How to Turn Off the Engine That’s Feeding Your Fibroids - Part One
Why your blood test says you're fine while your fibroids keep growing
I recall sitting in front of my doctor and him telling me that, apart from my iron levels being very low, everything else was normal. Perhaps you have heard some version of the same thing. Yet my symptoms felt anything but normal. Ridiculous heavy bleeding. Uncomfortable bloating. Back pain, and tiredness that never resolved no matter how many iron pills I took. I really did feel as though my body was punishing me.
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.
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 already knew 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.
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.