Fibroids Awareness Month Pt I

My Fibroid Story Part I

Teen Years

I’ve struggled with fibroids since before I was first diagnosed. I remember being in middle school and suffering from heavy periods, clots, & severe pelvic pain. Nothing over the counter took away the pain, just eased it a bit.  I remember laying balled up on the floor at night because I just couldn’t deal with the pain.  My doctor’s recommendation was birth control, but I chose not to use hormones and spent years suffering in silence from abnormal periods. As a teen, I just thought I had bad periods, I hadn’t heard of fibroids.

Late Twenties

Later, I became pregnant with my first child in my late twenties and was diagnosed with fibroids during a routine ultrasound. My doctor found about 7 fibroids, one that had grown to the size of an egg. Near the end of my pregnancy I had so many fibroids they stopped counting and just focused on the largest one. My doctors feared it would interfere with the birth canal because of its position and growing size.  I got an ultrasound every month as they prepared me for the likelihood that I’d go into preterm labor. Thankfully, I didn’t go into labor early and had a safe delivery. 

Early Thirties

Years later, as an adult in my early 30’s I started to experience bleeding that, at one point, lasted for 1-2 months straight. This happened about twice within a year and caused severe bleeding.  I remember having to go home early while on a playdate with a friend. I told her what was going on, gathered my child, and sped out of there to my car. This was my first time experiencing this level of intense bleeding. I wasn’t ashamed, but mortified because I had no control of my body. There was nothing I could do but rush home and wait for it to stop.

I was desperate and chose to take a more active role in my health and started to research ways to alleviate my suffering. I saw several doctors, underwent test after test, and read tons of blog posts. I got a MRI, ultrasound, hysteroscopy, and thyroid test. After certain conditions like cancer, thyroid issues, endometriosis, & polyps, were ruled out everything pointed to my fibroids. I chose not to take birth control to help ease my symptoms, because I wanted to grow our family.

Changing My Health

Instead, I changed my diet, started taking supplements, stopped using chemical relaxers on my hair, and started weight training. The intermittent bleeding stopped almost immediately after I started a cleanse. I did a Candida Cleanse with my husband for about 2 months. It was really intense but helped get me used to cutting out a lot of meat and processed foods, and incorporating more veggies. If you look at my earliest posts you’ll see how I was teaching myself to cook balanced meals. I also limited the amount of sweets I ate to once a week.

Where I am now

Currently, I’m almost one year postpartum from giving birth to my second child. Other than knowing that fibroids did grow with my pregnancy, as they did with my first, I haven’t been affected by fibroid symptoms like in my past. Quarantine life really put a wrench in my workout routine, and honestly, I haven’t done much exercising. I hope that sharing my journey will help push me back to reaching my fitness goals, because when I was persistent with diet and exercise my fibroid symptoms definitely improved along with my overall health.

Be sure to subscribe to get a notification for Part II in the following weeks. I’ll be digging into fibroid symptoms and minimally invasive treatment options. Studies have shown that Black women are 2-3 times more likely to undergo a hysterectomy for non-malignant conditions. I hope to bring awareness to different options to help women heal and better manage fibroid symptoms.