As you leave the doctor’s surgery, you are still in disbelief - wondering if pregnancy is even possible now.

Sister, I want to let you know something and I want to make sure you hear it before I say anything else: for most women with fibroids, the answer is yes. Yes, you can get pregnant. Yes ok, you’ve been diagnosed with fibroids but just because you have been handed that diagnosis does not mean the door is closed. It’s not. So before we go any further - take a deep breath.

Done that? Great, then let’s continue.

Now I am going to share the truth with you because you deserve to know all of it, warts and all.

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The fear no one sat with you in

When your fibroids were found, the first thing you might have heard is the term ‘fibroids’ and then the medical expert just kept talking, perhaps mentioning the size of a few in passing. What I am saying is, that s/he might have been pretty ‘meh’ about it, while your brain froze a few sentences back in the place where you had already started grieving for the child you had not even tried for yet.

I am not going to downplay this at all. That grief is real so don’t let anyone rush you past it. But it is also a good idea not to ruminate over it either, and preferably not a day longer than you have to. Because in most cases you are grieving for something you have not even lost.

Not every fibroid affects your fertility

This is something I need to get very clear on because this is where lots of mistakes are made: fibroids are not one thing. Where your fibroid sits (more about this soon!) matters far more than the fact that it exists at all, and it matters far more than how big it is. Two women can have the same diagnosis and on paper, it looks exactly the same, however their stories will be completely different.

The fibroids that tend to interfere are the ones growing inside the cavity of the womb, into the very room a pregnancy needs to settle into. They can get in the way of an embryo implanting, or hold up the blood supply that a new pregnancy is depending on. But the good news is that many fibroids sit in the outer wall, or bulge outward away from that space, and simply mind their own business while a baby grows right beside them.

So before you decide your body is working against you, it’s worth understanding which type of fibroid(s) you actually have. That one piece of knowledge has pulled more women back from despair than almost anything else.

Share Beyond Fibroids

Today is testing day. Over the last two videos, I talked about the new assessments I’m adding to the Health Blueprint Intensive. Now I’m going to walk you through the actual process of taking the samples.

I’ve got my cards in hand, starting with the one that says Read Me First. You must read this before taking your samples, otherwise your test may be delayed. It’s important because you want the best results possible, and that depends on giving high‑quality samples.

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Checking Your Kit

I need to make sure my kit contains everything listed:

• two instructional inserts

• the sealed saliva swab

• the glass bottle

• the hair sample bag

• the prepaid returns label

• the testing agreement

All of that is here. You’ll also receive a downloadable health form, which you complete before posting your samples. I’ve already filled mine in.

Your email will include a testing window. Make sure you collect and send your samples within that window — otherwise the lab may not test them, and you may need a new kit. It’s much easier to do it on time.

Preparing the Samples

I’ve signed my agreement (you don’t need to watch me do that), and now I’m preparing the saliva sample.

I need to take it today, because once I collect it, I’m heading straight to the post office to make sure it goes out before the last posting time.

I’ve labelled the glass bottle with my name and today’s date.

Now I’m opening the swab. Once it’s open, it’s no longer sterile, so you need to use it immediately.

I’ve taken the sample, snapped the swab at the marked point, and placed it inside the bottle. That part is done.

There’s no padded envelope included, so I’m using my own. The bottle is now safely inside.

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Taking the Hair Sample

I’ve taken a small sample from the back of my head — just a few strands — and placed them in the hair sample envelope.

I’ve sealed it and written my name and today’s date on the front.

That’s both samples completed.

Final Steps

All that’s left is the agreement form. I’ll read through the questions and sign it at the bottom. Once everything is ready, I’m heading to the post office to send it off today.

The results take roughly two to three weeks. When they come back, I’ll share:

• what the report looks like

• what was found

• and how it correlates with the voice scans I’ve been running since December

I’m really looking forward to seeing what shows up.

Watch this space — I’ll report back soon.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

Want to learn the truth about Fibroids? Enter your details here and never miss a thing.

Subscribe now

Hi again, it’s Valerie Yamina. Today I’m sharing the testing kit I mentioned in my last video. If you haven’t seen that one, I explained why I added this assessment to the Health Blueprint Intensive. It all comes down to one simple principle:

The better I understand what’s happening in your body, the more precisely I can personalise your support. Specificity creates better outcomes. It’s that simple.

So today, I want to show you the kit itself and walk you through exactly what you’ll receive.

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What’s Inside the Testing Kit

This is the box — a lovely green box that honestly feels like opening a Christmas present. Inside, you’ll find everything you need for your hair and saliva samples.

Here’s what’s included:

1. Glass vial for saliva

It comes with a tag so you can label it with your name.

2. Three instruction cards

• Read Me First

• I’m Your Test Guide

• Testing Agreement (you’ll need to complete and sign this)

3. Hair sample envelope

You only need three to four strands — no shaving required. Just pluck a couple of hairs and place them inside.

4. Return label

This is the address label you’ll use to send your samples back.

5. Saliva swab

It looks like a large cotton bud. The tip is where you’ll collect your saliva sample. I’m not doing mine yet because I missed today’s postage cut-off, but I’ll show you how to take the test in the next video.

How Your Samples Are Analysed

Once you send off your samples, they’re analysed using bioresonance.

I already use bioresonance through the voice scan — your voice carries frequency data that reveals what’s happening inside your body. There’s evidence behind this technology, and although it’s not mainstream yet, it is being used to detect disease*. That’s why I love it: it’s simple, non‑invasive, and incredibly revealing.

Over time, voice scans show patterns. I’ll share one of my own reports soon — there’s a particular issue that shows up repeatedly for me. What I want to find out now is whether the same thing appears in my hair and saliva results. If it does, I’ll know exactly where to focus.

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Why This Matters for Women With Fibroids

Here’s the issue I see with so many women:

They do the research — which is great — but then they take supplements simply because the research says they’re good for fibroids. Green tea extract, vitamin D, DIM, herbs… all useful, but not specific to the individual.

Research gives general guidance. Your body needs precision.

That’s why I’m adding this testing kit. When I combine:

• your voice scan

• your detailed health history

• your hair and saliva results

we get a much bigger picture. More clues. More accuracy. And when those clues are interpreted together, that’s when we begin to understand you — not just the diagnosis.

Why I’m Doing the Test Myself

In the next video, I’ll show you exactly how to take the test. I want to do it myself first because I don’t expect you to do anything I haven’t done. It’s important for me to understand the process, see my own results, and correlate them with my voice scan.

The results take about two to three weeks to come back. Once they do, I’ll share:

• what the report looks like

• what showed up for me

• and how it matches (or doesn’t match) my voice scan

What’s Next

I’ll see you in the next video, where I’ll walk you through how to take the test step‑by‑step.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

* Vocal Biomarkers are being used only in a medical setting to detect disease. In a holistic setting, vocal biomarkers are used to detect disturbances and imbalances only.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

Want to learn the truth about Fibroids? Enter your details here and never miss a thing.

Subscribe now

I wanted to quickly jump on today because I’m really excited to share that I’ve added a new assessment to my Health Blueprint Intensive. If you haven’t heard of that before, it’s simply because I’ve been building it quietly in the background. I’ll be sharing more about it soon, but today I want to explain why I decided to include this new assessment for clients, because every tool I use has a purpose.

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Why I Added This Assessment

I’m always looking for ways to understand the women I work with on a deeper level. That’s the question I ask myself constantly:

How can I understand her more clearly?

This new assessment, essentially a testing kit, adds another layer to the picture. It doesn’t replace anything I already use. It simply expands the clarity.

If you don’t know this about me yet: I’m always learning. Always refining. Always asking how I can build a more complete understanding of what’s happening inside a woman’s body.

The First Step: The Voice Scan

I always begin with the voice scan, and I’ll add a link below so you can take yours. It’s free.

The voice scan gives both of us an energetic snapshot of what’s happening inside your body at that moment — similar to how a blood test gives you a snapshot of your physiology. Alongside that, I take a very detailed health history, because your perspective matters just as much as the data.

But I wanted one more layer.

Why Women Need More Than One Assessment

One of the biggest mistakes in women’s health is assuming that women with the same diagnosis — like fibroids — share the same symptoms, the same causes, or the same needs. They don’t.

Two women can both have fibroids, yet:

- what contributed to their development

- what’s keeping them growing

- and what their body needs next

can be completely different.

This is why personalisation is everything. Your symptoms tell a story. Your health history tells a story. Your voice scan tells a story. And now, this new assessment adds another piece to that story.

Individually, each assessment has value. Together, they form one coherent picture.

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What This New Assessment Adds

The new testing kit uses hair and saliva. Once I have:

- your voice scan

- your full health history

- and your test results

I bring everything together before making any recommendations.

My job is to interpret the data, identify the patterns, connect the dots, and create a personalised roadmap that reflects your body, your circumstances, and your needs.

This gives you far more context than simply being told your blood tests are normal.

What I Hope This Addition Brings

I’m hoping this new layer brings:

- greater clarity

- a more personalised starting point

- and a deeper understanding of what’s happening inside your body

As my understanding evolves, the way I support women evolves too. I refine what I do because every woman deserves to be understood as a whole person, not reduced to a diagnosis.

What’s Coming Next

In my next video, I’m going to show you the assessment kit. I’ll walk you through what it is, what it looks like, what it contains, and exactly how it works.

Watch out for that one and I’ll catch you soon.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

Want to learn the truth about Fibroids? Enter your details here and never miss a thing.

Subscribe now

Organised in a remarkably short space of time by two consultant gynaecologists, the event brought together clinicians, researchers, women with lived experience, advocates and policymakers with one shared goal: to improve fibroid care in the UK.

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Even the President of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology – Alison Wright – shared her personal story with fibroids and heavy bleeding. To have someone who truly understands what the suffering is like head one of the biggest training grounds for UK gynaecologists is fabulous. However, where there is hope, there are also many challenges, so let me walk you through the highlights of the day – the good and the not so good.

There was talk of changing the dynamics of fibroid care, perhaps working as an integrative team rather than the current hierarchy – where we are all separate, trying to do our own thing, often working against each other, with medics being the dominant force.

Personally, I had no idea there were so many medical experts who genuinely cared until I walked into that room. I walked in not really knowing what to expect – yet I walked out with hope, and at the same time, sadness, which I’ll talk about shortly.

When one doctor broke down what has to happen in a typical GP appointment, I realised something I’d never fully appreciated.

Far too many women have to go through far too many doctors to get the help they need. The first port of call is the GP, who only has ten minutes to take the patient’s history, understand her symptoms, perform an examination where appropriate, explain the findings, and discuss next steps. Ten minutes is ridiculous. It is not enough time.

If you have heavy bleeding or small fibroids, these are initially managed with medication. That’s the starting point for most women.

Medical professionals and women alike are calling for change, but clinicians are very much up against it. They have limited time to gather the information they need, and they work in a tightly regulated system they have no control over. Whilst some consultants can be, let’s just say, not very ‘nice’, there are many more who do care but can only do what they are allowed to do.

Doctors face barriers that are invisible to us as patients. All we want is to navigate the issues we have, especially heavy bleeding – no one wants to be fobbed off with an inconsiderate quip and a prescription. No one feels heard or seen within such a small window of time.

A proper investigation with a systemic review is what’s required. Your body is an interconnected system. Chronic uterine conditions require a deep dive into all body systems to see where the body is struggling – and that is where a collaborative approach would be the absolute icing on the cake.

Unfortunately, doctors working within the NHS cannot refer you to a specialist outside NHS pathways. This is where the gap becomes painfully clear. Surgery may remove fibroids, but it doesn’t answer the question many women are left asking: Why did this happen to me in the first place? That is the question I’ve dedicated my work to exploring. Helping you understand what happens before treatment and what comes afterwards is paramount to you receiving the best outcome possible.

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Why Collaboration Isn’t Happening Yet

The NHS cannot refer out, cannot collaborate formally, and cannot integrate the kind of deep exploratory work I do – and that is a massive shame.

One thing that became much clearer to me during the summit is just how constrained NHS clinicians are. Many genuinely want a more collaborative approach, but they work within a system that limits how care can be coordinated beyond NHS pathways. The result is that many women are left navigating the gaps themselves, particularly if they want support that falls outside standard NHS services.

That said, it was truly refreshing hearing doctors state that fibroid treatment should be tailored to the individual, and hearing what treatment methods work best depending on fibroid size and location. One message came through loud and clear: fibroids are complex and are often best managed using both conventional and holistic approaches. Music to my ears.

Another standout moment was when Professor Elizabeth Stewart from the US presented the long‑term risks of hysterectomy. She had the data: hysterectomy increases morbidity by 45%. There was also an increase in mental health conditions, along with a 33% increase in coronary artery disease. This was a reminder that hysterectomy is not as simple as removing the uterus. It has long‑term consequences that deserve careful discussion and informed decision‑making.

This is the kind of education clinicians up and down the country need to hear. Whilst I understand the strain they are under, there is no condoning dismissive behaviour when it comes to women’s health. Each woman needs to be treated respectfully and feel seen and heard in the consulting room.

The Future of Fibroid Care

Scientific consensus and market trends both point to a future where one‑size‑fits‑all treatments are replaced by personalised plans that prioritise preserving the uterus. For many women, the primary challenge is no longer a lack of options, but rather access to specialised care and education about which modern, uterus‑sparing treatments are most appropriate for their specific anatomy and life goals.

What This Means for Women

First: the summit strengthened what I’ve believed for a long time — women deserve personalised care, better informed choices, and to be treated as individuals.

Second: whilst the outcome of the summit was overwhelmingly positive, there are still realities women must be aware of. The future of women’s health is definitely looking upwards.

If you’ve read this far, perhaps you recognised yourself in this article. Maybe you’ve left appointments with more questions than answers. Perhaps you were told what your options are, but not why your body developed fibroids in the first place. Or maybe you’ve simply grown tired of trying to piece everything together on your own.

That gap between conventional care and truly understanding your body is exactly where I work.

By using your voice you can gain a different perspective about your body by identifying energetic patterns that may help guide the next stage of your health journey. The voice scan offers a personalised starting point for women like you who want to explore their health beyond symptom management and begin asking deeper questions.

If you’re ready to stop guessing and start understanding your body in a more personalised way, I’d love to invite you to begin with your personalised voice scan.

You deserve to know why your body created fibroids. The voice scan will show you that.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

I came across research that I don’t recall being taught when I was at nutrition college. Although I use food as the primary way to heal the body, supplementing filled the gap. But, what I didn’t know back then was that iron stores can be deliberately kept low by the body.

Yes it’s a thing - it’s called nutritional immunity, and now I am aware of it, it made a whole lot of sense as to why I was anaemic all the time, and no matter how much iron I took, it made no difference. I am also going to show you why, when you take the stuff your doctor prescribes, you end up with black stools, bloating and constipation - so hold on, I’m going to get there.

When your body detects an invasion of bacteria, it deliberately locks away its own iron stores, and because almost all living pathogens need iron to replicate and survive, your body will literally do all it can to try and starve them out.

Walk with me so I can show you how this works:

The Key Player: Hepcidin

When bacteria enter your body, your immune cells spot them and release inflammatory signals (like cytokines). These signals travel straight to the liver and trigger the mass production of a hormone called hepcidin. You can learn more about Hepcidin here.

Sinking the Iron Ships

Let’s think of hepcidin as a cellular security guard. It targets and destroys ferroportin (a specialised protein), which is the only doorway iron can use to exit cells and enter the bloodstream.

• Iron absorption from the food you eat is blocked.

• Macrophages (immune cells that recycle old red blood cells) lock their iron away inside a storage protein called ferritin instead of releasing it.

Within hours of an infection, circulating iron levels in the blood plummet.

The Evolutionary Arms Race

This defence is super effective against most opportunistic bacteria, but these little critters have evolved their own secret counter-weapons. What these bacteria do is secrete incredibly powerful iron-binding molecules called siderophores. These molecules act like tiny magnets, stripping iron away from the body’s transport proteins (like transferrin) to feed the bacteria. In response, your body produces another protein called lipocalin-2, which exists solely to intercept and neutralise those bacterial magnets.

So while this defence strategy is brilliant for short-term infections, it causes problems if inflammation becomes chronic. If your body is under constant inflammatory stress, hepcidin stays high, iron remains locked away indefinitely, and your body can’t make enough new red blood cells. In turn, this leads to Anaemia of Chronic Disease (or anaemia of inflammation). This is what happened to me. I suffered from super heavy periods for decades - since day one. I was anaemic to the point it became ‘normal‘ for me to be knackered all the time. So just how do these opportunistic critters steal your iron stores?

When you are already short on iron, a bacterial infection triggers a kind of microscopic tug-of-war. Because free iron is so toxic to cells, your body never lets it float around freely anyway; it keeps it tightly bound to transport proteins like transferrin and lactoferrin. So to survive, these clever little buggers developed highly sophisticated ways to literally rip that iron away from your body’s proteins.

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The Three Ways Bacteria Steal Your Iron

The critters use multiple strategies depending on what they are targeting:

Sending Out Siderophore Magnets

The most common weapon is the siderophore. Bacteria make these tiny chemical compounds and release them into your tissues or bloodstream.

• Siderophores have a chemical affinity for iron that is significantly higher than your body’s own transport proteins.

• They function like hyper-powerful magnets, stripping iron right off your transferrin.

• Once the siderophore has trapped an iron atom, it forms a siderophore-iron complex.

• The bacterium then pulls it back in through special surface receptors to feed itself.

The Direct High-Jacking

Some of these bacteria skip the magnets entirely and go for direct theft. They evolve custom receptors on their outer membranes that perfectly fit human transferrin or lactoferrin (a bit like endocrine disruptors that fit hormone receptors in the uterus). The bacteria binds directly to your transport protein, forces it open, pumps the iron inside its own cell, and discards the empty human protein back into your bloodstream.

Now I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a scene from a horror movie. Just saying.

Smashing Red Blood Cells (Hemophores)

If these bacteria cannot get enough iron from your transport proteins, they go after your red blood cells. These pathogens then release toxins called hemolysins that burst your red blood cells open, spilling out haemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein that holds the vast majority of your body’s iron). The bacteria then deploy specialised proteins called hemophores to bind to the freed heme, dragging it back to the bacterial cell wall to strip the iron out.

How Your Body Fights the Theft

Your immune system is not exactly taking a break while this is all going on. As a counter-defence, your phagocytes (immune cells) deploy Lipocalin (transport proteins), which acts like a specialised interceptor, and its exact shape fits over the bacterial siderophores, blocking them from capturing iron or returning to the bacterium. This constant chemical wrestling match is happening whenever your immune system faces a threat.

When your doctor or someone in a natural health group looks only at the low iron numbers without asking why they are low or blindly prescribing iron pills at the problem can range from completely useless to downright harmful.

There are three major issues with treating low iron or low ferritin with standard supplementation without addressing the root cause:

The Supplement Becomes Fuel for the Enemy

If your iron stores are low because your body is actively fighting off an opportunistic bacterial infection, chronic parasite, or fungal overgrowth, your body is deliberately hiding that iron to protect you.

When you pour high-dose oral iron supplements into your gut, you bypass your body’s protective locking mechanism. You are essentially delivering a massive, easily accessible smorgasbord straight to the pathogens. Instead of healing your fatigue, you end up inadvertently feeding the infection, allowing the bacteria to replicate faster and making your anaemia ten times worse.

High Hepcidin Blocks Absorption

As I mentioned earlier with nutritional immunity, inflammation triggers the hormone hepcidin, which slams the door on iron absorption in the gut.

If you have low iron due to chronic inflammation (say, from an undiagnosed infection, autoimmune flare, or even severe gut dysbiosis), your hepcidin levels are sky-high. If you then swallow a standard iron pill, your gut cells literally cannot absorb it. The iron just sits in your digestive tract, unabsorbed.

Gut Inflammation and Cellular Damage

Now, because the unabsorbed iron sits in your intestines doing nothing, it causes a cascade of unpleasant side effects. Free iron is highly reactive and causes oxidative stress in the gut.

It feeds unhelpful, opportunistic bacteria in the colon (like E. coli), which love iron, while wiping out beneficial bacteria (like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria) that do not require iron.

This imbalance leads to the classic side effects of iron pills: severe constipation, cramping, nausea, and dark stools.

Ultimately, it damages your gut lining, creating more inflammation, which drives hepcidin even higher, creating a vicious, exhausting cycle.

This is why it is vital to differentiate between Absolute Iron Deficiency (where you are low on iron simply because you lost it, like from years or decades of heavy bleeding) and Functional Iron Deficiency (where you have iron, but your body has locked it away due to inflammation). If low iron is purely from heavy bleeding, supplements are usually necessary to rebuild what was lost. But if there is an infection or systemic inflammation present at the same time, the inflammation must be treated first, or the iron supplement will cause more harm than good.

When I learned this, it made so much sense why I just couldn’t get better, no matter what I did. If more pills or supplements might not be the answer, what does one do? What should we be checking for? What would you need to be assessed against?

Essentially, what is the best way forward so you are not spinning your wheels?

From a holistic perspective, this is where you shift from just treating symptoms to healing the whole body. If you are just given iron pills for low ferritin, the symptoms are being treated. The actual strategy focuses on discovering why the iron is low, evaluating whether your body is actively blocking it, and fixing the underlying leaks and inflammation.

STEP 1 - The Correct Lab Evaluation - Looking Beyond Ferritin

Standard medicine often just checks Ferritin (iron stores) and Hemoglobin (red blood cells). My approach is to look at a complete iron panel alongside inflammatory markers to read between the lines.

To find the root cause, I would assess my client against three specific categories:

Chronic Blood Loss as in heavy bleeding. This must be addressed at the root cause rather than just constantly replacing the lost blood or trying to top up iron stores.

Gut Absorption Issues as in low stomach acid. Iron requires robust stomach acid to be converted into an absorbable form of iron. Long-term use of antacids (PPIs), aging, or H. pylori infections ruin this process. Gut Infections like Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), parasites, or severe dysbiosis can consume your dietary iron before you can absorb it.

Systemic Inflammation as in chronic hidden infections like UTIs, dental infections or mould exposure and autoimmune activity.

Your Holistic Anaemia Busting Action Plan

Because I know most women want to try and go it alone, at least let me give you a systematic step-by-step process so you don’t get lost.

Step 1: Quench the Fire (Lower Inflammation)

Focus on calming down your immune system and identifying the source of inflammation. For example, if it’s your gut, work backward to identify the source of the inflammation. So this could be gut issues caused by food sensitivities or bacterial overload. Once inflammation drops, hepcidin will decrease, and your cellular vault will naturally open back up.

Step 2: Fix your Digestion

Optimise stomach acid. You can apple cider vinegar or Betaine HCl with meals and treat any gut dysbiosis so your gut lining can actually absorb minerals from food. It’s important to correct your gut first. If you do have food sensitivities, you will need to avoid those foods for a time.

Step 3: Use Smarter Replenishment Strategies

If iron is desperately needed but your gut is compromised or inflamed, you can use these methods instead of oral pills:

1. IV Iron Infusions: When your gut cannot absorb iron due to chronic illness or heavy bleeding, a targeted IV infusion bypasses the digestive tract completely, avoiding the risk of feeding gut pathogens. Your doctor can advise you if this is appropriate.

2. Food-First & Co-Factors: Focusing on highly bioavailable heme iron from quality food sources such as grass-fed red meat consumed alongside a good quality Vitamin C, which significantly boosts absorption.

The Path from Guessing to Knowing

Ultimately, the route out of chronic anaemia is recognising that low iron is rarely an iron intake problem and is almost always an iron loss, iron absorption, or iron utilisation problem. But knowing what is great. The how is where most women get stuck.

You don’t have to keep spinning your wheels, hoping that the next bottle of supplements will finally be the one that works. You can stop guessing and start listening to the specific, nuanced signals your body is already broadcasting.

This is where we move beyond the standard lab markers and into the hidden energetics of your health.

Your voice can help you identify hidden energetic stressors - the imbalances that standard blood tests often overlook. Yes, I said your voice. By analysing the frequency and energetic state of your body, you can uncover what your body is struggling with, and most importantly, in what areas of your body.

All it takes is 15 seconds and you will receive a personalised report that acts as your personal roadmap, showing you exactly what your body has been trying to tell you so you can stop treating the symptoms and start working on the actual root causes, in the right order.

Ready to stop guessing and start healing?

Go here to start your Voice Scan and kickstart your anaemia reversal journey today.

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For a detailed breakdown of the inflammatory pathways involved in iron regulation, see: Parreira, L. F. (n.d.). The role of hepcidin in the inflammatory and iron homeostasis axis in inflammatory bowel diseases: a systematic review. Translational Gastroenterology and Hepatology. https://tgh.amegroups.org/article/view/10081/html

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

The thought of being cut open is terrifying, and the idea of being awake during surgery is even worse, even though it’s extremely rare. But that’s not the reason for my rant.

In these groups, I come across posts about ‘miracle cures’ all the time. This particular post attracted lots of comments. This sister apparently drank a herbal tea and after a short while, according to her, her fibroid came out. Yes! Her body just expelled it!

One lady asked Is that supposed to happen?? So let’s step back and ask two simple questions:

1. Realistically, can fibroids come out just by drinking a specific blend of herbal tea?

2. What are these teas anyway and do they actually work?

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How Fibroid Teas Are Supposed to Work (The Marketing)

Well known brands typically use terminology like detox, cleansing, and uterine health. Their marketing implies:

Dissolving or Passing Fibroids: The most alarming claims suggest that the herbs physically break down the fibroid tissue, causing it to pass through the vagina. From what I have researched about fibroids over the last 8 years, there is no biological mechanism by which a tea could cause a firm, muscular fibroid tumour to either be dissolved and expelled or just simply expelled.

Detoxifying the Uterus: The marketing of these tend to use the term detox to suggest that the body is holding onto toxic build-up, which the tea helps flush out. As a detox specialist, I have taken a deep dive into the research – and there is research that confirms your body can and does hold on to toxic by-products such as endocrine disruptors, micro plastics etc., so I would not readily dismiss this as pseudoscientific. However, the terminology appeals to a desire for a clean slate.

Regulating Hormones: Many of these teas are marketed as hormone balancers. The narrative is that by drinking the tea, you are neutralising the excess oestrogen that is theoretically feeding the fibroids.

The Reality Check: What Fibroids Actually Are

Fibroids are benign (non-cancerous) tumours made of dense, tough, fibrous muscle tissue.

They are deeply embedded inside or attached to the muscular wall of the uterus (the myometrium) and have their own dedicated blood supply.

Because they are literally part of the uterus structure, a fibroid cannot simply detach, dissolve, or slide out on its own—and certainly not because of an herbal tea. Removing a fibroid requires surgical intervention (like a myomectomy) to physically cut it away from the uterine tissue, or procedures like Uterine Artery Embolisation (UAE) to cut off its blood supply so it breaks down internally.

So what are these women actually seeing?

When someone drinks a detox tea or uses a similar product and reports passing a huge chunk of tissue, they are looking at one of two completely normal biological things:

Coagulated Blood Clots: Fibroids cause the uterus to bleed heavily. When blood pools in the uterus before being expelled, it clots. These clots can be massive, dark red, jelly-like, and look incredibly alarming, easily mistaken by a layperson for a tumour.

Decidual Casts: Occasionally, the entire lining of the uterus (the endometrium) sloughs off in one solid piece or a few large, fleshy chunks instead of breaking down into normal menstrual fluid. It can look like a piece of raw meat or a grey‑pink tissue mass.

Do these teas work at all?

Many of these herbal teas contain herbs that act as mild uterine stimulants (causing the uterus to cramp and contract). When the uterus contracts forcefully, it pushes out the heavy blood and large clots that were already building up inside because of the fibroids.

When a woman drinks the tea, it is likely she experiences heavy cramping, passes a massive, scary-looking clot, and incorrectly assumes the tea expelled the fibroid. In reality, the fibroid is still exactly where it was. The tea didn’t expel anything, it just forced a heavy period.

Green Tea Extract: While detox teas might be great for general cleansing – as in helping your body do what it does naturally anyway, there is legitimate clinical research showing that high doses of EGCG (a specific antioxidant found in green tea extract) can slightly help shrink fibroid cells over several months by reducing inflammation. This happens through slow cellular change over time, not by making a tumour magically fall out into the toilet.

Let me just be very blunt: passing solid tumours after drinking several cups of fibroid herbal tea is a medical impossibility.

It is incredibly frustrating to watch, especially when all I am aiming to do is throw a lifeline of actual science! When I point out exactly what I am seeing, the tendency is to ‘jump on me’ for pointing out the obvious. Its clear I am not just challenging a product. What is actually taking place is that I am challenging a massive, emotional belief system.

But let me just add in a caveat here, just in case you think I am against herbal remedies.

Herbs are incredibly powerful, but only when they’re used in the right way, for the right woman, and in the right context. They work best when they’re part of a wider strategy that includes nutrition, lifestyle, stress regulation, and understanding what your body is actually doing. A generic, mass‑produced fibroid tea is never going to be specific enough, strong enough, or targeted enough to shift a complex condition like fibroids.

Every herb has a different action, and every woman presents with different internal patterns such as liver excess, gut behaviour, adrenal strain, metabolic instability, environmental exposure, identity‑level stress and so forth. When you buy random teas or supplements and hope for the best, you are essentially guessing. And guessing rarely works because the remedy isn’t tailored to your physiology. This is why so many women try everything and see no change: the intervention doesn’t match the actual imbalance.

With that said, there are a few reasons why women in these groups push back so aggressively, and why they would rather double down on a miracle tea than face reality:

The Allure of the Easy Button

Let’s be honest: treating fibroids through conventional medicine can feel incredibly daunting. Depending on the size, doctors often suggest hormonal medications with intense side effects, or surgeries like a myomectomy or a hysterectomy.

When faced with the choice between a terrifying surgical consult and a £30 box of herbal tea that promises to fix everything without you having to do much, human nature is going to fight hard to believe the easy option works. It’s pure wishful thinking wrapped in a nice package.

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The Shared Delusion of Detox Culture

Those groups function like mini-cults. The identity of the group is built around a shared secret knowledge that doctors are lying to you and nature has the cure.

When I mentioned what I was seeing was a blood clots, I broke the rules of the echo chamber. To them, admitting it’s just a normal (albeit large) blood clot means admitting:

• They were fooled.

• The tea didn’t actually cure their underlying medical issue.

• They are still in the exact same medical predicament they started in.

It is much easier for them to lash out and say ‘I have no idea what I am talking about’ than it is to look at the toilet and realise they just paid money to give themselves bad menstrual cramps.

Deep-Seated Medical Distrust

To be fair to these women, women’s health and especially reproductive health, has a history of doctors dismissing pain or rushing straight to major surgeries without explaining alternatives. Many women turn to natural healing groups because they feel ignored, gaslighted and dismissed by the medical system.

The tragedy, though, is that they run away from one flawed system straight into the arms of those who exploit their fear and teach them to reject basic anatomy.

You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into. They didn’t buy the tea based on logic, so logic won’t convince them it’s a scam.

If these women want to insist their uterine tissue is magically defying the laws of physics, then let them continue doing so. Those who choose to understand what fibroids are, how they grow, and how to prevent them returning after surgery are the ones who will succeed.

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Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

I’ve spent years creating things, then abandoning them the moment they stopped feeling aligned. The Fibroid Laboratory was one of those projects. I built the page, wrote one article, and then felt nothing. At the time I didn’t understand why I kept doing this. Now I do.

A few months ago, I learned my human design: 5/1 Manifesting Generator. Suddenly everything made sense, the constant pivoting, the bursts of creation, the abrupt endings. It was validating to finally understand my own patterns.

This first episode is simply me sharing who I am, what I do, and why I do it.

Where This All Began

Over 20 years ago, I studied nutritional therapy because I needed answers for myself. I was in my early twenties, dealing with severe fibroids, heavy bleeding from day one of my period, and a long list of health issues I assumed were just part of getting older. They weren’t.

Looking back now, the timeline is painfully clear.

If you’ve read my articles on Beyond Fibroids, you know they’re scientific, structured, and focused on causes, mechanisms, and physiology. But there’s something I’ve been hiding for a long time:

I am not perfectly healed.

No one in the wellness industry is. Anyone who presents themselves as fully healed is lying. Healing is ongoing. It evolves as we evolve.

And I realised that if I kept pretending to be the polished expert, I’d be doing you and myself a disservice.

Why This Podcast Exists

I created the Fibroid Laboratory to go deep into data, bioresonance scans, oestrogen dominance, metabolic health — all the things I love. But the truth is, there’s already more than enough information out there. Women don’t need more data. They need connection, clarity, and someone who’s willing to tell the truth.

So the Lab hasn’t disappeared. It’s simply evolved into something more human, more honest, more lived.

I’m still obsessed with the science. That will never change. But this podcast is where I’ll take a diagnostic look at what’s happening to women’s bodies — especially Black women’s bodies — through a lens that includes physiology, stress, boundaries, identity, and the emotional and spiritual layers we’re never encouraged to talk about.

We’ve been conditioned to carry the world on our shoulders. I’ve been doing exactly that for the last three years, and it has taken a toll I can’t ignore. My bioresonance scans show it clearly. Chronic stress leaves receipts.

I’ll be sharing those receipts with you.

A Conversation That Sparked Everything

Last night, my partner and I were talking. He watches these short videos of women crying in their cars — women who appear to “have it all” but feel deeply dissatisfied. He couldn’t understand why.

His question pulled up memories from my own life. I remembered being in a long-term relationship in my twenties. Everything looked fine on the outside, but inside I felt a growing discomfort I couldn’t name. It built for months until I couldn’t ignore it. My intuition was relentless: you need to leave.

That same inner pressure — that same intuitive pull — is what I’ve been feeling again these last few years. A shift. A calling. A discomfort that refuses to be silenced.

I know what it is now. I know why it’s happening. And I’ll be sharing that with you too.

Life, Purpose, and the Pause I Didn’t Choose

My purpose hasn’t disappeared. It’s just been slowed down because I’ve stepped into the role of full‑time carer for my mum. If you’ve ever been a carer, you know how consuming it is. I had to put the brakes on everything — talks, projects, momentum. My capacity shrank overnight.

It has affected my health in ways I never expected.

And that’s exactly why this podcast matters. Because healing isn’t linear. Life isn’t linear. And women — especially Black women — are carrying far more than anyone acknowledges.

What You Can Expect

This podcast won’t be daily, despite the name. It will be real, unscripted, and grounded in lived experience. I’ll be talking about:

• what’s happening to women’s bodies

• the emotional and energetic layers of fibroids

• hysterectomies and what they mean for us as women

• boundaries, stress, obligation, and identity

• the truth behind chronic symptoms

• my own scans, my own journey, my own receipts

I’m here for women who want to heal — not women who want to be comforted into staying the same.

If you want truth, clarity, and someone who won’t hold back, this is for you.

If you prefer not to be challenged, then this won’t be the space for you.

The Gateway

Fibroids have become the gateway to who I truly am. That may not make sense yet, but it will. Everything I’ve lived, everything I’ve studied, everything I’ve endured — it all connects.

This first episode is simply the beginning.

Until the next one.

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But there is more!

While we were discussing structural support and heart health, an equally shocking revolution has been happening in the medical literature. Hold on to your seat! You might not yet be aware of this but the medical community has been publishing massive, multi-million-patient studies that completely rewrite what we know about the uterus. For decades, a woman’s uterus was viewed as an inert muscle sack, useless once childbearing is done. Charming right?

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Today, modern endocrinology and gynaecology view it as an (get this), active participant in a woman’s metabolic, signalling, and even cellular ageing pathways.

If you are considering a hysterectomy, or you’ve already had one and are wondering why you feel different, you need to know this data. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle.

The Inflammaging Effect: Why You Age Faster

One of the most profound findings in recent research is how a hysterectomy accelerates systemic ageing. We’ve just been told our hormones are decreasing, but its so much more than that. The biological alarm bell is literally going off.

The Mechanism

Your uterus and ovaries communicate via a delicate feedback loop called the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis. When the uterus is removed, this entire communication network is severed.

This sudden disruption triggers chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation. Researchers call this inflammaging. It induces massive cellular oxidative stress and tissue fibrosis throughout the body.

Because of this inflammatory response and the disrupted blood supply, women who keep their ovaries during a hysterectomy still enter menopause 3 to 4 years earlier than women who keep their uterus. Within just 5 years of the surgery, more than 20% of women experience complete ovarian failure. In other words, your body clock was reset prematurely.

Metabolic Syndrome: The Diabetes Connection

For years, the focus on was heart health. But the latest large-scale cohort studies (published as recently as 2026) have shifted the focus to cardiometabolic health.

A large study looking specifically at women with fibroids found that those who had a hysterectomy had significantly higher odds of developing:

• Type II Diabetes (20% increased risk)

• Hyperlipidemia / High Cholesterol (14% to 26% increased risk)

• Hypertension / High Blood Pressure

Why? The research proves your uterus participates in active vascular and metabolic signalling. When it’s removed, your body’s ability to regulate fat metabolism and insulin sensitivity changes - independent of whether the ovaries are kept. This means even if you keep your ovaries, you are still at a higher risk for metabolic disorders simply because the organ that helps regulate them is gone.

Brain Health: The Silent Risk

This is perhaps the most heavily guarded piece of data in women’s health. For years, women were told that removing the uterus had zero effect on the brain – and that is if you were told anything about that at all. Neurology journals are now proving otherwise.

Epidemiological data tracking long-term outcomes noted a stark rise in cognitive decline following the removal of reproductive organs. It is estimated that up to 100,000 cases of dementia per year may be directly attributed to surgical removal of the ovaries (often done during hysterectomies).

Furthermore, a massive study involving 2.9 million participants confirmed that a hysterectomy significantly increases a woman’s lifetime risk of suffering a stroke, particularly when the procedure is done pre-menopause.

Read that again. Almost 3 million participants.

What About UFE? The Flip Side of the Research

In Part 1, I mentioned Uterine Fibroid Embolisation (UFE) as a less invasive alternative, but noted the 35% chance of needing further surgery. Now, we need to look at the specific risks to the ovaries that are never tend to get mentioned:

The Ovarian Bypass Risk: The uterine artery and the ovarian artery are closely connected by a network of tiny blood vessels (collaterals). When an interventional radiologist injects embolic particles to starve a fibroid, those particles can sometimes accidentally travel down these collateral pathways and block the blood supply to the ovaries.

The Ovarian Reserve Drop: Modern testing tracks this using Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) levels, which measure egg supply. Studies show that after UFE, women often experience a transient drop in AMH levels within the first 3 months due to this accidental particle drift.

The Silver Lining (and the Catch): Unlike a hysterectomy, where the tissue is gone forever, your ovaries are highly resilient. In most younger women, your body recruits backup blood supply, and AMH levels completely recover by 6 to 12 months post-procedure.

However, for women over 45 who are already close to menopause, that temporary hit can be enough to push the ovaries into permanent retirement. This ties directly back to my point in the last article: the 1-in-3 risk isn’t only about fibroids returning; it’s also about whether your body can recover from the insult of the procedure.

Armed with the Facts

The next time someone tells you the uterus is just a baby bag, you can confidently correct them with the weight of millions of patients’ data behind you. You can confidently say that:

The uterus is actively involved in metabolic signalling. Removing it increases a woman’s long-term risk of type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and stroke, and it triggers chronic inflammation that sends her into menopause years ahead of schedule, even if she keeps her ovaries.

Education is sorely lacking and gynaecology has a long, paternalistic history of treating women’s reproductive organs as disposable components once childbearing is complete. The science has evolved past this ‘old boys’ way of thinking; it’s time for standard medical conversations to catch up.

You deserve to know the full picture and the long-term cost.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. I fully acknowledge that the decision to have a hysterectomy is an emotional one. The intention with these articles is to help fill the gap with vital information that is currently lacking during a consultation.

Before I decide whether to respond, I often read a few comments first to see what other women are saying. Personally, I think a hysterectomy is rather extreme but there were a few ladies who were saying their hysterectomy “was the best thing they have done.”

Now, this is not the first time I am seeing comments like this, but its so common I am starting to get a little miffed For me personally, its incredibly jarring and almost feels like an orchestrated push. But of course, I have no way of knowing that for sure, however, I do fully lean into my gut feelings, which is never wrong. But let me put my thoughts and feelings to one side, take a big step back and look at this with an unbiased lens.

Having been in many groups over the last eight years, it’s clear to me how widespread the ignorance is around women’s bodies and anatomy - and I include myself in that. When I say ‘ignorance,’ I don’t mean it as a dig; it’s simply a gap in what we’ve all been taught. The narrative that has been pushed on all of us – as in what we were taught, is that your uterus is nothing more than a baby bag. You are lead to believe that its disposable. What do I mean by that? If you have fibroids for example, the question your gynae likes to ask is “are you done having children?”, like your womb is some major inconvenience and your life will be much better without it. That is the preconception pushed on to us as women. The truth is, your womb does so much more than carry babies.

Your uterus plays a major role beyond carrying children and this is what many of us as women might not be aware of. In my groups, I meet women who’ve learned this only after the fact - often too late. If you’re being offered a hysterectomy or it’s been suggested, it’s vital to understand how this organ truly functions.

Your uterus plays a vital role in structural pelvic support, hormone communication with the ovaries, and sexual function. It is a vital organ, and minimising it down to nothing more than a temporary container is a huge disservice to women’s health. And I need to address the notion of a hysterectomy being the “best thing I ever did.” This usually comes down to two major factors:

Desperation and Relief

Women who join fibroid groups are more often than not, dealing with severe, life-altering symptoms. I am talking about bleeding so heavily they cannot leave the house, fatigue beyond fatigue, chronic anaemia, and agonising pain. When someone goes from that level of suffering to suddenly having their life back, the relief is so massive that they want to shout it from the rooftops. I get totally get that. Its no different if I had found a miracle cure that obliterated fibroids. I’d be shouting that from the rooftops as well!

The Vocal Minority

Women who have a hysterectomy and experience no complications are more likely to post positive reviews. On the other hand, women who managed their fibroids naturally, had a successful minor procedure (like a myomectomy), or had a bad hysterectomy experience might be in entirely different sub-groups or have moved on with their lives, so this creates an echo chamber where major surgery looks like the default happy ending.

My frustration stems from the lack of informed consent, which is sorely lacking, and let’s not sugar coat this: a hysterectomy is major abdominal surgery, and while it maybe a necessary, lifesaving, or sanity-saving choice for many women, there is no denying the long-term risks that you need to be aware of before making a decision.

To help balance the narrative, let me show you what the uterus does beyond childbearing. I’ll also share the genuine risks that are often left out of the “best decision ever” comment I come across all the time.

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The Uterus Beyond Pregnancy

Pelvic Structural Support: Your uterus is held in place by a complex web of ligaments and tissues. It acts as a structural anchor for your pelvic floor, helping to keep your bladder and bowel properly positioned.

Ovarian Blood Supply: The uterine artery provides a significant portion of the blood flow to your ovaries. Even if you keep your ovaries during a hysterectomy, disrupting this blood supply can sometimes cause the ovaries to fail, sending a woman into premature menopause.

Anatomical Sexual Function: For many women, uterine contractions are a key component of orgasms, and the cervix plays a structural role in the mapping of the vaginal canal.

Potential Long-Term Consequences of a Hysterectomy

You might want to spend time researching the following:

Pelvic Floor Health

There is an increased long-term risk of pelvic organ prolapse (bladder or bowel dropping) due to the removal of the central support structure.

Cardiovascular & Bone Health

If ovarian function drops or menopause is induced early, the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis (bone thinning) increases significantly.

Urinary Incontinence

Damage to surrounding nerves or the shifting of pelvic organs can sometimes lead to bladder control issues sooner or later.

Less invasive options for fibroids do exist, like Uterine Artery Embolisation (UAE), MRI-guided ultrasound, or targeted myomectomy (removing just the fibroids). Just know, there is a chance UFE might fail. Over a decade, about 35% (roughly 1 in 3) of women who had UFE ended up getting a secondary hysterectomy, usually because their symptoms returned or new fibroids grew, so its best to bear this in mind when you are doing your research or learning more about different procedures.

I also must point out the following about UFE:

1. It does not eliminate the cause of fibroids: UFE works by cutting off the blood supply to existing fibroids, causing them to shrink by about 40% to 60%. It kills the current tumours, but it does not change the underlying factors that caused their growth. If your body is prone to making fibroids, new ones can grow years down the road. But you aware of that anyway.

2. The “Re-intervention” Trap: Interventional radiologists consider UFE a success if it buys a woman 5 to 7 years of symptom relief until she hits menopause (when fibroids naturally shrink). But to a patient, having to go back for a second procedure or a hysterectomy 5 years later feels like a flat-out failure of the first attempt.

3. Poor Patient Selection: UFE is frequently offered to women who are bad candidates for it. Let me explain: if you have a massively enlarged uterus, an extremely large dominant fibroid (greater than 10 cm), or certain types of pedunculated fibroids (hanging by a stalk), UFE has a much higher rate of complications or failure. When doctors push UFE as a blanket alternative without strict screening, it leads to higher rates of further surgery.

The Trade-Off

Ultimately, it highlights a frustrating compromise we, as women are forced to make:

The choice tends to boil down to:

Do you want a 100% definitive, one-and-done cure that guarantees the fibroids can never return, but requires losing a vital organ (Hysterectomy)?

Or do you want a minimally invasive, 1-week recovery that preserves your body’s anatomy, but carries a 35% chance you might need surgery down the road anyway (UFE)?

It’s completely fair to look at that 1-in-3 chance of eventually needing a hysterectomy and decide UFE isn’t worth the risk or the recovery time. Every woman’s threshold for that gamble is different, which is why transparency is crucial. Personally, I did tons of research before I made a decision to have surgery, but at the time my options were limited to myomectomy or hysterectomy. Well, that is what I was told.

Further, it’s super important to keep pushing back against the idea that a hysterectomy is a quick fix without consequences. You deserve to know the full picture. The highlights of an online support group is not enough for you to make such a major decision.

It took me four years to make the decision to have surgery (myomectomy). For me, it was a major decision, second, I needed to ensure it was the right way to go and third, I needed to trust my gut when it came to choosing a gynaecologist. I did not just except what the first guy said – besides, I did not like his ‘attitude’. It’s my body, so it was my choice. I had to feel confident that when I went under the knife, I would wake up with my uterus intact, so the only way I could ensure this was to say I wanted to start a family. He wrote hysterectomy on my consent form as a ‘just in case’. Really? I reluctantly signed the form and trusted in Divine Wisdom to keep me safe.

When you make the decision to have a hysterectomy, rarely are you told about the long term implications of removing your uterus. I began looking more deeply into this because when I look back to my experience, my gut was telling me to keep my womb despite the suffering I was going through. Many women have similar strong feelings but override or justify their decision because of their suffering, but its only fair you know the health issues a hysterectomy could potentially cause later down the line.

The Heart and Bone Connection

When your uterus is removed, it affects fertility and alters your endocrine (hormonal) environment and vascular anatomy. The research shows significant long-term risks, even when your ovaries are left behind.

Cardiovascular Health (Heart Disease)

For decades, women were told that keeping their ovaries during a hysterectomy meant their hormones—and therefore their heart health—would remain perfectly intact. Landmark studies have proven this is not entirely true.

The Mayo Clinic Cohort Study (ROCHESTER Epidemiology Project): This massive study tracked over 2,000 women who underwent a hysterectomy with ovarian preservation (meaning they kept their ovaries) and compared them to a control group of intact women.

The Findings: Women who had a hysterectomy before age 35 experienced a 4.6-fold (460%) increased risk of congestive heart failure and a 2.5-fold (250%) increased risk of coronary artery disease over their lifetime. Even for women undergoing the procedure at a typical age (under 50), there was a 33% increased risk of coronary artery disease.

Why does this happen? The uterine artery provides a massive portion of the collateral blood supply to the ovaries. When the uterus is removed, that blood supply is disrupted. The ovaries don’t always die immediately, but they experience ovarian insufficiency, meaning they stop producing optimal levels of oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone years earlier than they naturally would have. Oestrogen is highly protective of blood vessels; when it drops, cardiovascular risk spikes.

Skeletal Health (Osteoporosis and Fractures)

Bone health is intimately tied to ovarian function, and because hysterectomy frequently accelerates ovarian decline, it directly impacts bone density.

Bone Loss: Long-term observational studies show that women who undergo a hysterectomy, even while keeping their ovaries, experience significantly higher rates of bone mineral density (BMD) loss compared to age-matched women who kept their uterus.

Increased Fracture Risk: Research published in journals like Osteoporosis International indicates that women who have a hysterectomy face a roughly 20% to 30% higher risk of developing osteoporosis and experiencing bone fractures (particularly in the spine and hip) later in life.

The Mechanism: Bone is a dynamic tissue that is constantly breaking down and rebuilding. Oestrogen regulates the cells that break down bone (osteoclasts). Without the precise, cyclical hormone signalling managed by the uterine-ovarian axis, bones breakdown faster than they can be replaced.

Structural and Neurological Impact

Beyond hormones, the physical absence of your uterus changes the internal mechanics of your body.

Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP): A large-scale study utilising data from the Swedish National Health Registers tracked over 160,000 women. It found that women who had a hysterectomy were nearly twice as likely (1.9 times) to undergo surgery for pelvic organ prolapse later in life compared to women who hadn’t had the procedure. The risk is highest in the 5 to 10 years following the surgery because the central support structure anchoring the bladder and bowel is gone.

Autonomic Nerve Disruption: The uterus is surrounded by a dense network of nerves (the pelvic plexus) that sends signals to the bladder, bowel, and sexual organs. Disruption of these nerves during surgery is why long-term studies show an increased incidence of urinary incontinence and faecal urgency or constipation post-hysterectomy.

A quick comparison of long-term health risks between women with an intact uterus and those post-hysterectomy (ovaries preserved, pre-menopause):

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Moving Forward

There is a growing number of women who are looking toward uterine preservation and thankfully, gynaecology is slowly catching up. Further, more and more data is showing that your uterus has systemic value pre and post birth. It is an endocrine organ and a structural anchor.

When people think of the uterus as nothing more than a baby bag, they are displaying a lack of anatomical literacy. A man’s prostate isn’t called a semen bag and routinely removed the moment he is done having children, because medicine recognises its structural and hormonal importance. Your uterus deserves the exact same medical respect.

Now that you have the facts on your side, take a close look at the long-term data, and trust your instincts.

P.S. It might help to watch this video on the Female Anatomy before making your final decision. You will learn more about your body in 11 minutes than all those years you spent at school.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients, and I fully acknowledge that hysterectomy is a necessary, life-saving, and sanity-saving tool for many women with extreme disease.

Over the last week, the UK jumped straight from winter into full summer, and the sudden heat flipped a switch in my body. Almost overnight, I started craving fruit and lots of it. Watermelon, grapes, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, coconut yogurt, and my favourite Nashi pear. It had nothing to do with getting my five a day either. My body was asking for hydration in a form that actually works for me.

I’ve always known that water alone doesn’t cut it for me. In traditional Chinese medicine, foods like lemons, limes, and watermelon are cooling, cleansing, and hydrating in a way plain water is not. These fruits help clear mucus, clean the blood, and move heat out of the body. And watermelon especially, digests quickly, quenches thirst, and builds fluids. I can eat 500 grams in one sitting and still want more because my body recognises it as structured water.

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Fruit also keeps things moving. When you’re dealing with fibroids, constipation and stagnation can unbalance hormones, cause uncomfortable bloating and lead to pain. Hydrating foods with minerals, enzymes, and fibre help the bowels stay open, which lightens everything: energy, clarity, even menstrual symptoms. Dense carbs, salty snacks, caffeine, and dehydrating foods do the opposite. They clog, dry, and bloat, especially if you have a ‘damp’ constitution like I do.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has always helped me understand my body. I know I carry dampness, so certain foods, like nuts for example can make my damp disposition worse. Eating this way helps me clear heat, reduce damp, and keep stagnation from building. And at my age, in my mid‑50s, I’m intentional about staying functional, clear, and mobile. I want my body working efficiently, especially when the temperature hits 30 degrees or more.

But the bigger point is this: your body is intelligent. It tells you what it needs. Most of us are fighting our bodies instead of listening to it. Fibroids are the same, they’re a message. They are a bit like Groundhog Day. They will keep growing back until you face what you’ve been avoiding. You body is trying to get you to take note. Personally, I wasn’t living my truth for years. I was conditioned, programmed, doing the same things every day until I faced some uncomfortable truths.

So yes, I started initially by sharing my what I was having for breakfast. But when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, my intake of fruit was about me listening to my body, responding to it, and letting it guide me back to how I was designed to live. Its the same for you too.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

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The gap between what your medical test shows and what you are living, are worlds apart. But the explanation sits in a piece of the puzzle that almost no clinician mentions.

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I have spent years researching fibroids. I personally needed answers because I was coming up against medical barriers. At times, it really did feel like they were keeping things a ‘secret’. And asking questions to know more felt like I was stepping into territory I shouldn’t be stepping into. Nevertheless, I needed answers and no matter what, I was going to get them.

There is a particular habit I use when I come across research: I need to know the why. Vague, surface-level answers have never been enough. If I read that Black women are three times more likely to develop fibroids, or that fibroids are more aggressive, or that Black women are diagnosed earlier and at greater severity, or Black women are more likely to die during childbirth, I am not taking that lightly. I won’t stop there. I keep reading. I keep digging and I always look for the trigger.

That habit led me to an enzyme called aromatase.

The job of aromatase is to convert androgens, the hormones we think of as male but which all bodies produce, into oestrogen. This conversion happens throughout your body, including inside fibroid tissue itself. So while your ovaries are producing oestrogen through the usual channels, your fibroids are running their own production line, manufacturing oestrogen from the raw materials already present in your body.

This is why a standard blood test can miss what is actually happening. It measures what is circulating in your bloodstream - it’s not measuring what is being produced and consumed locally, inside the fibroid. Your fibroid’s private oestrogen supply does not fully show up in your results, so that doesn’t make the test wrong exactly, - it’s just looking at the wrong thing.

When I understood this, the clinical narrative started to unravel. Your hormones look fine means your systemic hormone levels are within range. It does not mean your fibroids are not generating their own fuel supply.

I was already aware that aromatase activity was higher in Black women. The research states that clearly. But I wanted to know why. The disparity sentence appears constantly in fibroid literature and almost never comes with an explanation. It is stated as though it is a fixed, unexplained feature of being a Black woman, rather than something with a biological mechanism worth understanding.

So I kept digging.

The mechanism is a molecular switch called Promoter II. This is the regulatory region of the aromatase gene. It determines how loudly that gene speaks, how much of the enzyme gets produced. When Promoter II is inactive, aromatase expression is low and fibroids stay relatively contained. However, when Promoter II is overactive, the aromatase gene runs at high volume, producing far more enzyme than it should.

Research has found that in African American women, Promoter II is often hyper-activated inside fibroid tissue, driving aromatase activity up to 83 times higher inside the fibroid than in the surrounding uterine muscle.

Read that again.

Eighty-three times higher.

Eighty-three times the activity of the tissue right next to it.

I mean…wow!

It certainly gives the disparity a name doesn’t it. It explains why standard hormonal testing can look entirely normal while your symptoms are off the chart. It explains why fibroids in Black women can continue growing even when oestrogen levels appear stable. Your fibroids are not waiting for your body to supply the fuel when they can make their own.

There is one more layer to this that is worth understanding. Inflammation is what keeps the Promoter II switch stuck in the on position. Specifically, a compound called prostaglandin E2 [PEG2], which is produced as part of the inflammatory response, acts as a driver of aromatase expression. So your fibroids create an inflammatory environment. Inflammation signals for more aromatase. More aromatase means more oestrogen. More oestrogen feeds fibroid growth, which then produces more inflammation. This cycle continually maintains itself.

This is what you call a self-reinforcing biological environment, and it is never going to respond to approaches that only address systemic hormone levels, because systemic hormone levels are not where the problem lives.

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Understanding this changes the questions worth asking. So it’s not just a case of… what are my hormone levels, but also, what is driving the inflammation in my body. Now you see the bigger picture, you can start asking yourself what conditions am I creating or sustaining, that keep that switch activated? And rather than keep managing symptoms either with medication, herbs or supplements, what is it that you actually need to switch this mechanism off?

The research on natural aromatase inhibitors, there are compounds found in food that interfere with the enzyme’s activity, is substantial and largely absent from standard fibroid conversations. Certain phytochemicals bind to aromatase and reduce its ability to convert androgens to oestrogen. Others work by cooling the inflammatory signalling that keeps Promoter II active. White button mushrooms. Cruciferous vegetables. Lignans from flaxseed. Quercetin from onions and apples. Curcumin are compounds with documented mechanisms of action that speak directly to the biology described above.

That is a bigger conversation for another time. But it starts here, with understanding what is actually happening.

The reason I research the way I do is because a surface level answer is always just the beginning of the conversation rather than the end of it. Black women have been handed far too many statistics for decades. We have been at the top of every dis-ease tree going. We are told we are more likely, more severe, more affected, etc., all without being told the reasons why or the mechanisms that make it so. It’s not empowering at all. In fact, it can be very disempowering. Beyond Fibroids is where this ends.

If this resonated, here are three powerful articles to explore next:

• The Lymphatic System’s Hidden Role in Fibroid Growth

• The Metaphysics of Fibroid Tumours

• Fibroids: Are They Really Dangerous?

This space is where I teach the real truths about fibroids, womb health, and healing: the things women are never told. Stay connected for frameworks, insights, and root‑cause teachings.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.

To feel exhausted beyond exhausted. It is the exhaustion of being at war with your own body. You wake up every day in a body that feels like its your enemy. So you try harder, read more, spend more, hoping this protocol or that practitioner will finally be the one. Of being told, over and over, that everything looks ‘fine’, while you know that is absolutely not the case.

If you have found your way here, I want you to do something you probably haven’t done in a long time.

Breathe. You are home.

What Lead Me Here

Hi, I am Valerie-Yamina Bey. I am a Fibroid Specialist, Nutritional Therapist, Detox Specialist, and Raw Food Chef. I founded Beyond Fibroids after decades of living with embarrassing flooding, uncomfortable bloating and horrendous PMS. The worse thing for me was the pregnant belly. It meant I couldn’t dress the way I wanted, I couldn’t really enjoy our holidays, and I had to plan my day with military precision around knowing where the toilet was. Everywhere I went, I positioned myself near the toilet.

I was ‘supposed’ to know what to do. But I did nothing for years until I had no option to have surgery - twice. The fibroids left behind started growing and the ones that were removed started growing back. More surgery was not the answer.

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I Did What I Knew To Do

I cut out anything I thought might be contributing to the growth.

I stopped eating meat. I quit my addiction to chocolate covered rice cakes and went all in with exercise, yoga, daily juicing and a host of therapies including massage, acupuncture and regular sessions in the sauna and steam room.

My supplement list was as long as my arm, but I was determined to conquer my fibroids and shrink them into oblivion.

It didn't work.

The shame of it as a practitioner was crushing.

I Couldn’t Bare the Thought of the Only Solution Being a Hysterectomy

Having my womb removed was a ‘solution’ I couldn’t fathom. It just didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t make any difference if I had children or not. And no matter how damaged my womb was, I was not prepared to lose it.

What eventually changed was understanding the internal environment that had allowed my fibroids to grow in the first place. When I stopped treating my fibroids as the problem and started understanding what was actually causing their growth, that was the game changer. My fibroids were never the issue.

That is what I teach here.

Fibroids are biological, but they also have a historical and ancestral origin. If you do not want surgery for whatever reason, and prefer to explore the natural route first, you cannot treat fibroids solely as a mechanical problem. They require a whole body, whole-person bespoke approach. The environment that created your fibroids must change. That is what will prevent further growth.

Why Beyond Fibroids?

I chose Substack as my home because this work requires deep conversation. Real, raw and very deep, between a woman who has lived this and women, like you, who are living it now.

No algorithms deciding what you see. No having to perform or dance. No carefully curated version of expertise designed to impress. What you have is over 8 years of research and lived experience, all distilled into the kind of honesty that the wellness industry fails to offer you.

This is the space I wished had existed when I was at my worst. So I built it.

What You Will Find Here

Everything here connects back to four basic foundations. These are the four levels at which fibroid ‘healing’ actually happens and anything that addresses only one of these aspects will eventually fall short.

Explore. Understanding the real conditions that created your fibroids. The main systems in your body: your liver, gut, adrenals, metabolic health, environment, including your identity, all play a massive role in how they communicate with each other, how they compensate, and how they broke down long before a single fibroid was detected. This is where the information you were never given lives.

Eliminate. What needs to leave behind. What you eat matters but also the environmental toxins your body is absorbing everyday, the emotional burden your nervous system has been carrying, along with the survival patterns that kept you functioning but slowly depleted your energy.

Eat. Food is information. What your body actually needs to change your internal environment for the better and why the generic hormone-balancing advice you’ve already tried has never been enough.

Elevate. No doctor can check your blood levels for this. Who you have been being, who the world told you you’re not, over-functioning, pushing through, carrying everyone else, and what becomes possible when all that changes. This is the missing piece that most practitioners never touch. It is also, in my experience… changes everything.

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Before You Go Any Further: This is For You

Beyond Fibroids is where you stop ‘trying’. You stop the guessing, the trial and error, researching everything, and trying different protocols. The struggling, or looking for one the thing that actually works ends here.

The reason those things didn’t work is because:

1. Something deeper was not being addressed.

2. What you tried was not bespoke to you

You now have a personal insight experience that will show you, in a way you have never seen before, what your body is currently dealing with. No blood test needed. and no waiting weeks for an appointment. All that is required is your voice. Its so simple yet, so impactful. Your voice will reflect back what is actually happening across your entire body.

How it Works

Your voice contains vocal biomarkers that directly correlate with stress states in your body. It bypasses your mental mind. You don't answer any questions; you just simply speak and the tool analyses your vocal tones and gives you an instant report on your physiological stress load.

It is complimentary. It is private. And it takes 15 seconds.

Begin My Personal Insight

I Have A Question For You

You found your way here for a reason. Something brought you to this site. Something stopped you mid-scroll.

Tell me: what is the one thing you most want to understand about what is happening in your body right now?

Send me a private message. Its likely your question becomes the next piece I write about.

Beyond Fibroids exists for the woman who is done being managed and ready to be understood. See you inside.

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And your voice is a direct window into your nervous system.

Your voice is the key to unlocking the hidden language of your body. Yes, this might sound ‘woo-woo’ but it is anything but. Your voice holds precise frequency imprints of how you’re feeling, energy levels, toxicity levels, and cellular energy. When your body is under energetic stress, your vocal frequencies shift. You cannot hear those changes with the naked ear, but technology will picks it up instantly.

I use vocal analysis and bioresonance scanning to catch these subtle shifts. Just to be clear: this is not medical diagnosis, and I’m never trying to compete with your doctor or standard medicine. Think of it as a real-time energetic status report for your body.

Why One Data Point Isn’t Enough

Currently, standard testing involves a single data point, usually a blood test, one-off scan or urine test - and all only tells you what happened in that moment on any given day. It’s a snapshot in time. Its not the complete picture.

True investigative health is all about tracking patterns over time.

With vocal analysis, I am looking for consistency. If an imbalance in a specific body system keeps popping up across multiple scans, whether it’s high or low - that is a trend. It means your body is stuck in a specific stress response and is having difficulties self-regulating.

Tracking Your Body Systems

Your body is interconnected. Conventional medicine isolates these, treating your body parts as if each of them work independently of each other. Your body is a highly sophisticated organism that is constantly shifting and adjusting according to its environment.

When your body is stressed, it accumulates as allostatic load. When that load gets too much, your body’s ability to regulate itself breaks down, and ‘dis-ease’ manifests the downstream effects.

Vocal analysis allows you to see behind the curtain of your symptoms. It acts like an early warning dashboard, showing exactly where the allostatic load is heaviest and which of your body systems are taking the hit.

Pre-Clinical Detection vs. Medical Diagnosis

Let’s be real about what standard medicine does. It’s designed to diagnose disease after it’s occurred. Your will doctor look for structural damage, advanced pathology, or severe tissue changes. That is their job, and surgery or medication are vital, life-saving tools when a crisis hits.

Bioresonance operates entirely in the pre-clinical space.

It identifies where your body is struggling to maintain balance before physical damage occurs. When a persistent pattern shows up in your vocal data, there is no need to guess, and you certainly don’t have wait for a crisis to hit. We use that data to direct your next steps without having to guess or resort to trial and error.

Your voice analysis will dictate which functional lab tests or medical screenings to request from your doctor. Your test reports are then combined to get a complete, sophisticated picture of your health.

Standard medicine treats the symptoms. In The Fibroid Laboratory© , we track the underlying factors that cause the symptom to manifest in the first place.

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The Fibroid Laboratory© is a transparent look at how I track almost every aspect of my health and well-being. This is where you will see, in real time, exactly what I am doing to optimise my own body.

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I will be combining NHS tests and functional lab tests with advanced bio-resonance scanning. Let me clarify: this is not about pitting alternative medicine against standard practice. I am combining the two to look at my body through multiple lenses.

One blood test or a single scan is insufficient to identify the actual triggers of chronic conditions. Fibroids rarely happen on their own. They cross multiple intersections of health that go far beyond simple hormone imbalances. They are usually accompanied by a clusters of systemic symptoms [in my world they are known as co-morbidities] that, when combined, wear down your body and become severely debilitating, and in a few cases, disabling.

The Blind Spot in Women’s Health

The medical industry is slow. By its very nature, conventional medicine treats the symptom, fibroids - as the main issue.

My observations over the last eight years, alongside conversations with hundreds of women, show a completely different priority. Women want to understand the root cause. They want to know exactly what is triggering the growth. That is why this laboratory exists.

My goal is to give you enough data-driven insight that you know exactly which biomarkers to track, allowing you to ask your doctor for specific, targeted tests.

The best approach to fibroids is to utilise the best of both worlds. You may need surgery to remove large, troublesome fibroids, or medication to manage acute symptoms. But integrating a precise, holistic approach to alter the environment to prevent them growing back, or growing larger is in my experience, the most effective way.

Avoiding the Spray and Pray Trap

Its best for the holistic approach to be clinical and targeted. Sadly, I see far too many women jump on the “natural healing” bandwagon without any frame of reference. They throw everything at their fibroids, spray and pray, hoping something works. Then they end up frustrated when it fails, eventually undergoing the exact surgery they were trying to avoid.

This is exactly what happened to me years ago, so if you are sceptical about natural methods, you have every right to be.

I will not discredit medication or surgery in this space. I have used both and will continue doing so. When united, holistic protocols and standard medicine make the ideal team for a condition that is notoriously difficult to manage. This is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix.

Using myself as my own lab, I will be testing, tracking, and sharing real, raw data for:

• analysis: what the physiological shifts really mean.

• interpretation: what the lab results are actually saying.

• experimentation: how targeted food, herbs, and supplements alter the data.

This is my own personal experimentation, and is not to be construed as medical advice. But establishing a baseline through both medical and private screening is the only way to get a true picture of your health.

Since reaching menopause, I no longer deal with active fibroid growth, but I still use this exact data-driven approach to optimise my quality of life. We have limited time on this planet. I want my years to be spent in peak health, and I want to help you achieve the same.

What I will Be Sharing With You

• health reviews: the unfiltered data from my own health journey.

• midlife metrics: tracking physiology post-menopause.

• experiments and protocols: the exact compounds and adjustments I am testing.

• supplement reviews: what I take, the data behind it, and why.

• body composition: tracking how my body and physical frame shifts over time.

who this is for

If you are 45+ and experiencing:

• menopause or perimenopause

• recurring fibroid symptoms

• chronic heavy bleeding

• chronic fatigue or burnout

• autoimmune symptoms and chronic inflammation

• unexplained weight changes or stubborn abdominal fat

• normal lab results from your doctor, yet you still feel completely off

This space is built for you.

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I hear a familiar story whilst consulting with women who are exhausted by their struggle with fibroids [benign smooth muscle tumours, also known as neoplasms]. They tell me they have done everything, yet, their tumours continue to grow, while the heavy bleeding feels like someone turned the tap on full and it got stuck there.

The Common Narrative, or the outer vision most of us are given, suggests that fibroids are simply the result of too much oestrogen, but if you have tried everything and nothing changes - that is a big problem. Hearing this over and over again and experiencing this for myself, left me with a sense of unease. It didn’t sit right with me. So when I started looking into what the research actually shows, I found myself down a rabbit hole I didn’t expect. The typical medical explanation wasn’t matching what I was seeing. The biochemical reality of fibroids being just an oestrogen problem is a red herring.

What is rarely discussed is how your liver chooses to metabolise [the biochemical process of breaking down and transforming substances] the hormones you already have. When you focus on pathways rather than just levels, you stop viewing your body as a mindless machine and start seeing it as an intelligent, communicative network.

The Liver’s Metabolic Crossroads

Now… imagine your liver as a sophisticated metabolic factory that transforms oestrogen into different metabolites [substances formed during the metabolic process]. At this point, your liver chooses between two distinct pathways based on the resources it has available:

The Safe Pathway (CYP1A1): This route produces 2-hydroxyestrone. Research calls this the Good Metabolite because it’s safe and protective, hormones are easily cleared and it does not stimulate abnormal tissue growth.

The Dangerous Pathway (CYP1B1): This route produces 4-hydroxyestrone. This is the Bad Metabolite, which is the toxic, DNA-damaging, and mutagenic [capable of causing genetic mutations] pathway.

This explains why you can have normal oestrogen levels on a blood test but still suffer from oestrogen overload. If your liver prioritises the CYP1B1 pathway, your system is flooded with mutagenic signals that encourage fibroid growth, regardless of the total amount of hormone present.

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What Tips the Balance?

The shift toward the Dangerous Pathway is mainly down to a biological adaptation to the chronic loads many of us have on our systems. Several factors tilt the scales:

Stress and Hypertension: Chronic stress keeps cortisol levels high, which steals the metabolic resources needed for safe detoxification. There is a staggering connection with hypertension [high blood pressure], which is associated with an almost fivefold increased risk of fibroids.

The Weathering Connection: For Black women in particular, the risk of developing fibroids is two to three times higher than for white women. Through my research, I came across a term known as Weathering, which is the biological erosion caused by chronic stress and the Superwoman complex. This is a survival adaptation where your body prioritises immediate stress-response over long-term hormonal balance. No matter how much someone else might not see it, weathering is real and has a major impact on your body.

Toxins and Food Additives: Exposure to food additives in processed or preserved foods increases risk by 3.17 times. These act as xenoestrogens [synthetic or environmental chemicals that mimic oestrogen], forcing your liver to prioritise emergency detoxification over safe oestrogen processing.

Age and Gut Health: Age is the most significant demographic factor; women aged 41–60 are 10 times more likely to have fibroids than those in their 20s. Further, if your gut is sluggish, oestrogen is reabsorbed and sent back to the liver, where it is often forced through the dangerous pathway a second time.

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The Fibroid Connection: Why This Matters

Imagine your uterus as a sensitive node in a body-wide network. As Dr Candace Pert explored in her work, Molecules of Emotion, our bodies are a mobile brain where information is carried by neuropeptides [protein-based chemical messengers that carry information between cells].

When your liver favours the CYP1B1 pathway, the 4-hydroxyestrone acts as a ligand [a molecule that binds specifically to a receptor to trigger a response]. This specific ligand docks onto the receptors of the uterine smooth muscle, delivering a potent grow signal to the fibroids. The tissue therefore is doing nothing more than simply responding to the biochemical information it has been given. That is its design.

The Domino Effect

• Your Liver is overwhelmed by stress, xenoestrogens, or hypertension etc.

• The CYP1B1 pathway is activated as an emergency metabolic route.

• Toxic metabolites (4-hydroxyestrone) are produced, creating a DNA-damaging environment.

• Fibroid tissue receives a continuous grow signal via the body-wide information network.

• Symptoms worsen, resulting in anaemia from heavy bleeding, bloating, and pelvic pain.

Actionable Steps for the Way Forward

Your goal is not to try and suppress oestrogen, which you need for bone and brain health, but rather shifting the balance back toward the safe CYP1A1 pathway.

Targeted Nutrition: Support the safe pathway with cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts). These foods contain DIM and I3C, the molecular tools that nudge the liver toward the protective 2-hydroxyestrone route.

Liver Support as Fuel: The CYP1A1 pathway is actually quite expensive for your body to run. You can mitigate this by giving your body the fuel it requires, specifically Magnesium and B-vitamins, whilst maintaining consistent hydration to ensure metabolites are moved out of the system efficiently.

Managing the Load: Reducing exposure to processed foods, food additives and addressing hypertension through stress management can stop the emergency metabolic shift that triggers the bad pathway effect.

Empowerment You Through Understanding

For far too long, women have been told that their fibroids are a matter of bad luck or bad genes and there is nothing you can do. But we now know otherwise. You are not a victim of your hormone levels.

By understanding your metabolic environment and how your liver processes these molecules, you can begin to listen to what your body is telling you. When you support the liver’s safe metabolic pathway, you take back control from the growth signal and move toward a state of balance.

Do you know what is happening internally? Is it metabolic, cellular, environmental? Undoing this is not a quick fix. It involves a complete system reset.

I’m always examining the root causes of fibroid recurrence, and I want to make sure I’m focusing on the exact transformation that matters most to women like you.

If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about your journey with fibroids, beyond just the physical symptoms that is, what would it be?

Is it the fear of surgery? The exhaustion? The feeling of not being heard by doctors?

I’m not selling anything. I’m just gathering insights to ensure I’m building the right support for the women who need it most, and your input is incredibly valuable.

Take the 1-minute survey here.

(This is anonymous. No commitment required - just your honest feedback.)

Thank you for being part of the Beyond Fibroids Sisterhood.

The Flexner Report of 1910 the turning point that reshaped Modern Medicine and practically erased Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) from mainstream practice. Commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation and written by Abraham Flexner, the report surveyed 155 medical schools and declared that most lacked scientific rigor, pushing for a model grounded in laboratory science, hospital training, and university affiliation.

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Before the Flexner report, the medical landscape was a vibrant mix of homeopaths, eclectics, Thomsonians, and others competed with regular doctors, more often than not - with better outcomes during epidemics because they avoided the toxic treatments that the medical doctors would use. But Flexner’s standards favoured the emerging biomedical model, aligning with the American Medical Association (AMA) and pharmaceutical interests. Schools that couldn’t afford labs or didn’t fit the mould were shut down or forced to convert.

Unfortunately, homeopathic, frequency medicine, along with eclectic schools, once numerous and successful, vanished within two decades. CAM was labelled quackery, simply because it threatened the medical monopoly. Centuries of herbal, energetic, and holistic knowledge were sidelined, and the biomedical model became the only path to legitimacy, licensing, and funding.

Flexner’s reforms swept away effective, safer traditions and stifled diversity in healing. Today’s CAM resurgence is, in many ways, a corrective recognition that high-tech medicine excels in emergencies but often falls short in chronic care, prevention, and whole-person wellness.

If this resonated, here are three powerful articles to explore next:

• How To Activate Your Body’s Internal Pharmacy

• Why Every Woman with Fibroids Needs a Proper Assessment First

• Is the Medical Industry Keeping You in the Dark?

This space is where I teach the real truths about fibroids, womb health, and healing: the things women are never told. Stay connected as I continue to share the frameworks, insights, and root‑cause teachings that shape my work.

The Lead Balloon Feeling: Walking Through Waist-Deep Water

Let me show you what Iron Deficiency actually feels like. So yes, you are tired all the time, but it’s so much more than that. It’s like you are walking through waist-deep water with a lead balloon strapped to your waist while everyone else is strolling on dry land.

It’s the heart palpitations that hit you the moment you try to climb a single flight of stairs, as if your heart is screaming for oxygen it can’t quite get. It’s the pure exhaustion that turns basic tasks into Herculean efforts. And then there’s the brain fog, the kind that makes you stand in the middle of a room, trying to remember the word for spatula, while your mind struggles with the most basic words.

For me, it was a life sentence I didn’t know I had signed up for.

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I remember being in a classroom at school. The teacher was telling us about boys and girls’ reproductive systems. Of course, we were all embarrassed, so there were nervous giggles. The teacher was discussing body parts, a subject that always made us squirm. Then, she dropped a fact that I remember to this very day. She said that throughout your entire menstrual cycle, you are only supposed to lose about half an eggcup of blood.

My immediate internal reaction was pure cynicism. “Yeah, right!” That was my exact thought.

It wasn’t true for me. I was losing so much more than that. But, it was normal. No one had told me otherwise. My mum never mentioned what to expect as I grew into a woman, and I was as naive as they come. I assumed my heavy bleeding was just how it was, and get this… I also thought women had periods all day everyday for the rest of their lives. I remember thinking “how does this make sex possible?”

I spent my childhood and young adulthood not having basic questions about my body or life in general never being answered, so I thought it was ‘normal’ to bleed a lot. I had no idea that I was literally haemorrhaging.

The normalisation of fatigue is a legacy we’ve inherited, but It’s a physiological problem with a specific, solvable cause, and understanding that starts with meeting the gatekeeper.

Meet Hepcidin: Your Body’s Iron Traffic Controller

If you imagine your body as a city, hepcidin would be the overzealous traffic controller standing at the only bridge in and out.

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In a healthy system, this controller would normally do a great job by keeping traffic flowing smoothly, letting iron in when it was needed and holding it back when it wasn’t. But when your body is under ‘attack’, be it from large fibroids, chronic stress, or high-oestrogen, it goes into panic mode. Your liver then starts pumping out more hepcidin, which floods your entire system.

The role of hepcidin’s in this ‘alarmed’ state is to slam the gates shut.

It literally blocks iron from leaving your gut and entering your bloodstream. Imagine standing at a locked door, screaming for help, while a bucket of iron pills sits uselessly on the floor behind you. If your hepcidin levels are sky-high, you could swallow a bucket of those pills, and they would just sit in your gut, fermenting and causing constipation, without ever reaching your blood.

When your body senses inflammation, infection, or even the possibility of trouble, it does something incredibly clever. It hides the iron.

Iron is rocket fuel for bacteria. They cannot multiply without it. So your immune system locks it away inside proteins like transferrin and ferritin. This is called nutritional immunity, and it’s one of the oldest defence strategies we have. Amazing right?

But the only issue is that your body can’t tell the difference between I’m bleeding heavily every month and I’m fighting an infection. So it keeps the gates shut, even when you desperately need the iron.

This is why just being prescribed iron pills fails so spectacularly. It’s like trying to fill a bathtub with the drain plugged and the tap (faucet) turned off. Essentially, your body is actively preventing iron from entering because it’s in a state of inflammation.

Your body is never ever doing anything to harm you. Heavy menstrual bleeding drains your iron stores plus it creates inflammation in the uterus. And inflammation is the exact signal that tells your liver to raise hepcidin and lock the gates. In fact, your body is doing its best to protect you, although it might not feel like it! Iron feeds bacteria and fuels inflammation, so in times of stress, your body will keep the doors firmly locked to keep the peace. But in doing so, it leaves you anaemic, exhausted, and brain fogged.

Understanding this mechanism changes everything. It means everything you are experiencing, from fatigue to constipation is a signal that the gates are locked, and you now need to find the key to open them.

The Evidence-Based Fix: The CEO Strategy

If you treat your body like a broken car, you just ask for a mechanic who changes the oil and hopes the engine starts. But if you treat your body like a high-performance machine, you need a proper protocol. A triage. It’s the CEO approach to your health: gather the data, optimise the supply chain, and remove the bottlenecks.

So let me give you the blueprint so you can to stop guessing and start fixing yourself at the root level:

Step 1: Test, Don’t Guess

Now I just know you’ve heard this before, and perhaps you have been tested loads of times. However, there is much more to it.

Most of us would perhaps just get a standard blood test that checks Haemoglobin. This tells you how much oxygen is currently being carried in your blood. It’s like checking the fuel gauge in your car’s tank. If the needle is low, you know you’re running on empty.

But Haemoglobin doesn’t give you the complete picture. It doesn’t tell you about your Ferritin.

Think of Ferritin as your storage tank. It’s the reserve fuel you have in the underground silo. When you are truly iron deficient like I was, your tank is completely empty, even if your car is still running on the last few drops of fuel in the pipes (Haemoglobin). You can be normal on Haemoglobin but critically low on Ferritin.

And the biggest missing piece in all this is inflammation.

Before you take another pill, ask for a CRP (C-Reactive Protein) test, if it has not already been included, and the same with Ferritin. CRP is to check for systemic inflammation that triggers the hepcidin lockdown. If your CRP is high, your hepcidin is likely to be high, and your iron pills are just going to sit in your gut. You need to know if the gates are locked before you try to force them open.

Just be aware, that if you have had a Full Blood Count (FBC) and it includes everything including the two biomarkers Ferritin and CRP, and your reading is ‘normal’, your best bet is to have someone interpret those results for you (I can do this). Just because you fall into the ‘normal’ range does not mean normal if you are still feeling pants.

Step 2: The Absorption Window

If the gates are locked by high hepcidin, taking iron every single day is, well, totally useless. I really wish I had this knowledge back then…

Throwing iron pills down your neck everyday creates a constant spike in hepcidin. Hepcidin spikes for about 24 hours after you take iron. If you take another pill the next day, you’re swallowing it into a locked system. Your body sees the iron, panics, slams the gates shut, and blocks absorption. It’s a vicious cycle.

However, the science points to a smarter strategy don’t you know! It’s called Alternate Day Dosing.

These studies suggest that if you take your iron pills every other day, approximately every 48 hours, allows your hepcidin levels to drop back down between doses. This then opens the absorption window, giving your body a chance to actually let the iron in when you do take it. So, instead of fighting your biology every 24 hours, you’re working with your body’s cycle. Now doesn’t that sound more calming, than trying to force your body to do something? It might sound counter-intuitive to take less, but it’s the only way to make the iron actually work.

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Step 3: Anti-Inflammatory Support

Step away from the sugar! Lowering inflammation is the best iron strategy out there.

Your body produces hepcidin because it thinks it’s under attack (from fibroids, stress, gut issues etc.), but if you are able to lower that inflammation, you lower the hepcidin. When hepcidin drops, the gates open. Yay!

This means your iron protocol is about:

* Gut Health: Healing your gut lining so absorption is efficient.

* Antioxidants: Reducing the oxidative stress that fuels inflammation.

* Lifestyle: Managing your stress and high-oestrogen states that trigger the lock.

Basically, you are building an environment where iron can be absorbed, rather than just throwing more iron at a problem.

The Generational Shift: The New Blueprint

Why does this matter so much? It’s easy to think that understanding hepcidin and ferritin is just about getting your energy back so you can return to work or keep up with the kids. So Indeed! Feeling better is the immediate win.

But this is about something sooo much bigger. I am talking about the Generational Shift.

What the heck is that?

When you understand the hepcidin gatekeeper, you stop blaming yourself for failing or not trying hard enough, and you stop internalising the shame of chronic fatigue.

Instead, you start treating your biology with the precision it deserves, and you now realise that fatigue is a physiological data point. It’s telling you something. Your body is shouting for attention. The day I learned about hepcidin was the day everything clicked. My own beautifully designed body that I used to punish and beat up, was protecting me in the only way it knew how. And once I understood the mechanism, I finally knew how to work with my body instead of fighting it. My body was saying “The gates are locked, and I’m starving. Please help me out here.”

Can you imagine how differently we would treat our body, if we started teaching our daughters, nieces and other young ladies that fatigue is a sign to check what your body is needing rather than just suppress it with medication? Imagine a generation of girls who know to ask for a CRP test before being fobbed off with iron pills or birth control.

When you understand your biology, the entire healthcare conversation changes, not just for you, but for every girl who comes after you.

The Great Pivot: From Fighting to Partnering

Another layer is how you relate to your own body.

Right now, far too many women are in a constant state of war with our biology. We are literally battling with it. We fight fatigue. We fight heavy bleeding. We fight brain fog, cursing ourselves for not being on it enough. If you think about it, like you I was taught to go to battle with my body and treat it like a broken machine that needed to be forced into submission.

It took many years to realise this, but your body is not and has never been your enemy.

Even when it feels like it’s fighting against you, your body is at all times, actually trying to protect you. So the lock on your iron stores is nothing more than a defence mechanism. It’s no different from a wild animal that will attack you if you go anywhere near its young, even if you mean it no harm. And the exhaustion you get is an energy conservation strategy. Your body is doing its best to keep you alive in a state of chronic inflammation or stress.

When you understand that your body is always protecting you, it changes the relationship you have with yourself. You might start giving it a little less of a hard time. You might stop fighting the symptoms and start listening to what your body actually needs.

Take this as your new blueprint: Understand your body, little by little.

When you stop fighting and start partnering with your biology, you become your own best advocate.

Now…

Go unlock those gates. Your energy is waiting on the other side.

You now know that your body isn’t failing to absorb iron and it’s trying to protect you from inflammation. You understand that hepcidin is the gatekeeper, and that the standard take a pill advice is not necessarily the best way to go about resolving this issue.

But knowledge is only the first step. The real work begins when you turn that understanding into action.

Now is the time to stop guessing.

I invite you to take the Uterine Health Audit. This isn’t a medical diagnosis, and it won’t replace your doctor. Think of it as a non-diagnostic compass. Its the first step in helping you discover what is going on in your body.

It’s designed to help you:

* Identify the patterns you’ve been ignoring.

* Connect the dots between your symptoms and your biology.

* Walk into your next medical appointment with clarity.

* Start understanding your body’s unique language before you swallow another pill.

This is your first step toward taking back control. There is no need to navigate this alone, and you certainly don’t have to accept normal when it feels like anything but.

Take the Uterine Health Audit here.

I recently learned about a woman in her 30s who has spent nearly half her life dealing with fibroids. She had an open myomectomy earlier in 2025, where surgeons removed over 80 (yes 80) fibroids, only to find out via MRI in December (2025) that they are already back.

If you relate to this, you are not alone. The feeling that after going through all that surgery and the weeks of healing, only to find they are back…actually, you cannot even describe the feeling. So when your body seems to be on fast-forward with fibroid growth, it’s easy to feel like you’ve run out of options.

The Impossible Choice

When you look at what this young woman is facing, she is has two very narrow choices:

Medication: A hormone pill that switches off how your body usually produces hormones and comes with a laundry list of side effects.

Hysterectomy: A permanent eviction that feels like, for her, a huge emotional loss, especially when she is still young and wants a family.

Disheartened, she found herself stuck in a classic dilemma: she’s sick to death of suffering, but at the same time, she is not ready to let go of her womb. When symptoms are dire, jumping into a life-altering surgery feels less like a solution and more like a surrender, due to the lack of options.

Finding the Why Before the Goodbye

As mentioned so many times before, fibroids are a symptom. Basically, whatever is going on internally, fibroids are the end result. If you remove the fibroids but leave the environment that created them exactly as it was, your body is only going to do what it knows how to do: grow more. This is why just delaying the inevitable feels so scary, it assumes that surgery is the only final destination.

But what if there was a way to pause the rush to the operating table and actually look under the hood?

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Your Body Has Been Left Unsupervised

Surprisingly enough, your body is not a machine that needs fixing. Your body is an intelligent, interconnected system that is constantly responding to signals, and right now, something keeps hitting the fibroid grow button.

Most of us hand our body over to an expert and hope for the best. But what if the missing piece isn’t (necessarily) another procedure?

Think of it like this. Your liver and gut are essentially in charge of managing your hormones by routing them, processing them, and clearing them out. When that routing goes wrong, oestrogen gets directed down a pathway that essentially says “expand to your uterine tissue”, over and over again. This is literally what is happening at a biochemical level when fibroids come back after surgery.

The most annoying aspect of this is that standard blood tests don’t pick up on this. These tests are designed to tell you whether something is catastrophically wrong - they are not designed to show you the subtle ways your body might be struggling. There are more advanced hormone assessments that go much deeper, looking at how your hormones are being processed, rather than just how much of them are floating in your blood. That’s the difference that makes the difference.

Another factor that is not included is blood sugar, which rarely (if ever), comes up in these conversations. When your blood sugar spikes, your liver dials down a protein whose whole job is to keep excess oestrogen in check. Without that protein doing its job, oestrogen moves freely and fibroids are essentially bathing in the fuel they need to keep growing. Your daily habits, the ones that feel totally unrelated to your womb, might actually be part of the story.

Despite this sounding dire (and btw, none of it is your fault), it’s actually where you can be more powerful. Because once you can see what’s actually driving the growth through proper testing, you stop fighting the invisible, and you start making decisions that are genuinely informed.

The Power of the Audit

So, before making a choice that can’t be undone, there is a path you can take before you do anything else. Instead of focusing solely only on the tumours, you can look at the six systems in your body that influence fibroid behavior, and one of them has been mentioned already.

By taking the Uterine Health Audit as your first step, you can move away from the wait and see anxiety and into active discovery. The audit helps identify which of your internal systems might be fueling this rapid regrowth. But just bear in mind, it’s not as simple as, “oh, let me go take some milk thistle for my liver”. As already alluded to, it’s important to look at your body as one complete system, rather than seeing your fibroids in isolation.

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Why This Changes the Narrative

Please make a note of this: taking the audit does not mean you ignore medical advice.

What it does mean is that you become an expert on your own biology. Getting to know your body and listening to your intuition is something you can definitely learn to do, but it is a process. ‘Knowing Thyself’ offers something surgery can’t: Clarity. Imagine being able to make your final decision because you have the right data. By identifying the systemic blockages and where your body might be struggling, you might find that you can manage the environment of your body so effectively that the drastic choice no longer feels like your only exit.

You deserve to feel ready and at peace with whatever you choose. Whether surgery remains on the cards at some point or not, wouldn’t you rather make that call knowing you’ve looked at every system involved? Your womb is something you hold dear, so it’s worth taking the time to understand the why before you say goodbye.

If you have ever felt pressured to make a permanent medical decision because you didn’t think there were any other stones left to turn, the Uterine Health Audit will make a massive difference. This is how you go from not not knowing to knowing. Start the audit.

If this resonated, here are three powerful articles to explore next:

• Why Fibroids Keep Coming Back

• The 11 Stages of Disease Most Doctors Never Explain

• Epigenetics and Fibroids

This space is where I teach the real truths about fibroids, womb health, and healing: the things women are never told. Stay connected as I continue to share the frameworks, insights, and root‑cause teachings that shape my work.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.

I am not a medical professional, and the information shared here is based on personal experiences, two decades of knowledge on working on myself, the many brilliant teachers who have taught me everything I know; but most of all and the most important is the insights from my clients. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your health regimen or starting a new treatment plan.

Your health and well-being are unique to you, and it’s important to take a tailored approach under the guidance of a qualified expert.