July is Fibroid Awareness Month

I actually had no plans on writing about this at all, yet here I am writing. Fibroids are said to impact 8 in 10 women by the time they reach fifty years old. That is a large segment of the population. I had no idea, so many women suffered from this, and that’s the reason I chose to write about it.

Disclaimer:
I am by NO means a medical professional. I’m anything but, because if I remember correctly, I struggled through high school biology. So nothing I share on this post should be considered medical advice. Instead, you can choose to view it as my personal experience and journey.

My fibroid journey started when I found out I was pregnant with my son. I had no idea I had fibroids, but I was pretty sure even then that there was a high chance that I would eventually get them. That is primarily because the women on both sides of my family had them. Little did I know back then that 8 in 10 women suffered from fibroids.

You can go through your life without even realizing you have them or the fibroids causing a problem. That is until your estrogen level shifts usually due to pregnancy or perimenopause.

When I found out I was pregnant with my son, I went to get an ultrasound. We have multiple sets of twins in my family, on both sides, and I just wanted to know that I was ONLY, having one. I’d never planned to physically have a baby because the thought of squeezing one out was just never even a little appealing. I always said I would adopt a baby one day. ANY WHO. During the ultrasound, the technician was freaking out, and he ran out of the room. I was like WTF. When he gathered his unprofessional ass, he asked me a lot of questions then I learned that I had pretty big fibroids. At about six weeks pregnant, I had three fibroids. All of these fibroids were already huge. At six weeks pregnant, my son was like the size of a pea, and the largest external fibroid was about the size of an orange. None of those were overly problematic. I found out later I had a huge internal fibroid which would cause all sorts of problems during this pregnancy. Anyway, in retrospect, even though it was super unprofessional, I do understand why the ultrasound technician was so, freaked out. I still wish I had punched him in the face, though. Since I am a peace and love sort so I would never, but I still wish I had.

Due to the discovery of these huge fibroids, my pregnancy was high risk. The location of the internal fibroid, made it super high risk. The doctors were even freaked out. It takes a lot to freak a doctor out, so I was worried for the entire nine months. I was told multiple times that I could die. I was actually told that every time I went to the doctor AND as they were rolling me in to have my scheduled c-section. That was comforting, umm not. 😭😡🤬 It was touch and go until it was over, but both of us made it through. It was so serious, that I wrote my will and asked my dad to care for my son, if I didn’t make it.

After I had my son the fibroids, all but disappeared. I believe that was due to the decline in estrogen levels related to pregnancy. Fibroids have been reported to be connected to estrogen levels. Although the fibroids disappeared, I made a mental note to remember where they were located because I had a feeling they would be back.

Fast forward, fifteen years later, and they came back with a vengeance. They were kicking my ass, for a minute. Although I am currently at the tail end of the worse of it, they are still annoying and disruptive. So, now in 2020, I am still fighting the fight. Yes, I could go ahead and get surgery to remove my internals, but I feel like I have been fighting the power on this, for too long to give in now. Additionally, I have an irrational fear that if they are removed, the rest of my internal organs will collapse like Jenga. [Don’t judge me, I prefaced this statement by saying it was irrational, so save your judgment for your mama. 🥴😂😅 ] Like legit, I feel like I could be walking, and all my shit just falls out. [Again, not rational, I know] More importantly, I am at the end of the journey at my age, and I am most certainly NEVER having another child. So, to me, there’s legit no reason to subject myself to a surgery.

Before my dad left his earthly physical body, he would look for natural remedies for me. He also would bring me chicken and spinach [for iron] to address the anemia that can sometimes be a part of this fibroid journey. While he was alive, I read about castor oil packs, and I actually purchased the items needed to start down this road. However, I was a bit concerned that castor oil was considered poisonous, so I pushed all of the purchased items to the back of the medicine cabinet.

Fast forward to the present. I was talking to a friend recently about how annoying the fibroids had become because they were huge. Fibroids can be internal and external. If you have external fibroids, outside of your uterus, you can feel them. I have one internal, and at least three external fibroids. I can feel all of the external fibroids. The smallest one was the size of a baking potato.

So, as I was talking to the friend, she said, “Have you ever tried castor oil packs?” Well, they gave me the real scoop because they’d been dealing with the same thing. The difference is, their fibroids were under control, due to using castor oil packs. MINE was not under control.

My friend let me know that they felt better on the first day of using them. That was all I needed to pull out my supplies that were still in my medicine cabinet. See my progress below:

Like my friend, I felt better the first day. My friend checked up on me the day after I did my first castor oil treatment. I let them know that I felt an immediate difference. They were SO happy for me, I was so happy, and I will be eternally grateful that they shared their journey with me.

I am happy to say, all of the fibroids are smaller after using the castor oil packs since June. The smallest fibroid went from baked potato size to egg, to chocolate covered almond-sized to now small almond-sized. I think it will be gone by next week, at this rate.

I have been extremely private about my fibroid journey, and I only share it with those that I am close with because I am seriously private about most things. However, I wanted to share my journey, this information may help others.

In addition to castor oil packs, I am also doing the following:

🔸I haven’t had red meat or pork in decades so I continue to do that.
🔸Stopped eating foods with growth hormones and antibiotics, in 2017.
🔸Recently substantially minimized processed foods.
🔸Minimized alcohol intake, even wine.
🔸Minimized dairy.
🔸Eliminated cows milk.
🔸Eliminated soda.
🔸Increase exercise.
🔸Living stress-free.
🔸Sacral Chakra meditation

Below is a video about castor oil packs that I watched for guidance after talking to my friend.

Fibroids are mostly annoying and not overly dangerous, and rarely life-threatening. They mostly just disrupt your life. At least that has been my experience and the experiences of a lot of other people I’ve discussed this with, in the past. With that said, this is an individual journey, and everyone must figure out their own path.

I am not a doctor, this is NOT medical advice and this is ONLY my experience. Also, I failed high school biology. 🥴

If you are battling fibroids, I would love to know what you are doing holistically, and naturally, to minimize the negative impact of living with fibroids, on your life. Reach out, let’s chat on FB, IG, and Twitter. Until then, Happy FIBROID Healing.

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