"Our miracle baby Nia was once the tear streaming down her daddy’s face as he sat alone in his car waiting for my D&C (dilation and curettage) to remove the remains of the sibling she will never know. She was once the words my pain-consumed heart uttered as I rocked on my knees asking for a miracle. Nia was the subject of our prayers every holiday, for 10 years, when our family linked hands to pray and say, ‘Next year, there will be one more.’ She was once the awkward silence between all of us because, for 10 years things remained the same. Nia was once nothing more than the unyielding tenacity of our HOPE.” (Excerpted from HOPE BEYOND FIBROIDS)

As I pen these words now, I cannot help but marvel how I survived the pain of living them! In 2001, I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids—smooth muscle tumors that form in the uterus. From that moment, infertility, resulting from those fibroids, became a heartbreaking reality I fought to overcome.

The road to my healing was a long and grueling one that included:

  • 14 years battling fibroids
  • 10 years battling infertility
  • 10 surgeries—five of them for fibroids
  • 5 in-vitro fertilization cycles
  • 1 heart-wrenching miscarriage
  • 120+ days combined in the hospital
  • Our Nia fighting the fibroids that were siphoning off her blood supply at 21 weeks in utero
  • My heart stopping on the delivery table
  • And, thankfully, our miracle baby being born at 2.5 lbs and 14 inches on September 8, 2011!

While my family enjoyed a storybook ending, as a Nutritionist and Health Coach, I hear stories too similar to mine daily from women who are still fighting fibroids and infertility. Fibroids affect over 70% of American women at large, and up to 90% of Black women by age 50 (National Institute for Women’s Health)—many having their personal and professional lives derailed by infertility, life-threatening hemorrhaging and resulting anemia, debilitating cramps, embarrassing incontinence and so much more.

Here are three critical things every woman battling fibroids and/or infertility should know:

  1. The Root Cause: Estrogen Dominance is the root cause of reproductive issues such as Fibroids, Endometriosis, Cysts, Infertility and more.

  1. The Process: Estrogen dominance develops in our bodies through:

  • Diets rich in estrogen—including, meat, dairy, soy, sugar, hybrid fruits and vegetables and more.
  • Stress stemming from high-pressure jobs, spiritual and emotional factors release toxic levels of cortisol into our bodies.
  • Pollutants:
    1. Prescription drugs such as hormonal birth controls and other synthetic drugs.
    2. Pesticides and Environmental Toxins that pollute the air we breathe and food we consume.
  • BPA plastics Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor, which interferes with the production, secretion, transport, action, function and elimination of natural hormones. We unknowingly expose ourselves to them every day.

  1. The Solution: A lifestyle of healing that reduces stress, starves the body of estrogen, incorporates the right kinds of movement and exercises and uses “Food as Your Medicine, Not Your Entertainment!™”

I cannot imagine what my life would be like today if I’d allowed the pain of my process to stop my pursuit of motherhood.  One of my greatest lessons along the way was learning that I had to stop being superwoman and start prioritizing my spiritual, emotional and physical health in order to serve the world with my purpose. It’s time you do the same! To learn more about how I can help you heal and protect your womb without the risks and complications of surgery, CLICK HERE to download and listen to our FREE teleseminar MP3 and access our FREE Estrogen-Free Food!

About Coach Gessie Thompson

Fibroids survivor turned nutritionist and founder of online wellness platform TheDeToxNow.com, Coach Gessie works with celebrities and everyday women daily, educating and empowering them on how to reverse and prevent inflammatory conditions such as fibroids, infertility, endometriosis and more through lifestyle medicines including stress management, trauma healing and nutritional oaching. Results have included numerous women completely eradicating their symptoms and naturally shrinking their fibroids, endometriosis and more. In one breakout case, client Annalise Henry eliminated an MRI documented 50 fibroids naturally through, the comprehensive lifestyle medicine approach. Follow her @CoachGessie and learn more at TheDeToxNow.com.

 

This entry was originally published on Office on Women’s Health, and is reprinted with permission.