Happy Wednesday Beautiful Fam!  I’m super blessed to share the journey of an incredible woman with you this week!  She’s been my partner in crime since physics class in high school and hasn’t been able to get rid of me since lol.  Jay, sistah girl, I want to celebrate you for being so courageous to step out your comfort zone and allow me to impact the lives of other women by sharing your story.  I appreciate you friend!  

In June of 2013, Jay recognized some significant changes in her menstrual cycle.  That summer, she started having painful cramps and heavy bleeding that she hadn’t experienced before.  During a routine visit with her OBGYN, Jay started discussing the irregularities she was experiencing with her cycle.  The doctor suspected that she might have fibroids, but it wasn’t confirmed until much later.  In the meantime, her doctor suggested that she try a low dose of estrogen birth control.  The goal was to manage Jay’s symptoms so she could get some relief from what she was dealing with.  Unfortunately, the symptoms progressed and there wasn’t a noticeable difference.

Jay went back to her doctor and explained that she was still having issues if not worse.  She was having heavy bleeding 8-10 days every month, in so much pain and it was taking a toll on her body.  She thought the birth control was working but it wasn’t helping with the symptoms.  Nearly 2 years later it was recommended that she try another estrogen based pill to see if it would help alleviate her symptoms.  Unfortunately, in February 2015, Jay experienced a bad side effect to the birth control.  She notice that her stomach started swelling and had to discontinue that medication.  Sometimes things get worse before they get better.  

Jay decided to find a new doctor to get a fresh perspective.  Smart sis!  I always recommend getting a second or third opinion.  You can never be too cautious when it comes to your health ladies.  In March of 2015, Jay had a sonogram that confirmed she had small and medium sized fibroids.  About 6 fibroids were visible throughout her uterus.  This was extremely disappointing as you can imagine.  Jay was trying to wrap her head around all of this while trying to figure out what her next step would be.

Jay said her doctor was pushing birth control and surgery to alleviate and regulate her symptoms.  She was very anemic and had to start taking an iron supplement as well.  Although hesitant, Jay started taking another birth control pill to see if the third time would be a charm—it wasn’t.  In July 2015, Jay decided, “ I ain’t doing this no mo.”  Well, she didn’t say that lol…but she was definitely sure she wanted to stop all birth control.  Her doctor suggested surgery but at the time she wasn’t open to that either.  Jay knew she had to do something because her symptoms were unbearable. 

Outside of all the physical challenges Jay was facing, it was affecting her mentally and emotionally as well.  She said each month she would have to mentally prepare herself before her period came.  She also said many questions flooded her head wondering why her? Jay said she often thought, “what it going on with my body and why do I have fibroids?”  She hated seeing her body release so much blood and would even go through moments of sadness every single month.  Jay described on her worst days she would have these “blackout moments” where she had to sit down because it felt like she was going to pass out!  It was like being in a semi catatonic state because she could not move.  One day her dad started giving her beets to eat hoping it would make a difference—and over time it did! Beets are filled with iron, vitamin C and have a ton of other health benefits. Jay knew she didn’t want to keep going on like this and decided to look into an alternative route to try and heal herself. 

She started doing more research on holistic ways to heal fibroids and decided that was exactly what she would do.  Jay made drastic changes to what she was eating, including adding more beets (fresh only not canned) to her diet since she noticed significant improvements when her dad suggested it.  She cut out dairy, processed foods, rarely eats red meat and cut way back on the sweets.  Once in a while she will eat eggs, but it’s not a part of her regular diet.  Jay also reduced the amount of chicken that she eats and mainly consumes fish.  She increased her water intake and decreased drinking juices.  She drinks de-caffeinated herbal tea, apple cider vinegar (ACV) in liquids and uses it on salads or when cooking.  Adding more green veggies and fruits also helped with the improvement of her periods.  Jay stated that she takes garlic tablets to help with the blood flow and other vitamins that nourish her body.  She’s basically like an herbalist now lol…but that lifestyle change was key to helping her get to where she is today.  Jay says her menstrual cycles aren’t perfect but they are much better that they were before. 

Jay has been consistent with her lifestyle change since 2015 when she decided she was not taking birth control anymore.  It took a while for her body to adjust, however, after a year of consistent modifications, Jay noticed a difference in her menstrual cycles.  She stated that she has a pretty regular flow but has 2-3 days of heavy bleeding vs. 8-10 days.  Also, her cycle is anywhere between 5-7 days max.  Thankfully blood clots weren’t a big issue before so that’s not much of a problem.  A sono revealed that the fibroids did get slightly smaller but she still has to monitor them with her doctor.  It was recommended that Jay would still have to speak with her doctor before having children to figure out what would be the best option.  Her doctor also told her if things go back to the way they were (prayerfully not) she may have to consider having surgery to remove the fibroids.  Jay continues to stay optimistic about her future and staying consistent with her diet and exercise modifications.  

Words of advice from Jay:

SLEEP is super important! Don’t take that for granted.  From my experience, everything that you do effects how your period flows. Things such as: stress level, what you eat, your emotions, etc.  It’s important to make sure that you are in a healthy space holistically.  You feel more pain during your period when you’re stressed out.  All of that has an effect on the body so it’s important to be mindful of what’s going on in your life from a holistic perspective.

Definitely do your research and talk to people who have had issues too.  Talk to doctors and keep pressing forward, even though you don’t see results right now. It’s takes time to see the results so consistency is key!  Write it down.  Keep a food journal on what you are consuming and see what needs to be eliminated from your diet.  Also journaling helps to reflect on whatever is going on in your life so you can make adjustments where you need to.  There is a correlation between what you’re eating and what’s going on in your life and how it affects the flow of your menses.