In this webinar, our guest speaker, Dr Stacey Bryan, will be exploring the impact that fibroids may have on a patient’s fertility and will provide guidance for patients wanting to start a family.
All are welcome to attend, you can register here – https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ETY7hVR6R2O7gD1WTppwUA
On 21st August 2021, the Global Fibroids Alliance hosted a virtual global panel discussion featuring speakers from Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Ghana, France, the UK and the US.
Panelists explored the challenges faced by women living with fibroids, how their organisations are trying to address these challenges and what is needed on a global level to improve the situation for women living with fibroids.
Panelists included:
If you missed this event, you can watch the recording below.
Join panelists from across the globe as we explore the challenges faced by women living with fibroids, best practices and what is needed on a global level to improve the situation for women living with fibroids.
We were absolutely delighted to have been featured on Loop Caribbean for our efforts to raise awareness of fibroids in St Kitts and Nevis.
The article highlights our fibroids educational event in March 2019, our recent fibroids webinar series and our recent qualitative research project.
You can read the article on Loop Caribbean here.
On Saturday 24th July 2021, we hosted a webinar on fibroids and exercise. This webinar was part of our Fibroids Awareness Month event series which aims to empower women living with fibroids with information on the lifestyle changes that may alleviate their symptoms and improve their overall health and wellbeing.
In this session, we explored the power of exercise in managing fibroids symptoms. We discussed whether exercise can be beneficial in managing fibroids symptoms and we looked at some simple, low-impact exercises that women can easily try at home through fun demonstrations of barre, yoga and other exercises.
Speakers included:
If you missed this webinar, you can watch the recording below.
Our next webinar will be held on Saturday 31st July 2021 at 11am AST. This webinar will focus on fibroids and mental health.
In this webinar, Olivia Haltman, an accredited counsellor, will help women identify, understand and address the many ways that fibroids can affect a woman’s mental health.
We’ll empower women with the tools they need to improve their emotional wellbeing and successfully navigate the challenges that living with fibroids may present – these include managing and dealing with debilitating symptoms, fertility issues, tensions within relationships and the challenges that having fibroids may create in work, home and social settings.
This is a free webinar. You can register here
On Saturday 18th July 2020, we were delighted to have assisted with the Global Fibroids Alliance’s first event which was a webinar on Fibroids and COVID-19. This webinar aimed to explore the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may be having on women with fibroids and discussed what women can do to improve their physical and mental health during this challenging period.
Speakers on the day included:
If you missed the webinar, you can watch the recording below and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send the Global Fibroids Alliance an email.
To keep informed of the work of GFA and to be alerted of future events, you can sign up to their newsletter here.
Over the past month, as we have been conducting our regular monitoring of the traffic to our website, we have noticed a lot of visitors are coming to our website to find out whether soursop or guava are beneficial for fibroids. So, today, we will visit published research to see if we can answer this question.
The first thing to say about this topic is there isn’t a lot of evidence-based information out there. What we found were discussions by scientists about the possibilities, there wasn’t any concrete data that could definitively answer this question.
To explore whether guava and soursop may be beneficial in treating fibroids, we will focus on one scientific paper, which was the only one we could find that was related to this topic.
This paper was published by the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine at the Polytechnic University of Marche in Italy, in 2014.
Their paper, the ‘Use of dietary phytochemicals to target inflammation, fibrosis, proliferation, and angiogenesis in uterine tissues: Promising options for prevention and treatment of uterine fibroids?,’ is a review of a selection of substances (phytochemicals) found naturally in certain fruits and vegetables which, because of their properties, could be useful in treating and preventing fibroids.
This paper is important in our exploration because some of the phytochemicals included in the researchers’ review are found in soursop and guava.
Before we summarise the relevant information provided in this paper, we thought it would be useful to define the term phytochemical. Harvard University describes phytochemicals as:
”…plant (phyto) chemicals: compounds in plants (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes) that contribute to their color, taste, and smell.”
Some commonly known phytochemicals are carotenoids, found in carrots, pumpkin, corn and tomatoes; flavonoids, found in citrus fruits, berries, apples and legumes and anthocyanins, which are found in berries, eggplant and red cabbage.
It is widely known that phytochemicals have a range of health benefits. These benefits include reducing our risk of heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases and this is achieved because of their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects as well as a range of other effects.
The researchers who wrote this paper began their exploration by describing four possible factors that contribute to the development of fibroids. These are:
Researchers explained that if phytochemicals are able to address these four factors, they may be useful in preventing and treating fibroids.
Like many fruits, guava and soursop are rich in phytochemicals. Guava is known to contain the phytochemicals lycopene, quercetin, anthocyanin, and many others. Whilst soursop contains reticuline, coreximine, quercetin, gallic acid and others.
In their paper, researchers discuss a range of phytochemicals including ones that are relevant to guava and soursop – lycopene and quercetin. They explain that at the time of the publication of their paper, lycopene and quercetin have not been tested in fibroids, but based on what scientists know about these two chemicals they may be beneficial in the prevention and treatment of fibroids. This is because when we look back at the four possible ways that fibroids develop, these two phytochemicals can potentially target these processes. They have both been found to have the following effects:
Researchers couldn’t make any conclusions on these phytochemicals with regards to fibroids, but their discussion has identified these and other phytochemicals which could be beneficial in the prevention and treatment of fibroids. These include:
They stated that based on the information they presented, there is a need to understand whether these phytochemicals are indeed beneficial for fibroids and this should be explored through future studies that carefully and accurately determine their mechanism of action and effectiveness in the treatment and prevention of fibroids.
This research study has raised the idea that the phytochemicals in soursop and guava may be beneficial in the treatment and prevention of fibroids. It doesn’t mean that eating soursop and guava will cure your fibroids, the reason for this, and this is discussed in the research paper, is that when you eat these fruits we don’t know if your body is absorbing enough of these phytochemicals to have a significant impact on the growth and development of fibroids.
What we can say is that if you have fibroids, if you haven’t already, we recommend that you adopt a healthy diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables, this can include soursop and guava, but should include cruciferous vegetables. Studies have shown that making dietary changes can be helpful in improving some of the symptoms of fibroids as can introducing more exercise into your routine.
It is also recommended that women with fibroids avoid certain foods such as alcohol, caffeine, red meat and foods that may contain high levels of hormones like oestrogen.
If you have fibroids and would like to explore dietary changes and exercise as a way of managing your symptoms, please speak to your doctor first. She/he will be able to advise you on the best approach based on your specific situation as the success of these approaches will depend on the size of your fibroids and other factors. You may also want to speak to a registered dietitian who along with your doctor will be able to provide some advice on the dietary changes that you can make.
Were you one of the people looking for information on fibroids and guava and/or soursop? Was this article helpful? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. We would love to hear from you.
Following on from the publication of our ‘Fibroids and COVID-19’ infographic, we’re delighted to notify you of the publication of our latest fibroids infographic.
This infographic, entitled ‘What You Need to Know About Fibroids’ covers what fibroids are, the different types of fibroids, risk factors, symptoms and tips for women living with fibroids.
The aim of this resource is to provide women with a simple overview of fibroids and to address the concern that women expressed to us about the lack of accurate reliable information on this important women’s health issue.
We had the pleasure of working with newly qualified doctor, Sofia Miah, to create this resource. Sofia carried out some desk-based research in order to prepare the content and designed the infographic.
Sofia’s experience of working on this short project highlighted some very important lessons for those working in the healthcare field, with Sofia stating that:
“As a newly qualified doctor with clinical experience in women’s health, I was shocked by the higher incidence of fibroids among African-Caribbean women and how little it is spoken about in medical education and the workplace. Black women are disproportionately affected by fibroids and more likely to have hysterectomies. This is worsened by the lack of high-quality, comprehensive and accessible information out there on fibroids for patients. As healthcare professionals, we need to be more open and vocal about the impact of fibroids on patients and their quality of life. We need to be better.”
We are very grateful to Sofia for working with us on this project and to the experienced gynaecologist who reviewed the infographic. You can download the infographic below and if you have any questions or comments about this resource, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by sending us an email
We’re delighted to announce the publication of our new ‘Fibroids and COVID-19’ infographic.
COVID-19 has created a lot of anxiety, especially for people with pre-existing health conditions. Whilst there has been a lot of information published on the impact of COVID-19 on people with various health conditions, we noticed an information gap with regards to fibroids and therefore we sought to address this.
Working with Mariana Ndrio, a second-year medical student at the UMHS in St Kitts and Nevis, we did some desk-based research to understand the possible impact of COVID-19 on women with fibroids and, based on this, provide some practical tips to help women manage during this pandemic, which experts have warned is likely to last for another 12-18 months.
Whilst carrying out her research to prepare this infographic, Mariana faced one major challenge:
“As a medical student that remains generally impressed by the increasing amount of existing medical and scientific knowledge, researching gynaecological diseases such as fibroids have led me to a stark realization: that despite the high prevalence of uterine fibroids among women, not enough high-quality data is available to formulate evidence-based guidelines that address patients’ needs adequately.”
Mariana very clearly describes what we hear from women all the time when it comes to fibroids – the lack of accurate, reliable information. We have been slowly trying to address this issue by creating a set of information resources which we are improving and expanding to ensure women have the best information possible.
You can download our new fibroids infographic below and we created a list of the references we used to assist us in preparing the content for the infographic (you can find this below too). Additionally, this resource has been reviewed by Dr Oduntan, one of the District Medical Officers here in St Kitts and Nevis.
Coming soon will be a couple more infographics which will focus on various aspects of fibroids.
If you have any questions or comments about this new infographic, please do leave them in the comments section below, or if you have fibroids and would like to share the experience you’ve had during this pandemic maybe by writing an article about your experience, then please do send us an email and we’d be happy to work with you on this.
For some additional information on this topic, you can read Mariana’s recent blog post, ‘Fibroids and COVID-19: Tips of Self-Care and Managing Stress’.
We are committed to making all our resources free and easily accessible to all those who need it. You can help us with this commitment by making a donation which will go towards the costs of producing our health information which includes the costs of design, printing and editing. You can make a donation here. Thank you for any help that you can provide. Please note that our online payments are managed by JAD Cash, a comprehensive e-money solution for the Eastern Caribbean countries. All online payments will, therefore, be processed in Eastern Caribbean Dollars (XCD).
Today’s blog post comes from Mariana Ndrio. Mariana is a second-year medical student at the University of Medicine & Health Sciences (UMHS) in St. Kitts and is currently serving as the President of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) on campus.
Mariana has recently started volunteering with us as a research assistant and is supporting us as we conduct our fibroids qualitative study. She is also creating a fibroids and COVID-19 infographic which will be published shortly.
Today, Mariana discusses the challenges that fibroids patients may be experiencing during this COVID-19 pandemic and shares some evidence-based self-care and stress management tips to help women with fibroids manage during this difficult period.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to prompt stressful changes to our daily routine and lifestyle, health-related worries regarding ourselves and loved ones have undoubtedly intensified. While the growing uncertainties stemming from financial difficulties and social isolation impact the health and personal decision-making of everyone across the globe, women suffering from uterine fibroids are facing unprecedented challenges in their attempts to preserve their mental and physical wellbeing.
Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumours among women. While some cases of fibroids are accompanied by no side effects, other cases contain patterns of heavy menstrual bleeding, long and irregular periods, pelvic pressure and pain, constipation, frequent urination, and in rare occasions, infertility.
Treatment for fibroids can range from no treatment at all to surgery, depending on the severity of symptoms. Aside from apparent physical symptoms, the psychological impact of fibroids should not be disregarded. In a 2013 national survey of 968 women suffering from fibroids, 79% of the surveyed women expressed fear that their fibroids will grow or experience further health complications. According to a 2014 study assessing the emotional impact of fibroids half of the participating women reported feeling helpless and that they had no control over their fibroids, because of the difficulty managing and predicting the heavy menstrual flow.
Black women are 3 times more likely to become diagnosed with fibroids than white women, just as they are more likely to develop fibroids at a younger age; moreover, their fibroid size, frequency, and symptom severity are much greater.
As a medical student that remains generally impressed by the increasing amount of existing medical and scientific knowledge, researching gynaecological diseases such as fibroids have led me to a stark realization: that despite the high prevalence of uterine fibroids among women, not enough high-quality data is available to formulate evidence-based guidelines that address patients’ needs adequately. This points to a larger, unforgiving gap in medical knowledge pertaining to common diseases affecting women, and when combined with the gap in medical knowledge regarding COVID-19, a mixture of increased emotional stress and confusion is to follow. Such stress can hinder overall physical health and may exacerbate fibroid symptoms by influencing cycle length, vaginal bleeding patterns, and painful periods. If you are feeling uncertain or anxious, know that you are not alone; your worries and feelings are valid.
For that matter, we compiled some scientifically-backed tips that could be helpful in restoring a sense of control and ease in these difficult and unprecedented times.
While staying home and self-isolating is the best way to stay protected from COVID-19 and prevent the spread of the virus, this should not halt or compromise access to necessary medical care for women suffering from fibroids.
If you need to see a healthcare provider for a gynaecological reason, reach out to your medical provider and try to see if they are able to set up a virtual appointment or address non-urgent concerns over the phone (such as prescription refills).
While it is true that a lot of non-urgent appointments and elective surgeries are cancelled, many medical professionals and medical facilities are encouraged to use and have already embraced telehealth services which allow long-distance patient and clinician care via remote and virtual appointments, intervention, education, and monitoring. Telehealth services vary based on your location and medical provider. But even if you are having difficulties accessing gynaecological telehealth services locally, you might be able to reach out to service providers in other countries such as the U.K, U.S, or Canada. For example, USA Fibroid Centers provide virtual appointments you can schedule online. Women to Women OB GYN Care, located in Florida, states in their website that they welcome appointments from women internationally and the Caribbean. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has also attempted to establish or expand telehealth services in a lot of Caribbean countries.
Keeping up to date with your prescribed medications can be confusing during a pandemic. You might feel like your regular access to your medical provider or pharmacy is compromised, you might worry that your current medications might be making you vulnerable to the COVID-19 or you might be feeling uncertain regarding the continuation of your current prescribed medications or supplements.
Nonetheless, it is important that you continue taking your prescribed medications and/or supplements unless otherwise advised by your physician. If you are receiving preoperative therapy (Zoladex, Lupron, etc.) but your surgery is cancelled, ask your physician regarding the course of your current prescribed therapy. If you have been prescribed a drug called Esmya (Ulipristal Acetate), you must consult with your physician regarding its discontinuation; as of 2020, Esmya’s license has been suspended due to the risk of serious liver injury. As mentioned previously, do not hesitate to discuss any concerns you might have regarding your current medications and supplements with your medical provider.
Studies show that women with fibroids might present heavier, prolonged bleeding and frequent, irregular periods. While everyone during a pandemic is worrying and trying to secure produce and disinfecting supplies, women suffering from fibroids have to also think about stocking up on female hygiene products. Especially, since frequent trips to the stores must be limited due to social distancing/quarantine rules.
Ensure that you have enough gynaecological hygiene products at home, to eliminate frequent trips to the store and avoid exposure to the virus. This by no means should be considered as the green light to go into a buying frenzy. Try to remain conscientious of the needs of others.
If buying hygiene products in bulk is not an option due to financial difficulty or store availability, reach out to local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or philanthropic entities, that might be willing to donate hygiene products such as the Days for Girls International Organization or even by reaching out directly to product manufacturers. Local grassroots organizations or associations in your region might also be able to donate hygiene items. Moreover, the governmental departments of public health or genders affairs might be willing to assist women in need of hygiene products.
This pandemic could also be a good time to consider reusable, more economical and environmentally friendly menstruation products such as washable pads, menstruation caps, or absorbent underwear. Check Days for Girls .org and learn how to make sanitary washable period pads during the COVD-19 pandemic, diligently following sanitary safety precautions.
Research has shown that following a healthy balanced diet, filled with fruits and vegetables, could lower the risk of developing fibroids and may help to alleviate symptoms.
While access to your usual healthy foods might be compromised at the moment, try to make healthy dietary choices while in quarantine. More specifically, dieticians recommend an increase in the consumption of cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, and kale. This category of food contains a phytochemical called indole-3-carbinol which recent research has suggested may prevent the cellular proliferation of fibroids and consequently prevent exacerbation of fibroid symptoms.
For many years, there has been a significant amount of scientific evidence that vitamin D may inhibit fibroid growth. Get your serum vitamin D levels tested and supplement (with medical supervision) as needed to correct a deficiency. A few recently published studies assessing the role of vitamin D against COVID-19, suggested that there is a possible link between the two and that vitamin D can have a protective effect against COVID-19.
Stay hydrated by consuming adequate amounts of water during the day and eliminate alcohol and caffeine. Researchers are advising women to avoid alcohol and caffeine because these substances are metabolized by the liver adding more stress on it and making it work less effectively at metabolizing oestrogen in the body. Additionally, amidst the COVD-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged the public to reduce alcohol consumption because alcohol compromises the body’s immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes, making people more vulnerable to COVID-19. In other words, by cutting out alcoholic beverages, you are protecting yourself from adverse outcomes from both the COVID-19 and fibroids.
In addition, researchers believe that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which mimic oestrogen activity, may fuel fibroid growth. Examples include processed foods which contain various oestrogen-like preservatives; bisphenol A in water bottles, canned foods and plastic containers; various pesticides, herbicides, insecticides; and additive hormones and steroids used in meats and dairy products.
Try to choose organic, locally grown and in-season foods that are hormone and pesticide-free. Attentively wash any produce and peel fruits and vegetables. Reduce the use of plastics whenever possible and avoid reusing plastic water bottles or microwave food in plastic containers.
Research shows that a higher BMI – body mass index – is linked to the development of fibroids. By exercising you can reduce your BMI and prevent the fibroids’ growth. It may also help alleviate symptoms caused by fibroids. At the same time, exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem.
Continue performing simple or recreational household chores and find an indoor workout routine such as yoga or aerobic exercises that you can perform at home while keeping up with the rules of quarantine. Choose what works best for you, based on your physical fitness and medical advice.
On days that you are feeling pain and other fibroid symptoms, rest up and give your body time to heal. Try to soothe cramps by applying heat and wear comfortable clothes.
It’s okay to spend a whole day in bed recovering. Be gentle with yourself and do not undermine what your body is trying to tell you.
We live in a society where time and productivity are precious and synonyms for money and self-worth. Yet, nothing is more precious than your physical and emotional well-being. Do not feel guilty for taking some time to rest and recover.
Although self-care looks different for everyone and should be based on your personal needs and situation, there are a few suggestions that could work for you and help you boost your mental well-being:
And remember, during these confusing and unprecedented times and while you are feeling that this pandemic is affecting you, in particular, a bit harder than the rest, there is always a community of women who are feeling exactly like you—you are not alone.
