Uterine Fibroids: My Story

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Genesis 50:20 [NIV]

God is amazing.

He can take the very things in your life that are bringing you total misery and turn them around to be the biggest blessings of your life. NEVER did I EVER in my wildest thoughts imagine that being diagnosed with very large uterine fibroids would lead me on a path of helping other women with the same condition.

I hope I don’t sound too self-important here. I’m just demonstrating how in three and a half years since being diagnosed with fibroids just how far God has brought me. I’m simply sharing what He’s done in my life and how things have transformed for me.

The picture above is my vision board. I got it several years ago, and I wrote a few goals on it. My number one goal is the only one pictured and it was to be completely rid of fibroids (and acne) by July 2016. Here we are nearly 3 years later, and my goal has only been halfway met. My acne has cured completely but according to my doctor, the fibroids are still there.

So, why am I so exuberant about this particular subject in my life, then? What gives? What exactly was I going on so enthusiastically about at the beginning of this post? As of today, according to my doctor my number one goal, being rid of the tumors in my uterus, has not been met. I’ve had difficulty conceiving, often my body will mock me and look as if I’m 6 months pregnant, and sometimes it’s hard to button my pants (and keep them buttoned) because I’m so bloated. So why, then? With all this going on, what’s with the light-hearted attitude?

Lemme tell you a story.🙂

Uterine Fibroids: My Beginning

I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids October 2015. I was born in October, so I had a pretty rotten birthday that year.

I’d gotten married that past May. I knew even then that I was dealing with hormonal imbalance because, during our pre-wedding barbecue, my skin was broken out. No one ever wants acne, but it’s especially humiliating when you’re dealing with acne during your wedding festivities. That’s the time when a bride wants to look her best.

Another major clue that I was dealing with hormonal imbalance was my cycle and the way it was behaving. Not only did my cycle decide to make its appearance on my wedding day, but it also brought me so much pain I could barely walk down the aisle. As my husband and I rode away from our wedding in our horse-drawn carriage, the pain got worse.

By the time we arrived at the restaurant where we were to have dinner together, I was in so much pain I could barely get out of the car. I was unable to even eat my dinner because at that point I was in enough pain to where I could not sit upright in my seat. My husband nearly carried me out of the restaurant because I was unable to walk on my own. I spent my wedding night curled up in bed, fighting nausea from the pain of my menstrual cramps.

Fast forward three months later to August. It was then that I had a massive attack of my uterus. I’d never felt anything like this before. The pain was so bad it had me crying and doubled over the commode, vomiting. I’ve never been in labor, but I can only describe the pain as something akin to giving birth. Then, as sudden as the pain came on, it went away. I knew then that I was having some serious problems with my reproductive system. At that point, I’d been having problems with it for years. Still, I was not prepared for the news I received at the doctor’s office two months later when I went into my gynecologist’s office for my annual. My husband and I had been noticing that my belly was getting bigger over the past few months. I didn’t believe I was pregnant because my cycles were painful but regular. Besides, my belly didn’t feel like any pregnant belly I’d ever felt. Though I looked pregnant, my belly was hard, like marble.

I wish I had a kind and considerate doctor back then. Someone who was sympathetic and saw me as a person with feelings. I didn’t have that. Instead, as I laid on the examination table, my then doctor took one look at my VERY protruding belly and informed me that I may have fibroids in an alarming outburst. Immediately, she wrote up a referral for me to get an ultrasound to confirm her belief. Still reeling from the news, I dutifully went to have my belly examined.

During my painful ultrasound (seriously, why do they have to press down so hard during the exam?) I was in a dazed emotional state. There were so many feelings I was trying not to feel as I laid there on that examination table with the grand luxury of viewing all the tumors inside of me on the sonogram screen. And even though I didn’t want to see them, I knew I needed to try to remember as many details as I could. Even to my untrained eye, I could see the masses on the screen. From what I could see, there were several tumors. More than three for sure and no one could miss the very large one at the top of my uterus that was probably the reason for my protruding stomach.

Here’s the impression of my ultrasound October 2015:

Multiple subserosal myomata are noted. The largest myoma measures 13.9 cm and is pedunculated off the left fundal aspect of the uterus.

That’s it. That’s all the information I was given about my fibroids. Not how many nor how big each one of them were. You’d think that information would’ve been provided to me, but it was not. I would later learn that it’s common practice with many ultrasound technicians and gynecologists to mainly focus on the larger fibroid tumors instead of the smaller tumors. And I was in such a haze that day. I was just so ready for the whole ordeal to be over so I could go home and process through my emotions that I don’t even remember asking for more information. I do, however, remember being given a lot of different information about my condition at my follow up appointment with my then gynecologist. This information included the different traditional treatment options for fibroids, such as Uterine Fibroid Embolization (or UFE), hysterectomy, and myomectomy.

According to my pamphlets, all three were acceptable treatments for uterine fibroids, and seemingly the only ones. And since I was still of childbearing age, it was highly recommended by my then doctor that I schedule a myomectomy with her right away because “A myomectomy is the only fibroid treatment that may improve my chances of having a baby,” or so I was advised. I was also told that if I went that route, it would be very possible that a cesarean section my be needed for delivery, especially since I did have such a large fibroid. The icing on the cake was being told that fibroids have a high risk of return after a myomectomy.

I listened attentively. But what I chose not to share with my then doctor was two things. One: She was officially fired as my gynecologist, and Two: I was planning on taking another route to healing my womb. The holistic way.

2016-2017

I spent all of 2016 and 2017 trying very hard to get my diet under control. Before my diagnosis, I’d been struggling to get my diet right in order to clear my skin, which I’d been dealing with for over half my life at that point. I’d been struggling trying to give up all animal flesh (that includes eggs and seafood) because I’d learned that the hormones in animal flesh contribute to estrogen-dominance, which was one of the major causes of my hormonal imbalance, and the root of all of my hormonal disharmony and reproductive problems. I’d all but stopped focusing my efforts on curing my acne. Now, it was all about healing from the curse of uterine fibroids.

I took this picture while lying in bed one afternoon in 2016.

I knew one day, I’d look back on that picture and praise God that I didn’t give up. I knew one day I’d look at that picture and wouldn’t see my belly looking like that anymore. I knew one day, things would be different for me.

It was during this time of my life, I was experimenting with different nutritional plans and detoxes in an attempt to get my flesh under control. I was trying to stick with the Dr. Sebi nutritional plan during these times, but I was really struggling to give up meat and dairy and adjust to a healthy lifestyle of cooking more and eating out less. It was hard for me to give up the convenience I grew up with, which was eating the food I’d eaten for decades, and as I got older, eating out more than I cooked. What made it worse was my husband does not eat the way I was trying to eat, and neither did anyone I knew. So, while I was struggling to change my lifestyle, absolutely no one else around me was doing so, which of course, made it much more difficult for me to do so. I had no support system and no one to hold me accountable. So, for the entire year of 2016, I struggled with being consistent in eating healthy, dealing with the enormous stress and anxiety I was under while trying to change my lifestyle.

So, along comes 2017, and I’m still struggling with cleaning up my diet for good. I was doing the best I could, but I knew in order to reach my goals, I needed to do better than what I was doing. I was working on cleaning up my diet and changing my lifestyle, but there were also certain things in my lifestyle that I was struggling to give up. Things that were really hindering me. For instance, I was a major pot-head who could easily be coerced into over-indulging in alcohol and abandoning my personal health goals because I wasn’t strong enough within myself to stay the course toward lifestyle I desperately wanted and needed. Whenever I smoked weed and drank, of course, I’d get the munchies. And who wants a salad as munchie food? Absolutely no one. So, of course, whenever I smoked and drank, my judgement would be shot to pieces, and I’d gobble up whatever I could get my hands on. This resulted in a nightmarish merry-go-round of inconsistency and illnesses. Whenever my skin or lady parts would begin to get better, I’d relapse and return to my old bad habits, and before I knew it, I’d be crying about being broken out again or having heavy bleeding again.

In this picture, I was at a party. By the time this picture was taken I’d already downed several shots of tequila and vodka and was planning on smoking later that evening. On my plate in front of me, there were meatballs and something else I don’t remember, but I’m certain it was inflammatory. I had a very prominent pimple on my forehead, and pimples all along the side of my face, which weren’t noticeable because thankfully my hair hid them. This was a hard time for me. I knew I was in the beginning stages of battling a formidable opponent: Myself. I wanted all the benefits my new lifestyle would bring me, but I was having such a hard time getting there. Part of me didn’t want to change. I knew my new lifestyle would require a Sandrell Nicole who was very different from the Sandrell Nicole I was at that time to obtain and maintain it. I’d done an ok job with giving up the dairy, but I just could not seem to get past the hurdle of eating meat, fried food, sweets, smoking, and drinking. I knew the day would come when I’d have to give up my beloved vices. I knew the day was coming when I would have to change, but until then, I was just gonna ride it out as long as I could.

In addition to struggling to eat a non-inflammatory diet, here’s a list of things I was doing in an attempt to heal from uterine fibroids in 2016-2017:

• Detoxing. I did quite a bit of detoxing and I was taking quite a bit of supplements. If there was a supplement that was being raved about chances are, I was taking it. Included in my detoxing were colonics to help flush my bowels of harmful toxins from the detoxes. I rarely do this today, but back then I was also taking probiotics and fermented drinks such as kefir to help protect and rebalance my gut.
• In 2016, I began to seek God again after many years because I realized I had poor control over my emotions. I was so stressed out and high strung and had no idea how to manage these things. At that time, I didn’t have a church home, but my husband did. So, I started going to church with him. I began to seek healing for things I knew I had problems with (envy, control, and trust issues) and ended up finding healing in areas of my heart that I had no idea were holding me back (rejection, forgiveness, suppressed memories of things I’d never dealt with). In 2017 I officially gave my life to God. I realized that I was starved for love–from myself, and I was looking for it in all the wrong places, i.e my vices and other people which was causing SO much of my stress and emotional issues.
• I began journaling.
• Through an act of faith, I finally gave up marijuana and alcohol.
• I subscribed to YouTube channels that featured yummy-looking plant-based recipes. I joined Dr. Sebi Facebook groups. I started discussions about how to heal from fibroids. I tried and shared some of the Sebi-approved recipes.
• Through these Facebook groups and discussions, I discovered a woman known as Chef Ahki, and it was through Chef Ahki I discovered Gessie Thompson and her colleagues, Drs. Amsu and Amun’s program of how to heal naturally from fibroids.

By October 2017, I started to see some results doing all of this. My skin did seem to improve, especially when I gave up smoking and drinking. And my lower abdomen did seem to go down some. I was still having painful cycles from time to time, as well as some breakouts. I was also still struggling with giving up toxic food, but by then I was doing better than I was.

In November 2017 I found a new gynecologist and made my first appointment with her for my first pap-smear since October 2015. I made a video about that visit that you can see here. I know it’s no excuse, but after the whole ordeal with my diagnosis in 2015, I just wanted to stay away from doctors for a while. As fate would have it, however, during this visit, my new doctor broke the news to me that not only were my fibroids still there, but they had grown! I’d worked so hard to try to shrink these things over two years, and it was apparently all for naught. During this visit, I was told the size of my largest fibroid was 17-18 cm. This was a lot larger than the 13.9 cm tumor I was originally diagnosed with.

At this point, I’d had it. If you watched the video, you can see all of my frustration, despair, sadness, and a blooming determination. My will became cemented that day. I was just tired. I was tired of all my inconsistency. And I was tired of my hormonal symptoms. I needed to be delivered from myself. And so, after stalking the Hope Beyond Fibroids program on social media for months, I finally decided to take the plunge, and invest in their program.

My honest and unbiased results of the Hope Beyond Fibroids Gold program I participated in, and eventually became an assistant health coach for:

Positive:

In addition to uterine fibroids, when I first started the program I was dealing with:

• Periods that lasted 10-12 days
• Irregular bleeding and spotting
• Painful periods that some months had me bedridden
• Unbearably painful sex
• Infertility or difficulty conceiving
• Periodic painful attacks of my uterus to the point where it felt like I was in labor
• Bad cystic and hormonal acne
• Frequent urination
• Chronic constipation
• Candida issues
• Chronic fatigue
• Low energy. I’d sleep for 8-10 hours and wake up still feeling sluggish and tired
• Really bad anxiety and depression
• Stress that I had no idea how to manage it.
• Their one supplement, Para-Fite really helped me when I was battling with Candida and parasites. All of my symptoms of candida and parasites disappeared while I was taking this supplement.

The program taught me how to manage my stress, which was something I desperately needed to know how to do. It taught me how to truly take care of myself and give myself permission to put me and my healing first. It provided a wonderful community of women whom we refer to each other as Hope Sisters who were all dealing with similar issues, and we all would hold each other accountable, share recipes, share any news that we came across, celebrated with each other in our victories, and cried and uplifted each other in our sad times. That type of support I did not have in the two years while trying to make it on my own, and that’s one of the main reasons I kept failing. Almost all of my ailments above disappeared during my time in the program. My periods now last a maximum of 5 days and they are painless. But most of all, the program’s 14-day detox taught me how to fast and pray and break my bad food-addiction, thereby completely healing the acne that I struggled with more than half my life.

Negative:

• To my knowledge, after a year, I’m still eliminating my largest fibroids.
• My husband and I have yet to conceive a child (but I know God is faithful in His promise, so I’m now resting in Him in that area).
• The Hope Beyond Fibroids Gold Elimination program comes with a 90-day supply of supplements to aid in the balancing of hormones, detox the body, support liver health, and eat away at the fibroid tumors. These supplements are called Essence of Fertility, Phoenix, Ridgid Eaze, and Fibrogen. Once the 90-days of the Gold program is up, it is recommended that you continue to purchase these supplements (and others depending on what other health issues you’re battling) to help you in your healing. The hurdle is the supplements are very pricey.
• The supplements would sometimes help me with my painful periods, but I can’t say for certain if it was the supplements that helped with the shrinking/elimination of my fibroid tumors. I’d stopped taking the supplements once my 90-days in the program was up because I could no longer afford them, and I didn’t really notice a difference between when I was taking them and when I wasn’t.

Please keep in mind that these are MY results with the program. I gave that program my total commitment, and these are the results I got. Results vary from individual because everyone is different, and comes into the program with different ailments. There have been quite a bit of my fellow Hope Sisters who had difficulty conceiving for years, went through the program and conceived within a month or two of being on it. There are also Hope Sisters who have reportedly eliminated large fibroids and masses of fibroid tissue. Each woman’s experience is different, so it’s up to you to decide for yourself if it’s something you need to invest in.

It’s amazing what can happen and who you can meet on this journey! As an assistant health coach in the Hope Beyond Fibroids program, I’ve had the pleasure of coaching some wonderful women from all over the U.S and even the U.K who are battling this condition. I even met a young woman who just so happens to be a Hope Sister in the HBF program, and live in the same city as me! Talk about God! We’re now very good friends, and together, my friend and I have coached these women into healing naturally from fibroids. I’m very proud to report that the women we’ve coached have experienced the following within 60-90 days:

• An enlarged uterus of 17 cm that shrunk down to 13 cm
• Elimination of fibroid tissue
• Women who went from wearing a Depends adult diaper AND heavy pads during menstruation to only needing a regular pad.
• Menstrual symptoms diminished or even gone
• Weight-loss of 30-40 pounds
• Acne diminished or even totally eliminated
• Women who went from taking medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heavy bleeding, and asthma no longer need any meds for these conditions.

I’ve come to realize that everything I went through over the years since I was diagnosed helped me get to the place I am now. In addition to making me stronger, my past enables me to relate to women who are struggling to make the lifestyle change because I know that struggle. I know firsthand how hard it is to make those changes. I’ll say this: All the attempts at healthy eating and detoxing I did over the years really did help to cleanse my body and strengthened my immune system and get me to where I am now. I’ve detoxed and messed up afterward more times than I can count. But I always knew my ailments would heal naturally and that one day I’d be consistent in my journey. So, I kept starting over when I messed up. Over and over again I’d mess up, then start over, trying different detoxes and nutrition plans along the way. I just didn’t give up. This is how you gain victory in your battles and win your war.

My Story Is Still Being Written

And so now, my friends, if it isn’t yet clear, let me drive home the reason why I’m so upbeat in this journey of mine.

I’ve been through a lot and the events of my life have humbled me and developed my trust in God. I had neither before this illness. I’ve learned to trust God’s timing because it’s always for our best. If I’d gone through with the surgery, I would have never developed the patience that I now have. I would not have learned how to completely trust God with my whole heart to fulfill his promises. I would have never broken the stronghold of food addiction. And I would not have had the opportunity to be blown away by the physical and spiritual healing taking place in my life. Of course, everyone’s journey is different. If you’ve had surgery, this is not to look down upon you. Not at all. I’m simply sharing what God has done for me. And He isn’t finished by far.

The picture on the left was taken Aug 2016, and the picture on the left was taken in October 2018.

In this journey of healing, trusting in God is a must. Natural healing means more than just healing your body. It means healing you as a WHOLE. The entire individual. Your beliefs about God and what He can do, your beliefs about yourself, your spirit, your soul, your emotions. All of these things are connected with your physical body. If any of these things are out of balance, it will begin to affect each other. In my case, I was a controlling, jealous-hearted, lustful, broken young woman, who was very, very mean to herself. I often thought very negatively toward myself, and I began to get overwhelmed with stress, which threw my hormones out of balance, and then… fibroids showed up.

Once you learn to completely trust God in your heart for your healing, then you enter your rest period. Your rest period is where you’re not stressing yourself out about your condition. Stress causes illnesses. That’s why God specifically states to give all your cares to Him (1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6-7). Yes, having fibroids and dealing with any kind of reproductive issue does suck. But as a born-again Christian, I believe in the Word of God, and His Word promises us quite a few things:

“Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.”

Joshua 23:14 NKJV
Translation: God NEVER lies nor break promises.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20 NKJV
Translation: What is bigger than God? God performs miracles!

“He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

1 Peter 2:24 NKJV
Translation: Healing is already ours! Now, we may have to fight for it because Satan does his best to keep our blessings from us, but rightfully, it already belongs to us!

And this isn’t even a tip of the iceberg. I fill my heart with these promises so when the enemy tries to come to attack my faith and mind, I remember what the Word says. This allows me to submit myself unto God and resist the enemy so he can flee like the cowardly deceiver he is.

There’s not a doubt in my mind that my healing will manifest in my life. It’s already happening! ALL the negative symptoms I was dealing with before committing to the HBF elimination program are gone! Talk about miracles! This gives me joy. The only mountains left are conception and total fibroid elimination, and they’re on the way. And until that day comes when my husband and I have our child and/or my fibroids are completely eviscerated, I’m doing what I have to do in the natural and taking care of myself. That’s my job. I detox my body, I eat and drink right, I rest, I’ve stopped stressing and obsessing over things I cannot control, I pray, I warfare, and I’ve developed an intimate relationship with God. Everything outside of that, I give to the Lord just as He commanded. I’ve surrendered God’s job over my life to Him. And the peace… the peace I’m experiencing, as a result, is incredible. I haven’t known this kind of peace since I was a young child. I have peace, and I have the promises of God, and that’s all I need.

And that, my friends, is why I’m so happy right now even during my time of healing, and why I’m able to motivate and encourage others even as I continue my own journey. It’s simply because I walk by faith, and not by sight.