleeding, long periods, bleeding in between periods, or non-stop bleeding should always be checked by a GP or healthcare professional. They can arrange scans or tests to find the cause and discuss the right treatment options for you.

Author, Dr Liz Murray June 2026

References:

• Murray, L. Not Just Painful Periods, 2026, Octopus Publishing
•  NICE Guidelines Online, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, April 2023, Health Topics A to Z > Fibroids, https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/fibroids/ (Accessed online, 2026)
•  National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2018) Dysmenorrhoea: ClinicalKnowledge Summary 2014

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2018) Heavy menstrual bleeding:assessment and management