- 2 minutes ago
An intimate, peer-led conversation about the conditions Black women have been told to tolerate for too long — fibroids, heavy periods, and the day-to-day care our bodies actually need. Presented by Always, this talking circle is a space to share what works, ask what you've never asked, and leave with the language and care your body deserves.
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00:00all in the right room today because we have two amazing experts. We have Dr. Chambers aka
00:07the period doctor. Hello everyone good to see you again. OBGYN author and speaker. Thank you.
00:17And we also have Sateria who is the founder and the CEO of the Fibroid Foundation. Hello it's so
00:25good to see you all. Thank you for being here. Yes so I'll let them take it away. I really
00:32want you
00:32guys to anchor this talk, tell your story and we're just I'm just here to learn so thank you so
00:40much.
00:41I'm happy to just lean in. One I just want to commend you all for walking over here and gathering
00:47in an area where you can lean in and lean into your experience and hopefully get the support
00:53and education and encouragement and just back rub or whatever you need. I truly believe we need to
00:59be creating more safe spaces like these that are intentional. People tell me all the time you are
01:05so niche. I'm like but I am so needed and that is the problem. Things that are needed they categorize
01:12as niche but I center black women in your lived experiences and I care deeply about it and so I
01:18want to thank you and honor you for letting me be in this space with you as a black woman
01:23who
01:23ministrates as well who has had her own health battles. I want you to see me as someone who sees
01:28you fully and is grateful to be in this room.
01:35So seeing all of you here today is the absolute favorite part of my job. Being able to talk with
01:44you and hear your stories and help I really always want to help people to elevate above a challenging
01:54situation and if you've had challenges with fibroids I've been where you are. I made a complete career
02:01change because life brought me brought to my doorstep for fibroid surgeries and I did not realize the impact.
02:11I thought I was by myself. I was living in Chicago which is a major metropolitan city and at that
02:18time
02:18couldn't find a provider like Dr. Gillespie Bell to help me through my symptoms and I really just launched
02:30this journey which now has reached over 180 countries. So we have chapters set up which I hope you all
02:38will consider
02:39joining so that you can reach the women and menstruators in your community who need assistance
02:46and information. The Southeast is more prone to having providers recommend hysterectomy so where we
02:55are right now and I want to applaud the fellas anyone without a uterus we need you in this conversation.
03:03Yes. We need you to talk to your friends about it so that they can support their partners and sisters
03:11and mothers through this journey. So we're looking forward to really you know being an anchor for you
03:21today to help you with any questions you may have and to help you feel comfortable about advocating for
03:28yourself and your health because you're the expert in your body you know your body you know what's typical you
03:36know what's not and you also and this is really important you know what is a priority for you in
03:44terms of you feeling better
03:45and what if anything you'd like to see change and so we're here to help you find the language and
03:54the tools to vocalize that if you need it some people don't but to help you have a better outcome
04:01and to thrive.
04:02I really want us to all go from suffering to thriving and I found that in my advocacy walk when
04:09I was sitting in a research meeting and I was hemorrhaging I was far less equipped to really advocate for
04:17the community than when those symptoms had ended for me.
04:21I had a lot more bandwidth so I had a lot more bandwidth so I'm happy to have the bandwidth
04:25for all of you today to help you to advocate and find the solutions that you need and get past
04:34this.
04:34I'll give one quick example.
04:36There was a woman in Kentucky.
04:39It was the week before Christmas.
04:41She had been to three doctors who told her to have a hysterectomy.
04:45Her fibroid mass was the size of a basketball and we got on the phone and found her a provider
04:56who was able to remove her fibroids and keep her uterus intact.
05:02And we did that over the Christmas holiday.
05:06So thank you.
05:09That's why we're here.
05:10And so I'll turn it back over to you.
05:15So I'd like to get you all talking.
05:18I want to know if anyone has a story, a period story that they'd like to share with us.
05:27It can be anything, whatever is on your heart.
05:31Yes.
05:33Yes.
05:33Yes, queen.
05:35You look like the sunrise.
05:37You look well.
05:38I mean, how deep are we going with the period story?
05:41As deep as you want to go.
05:42It is deep.
05:43Okay.
05:43I'll never forget when at postpartum, I had hormonal shifts in my body.
05:49Yes.
05:50I developed estrogen dominance before I even knew what that was.
05:53And I was on a double date with my husband.
05:56And while I was sitting at the table wearing the biggest pad I could find and a tampon, I started
06:02gushing blood and bleeding through my clothes.
06:07And I was so ashamed that I didn't want to alarm anybody, right?
06:12Because there's so much stigma around it.
06:15Asking the waiter for napkins, slowly stuffing them up to like limp to the bathroom and, you know, try to
06:23take care of myself in solitude.
06:25Yes.
06:25And so I guess I like to share that story because I always want to encourage women to like be
06:30open to sharing and like release the stigma around your period.
06:34But because I moved in shame for so long, I ended up getting two blood transfusions to save my life
06:42because I just thought, oh, I have an extra heavy period.
06:45Nothing's wrong with me.
06:46But there was a lot that was wrong.
06:49Oh, my goodness.
06:50Thank you for sharing that.
06:50Thank you for sharing that.
06:51Has anyone else felt shame regarding their period?
06:54Has anyone else felt that themselves in this room?
06:57I want to just hold space for that.
06:59And I want to share a piece.
07:01My mother told me when I started my period, my mom passed away, the best mother I could have had,
07:05but I could have had better period education.
07:08She told me, no one should know when you're on your period.
07:13And I just remember being like, what?
07:16Like, what does that mean?
07:18And I think many of us carry the guidance from prior generations that your period is your personal responsibility.
07:25And if you can't handle that period, maybe that looks like or speaks to a failure on your part.
07:31And I want to release us all from that, that it's okay to talk about your period, that sharing that
07:39period story was a good thing, and a problem shared is a problem halved, right?
07:43But also that shame keeps us stuck, right?
07:48It makes it so that we're getting blood transfusions instead of maybe taking some iron supplements or things that would
07:54have been earlier and more appropriate.
07:55So anyway, I want to hold space for that, but that shame didn't come from nowhere, right?
08:00It has come from generational kind of lessons that we have to break free from.
08:04So thank you for sharing.
08:05Yeah.
08:06And release is such a beautiful word, and I'm so happy for you, and it touches me as well.
08:13And you touched on a really important factor, which is anemia.
08:18I didn't understand anemia.
08:20We're not medical professionals, and most women and menstruators do not know what anemia is broadly, the definition, and for
08:30themselves personally.
08:31And anemia is when your hemoglobin level, which is your blood count, it's normally in the 12 to 13 range.
08:39There are some women, mine got as low as 5.6.
08:43Five?
08:44Five?
08:45Yeah.
08:45Is that the lowest?
08:46Yeah.
08:47And some women are walking around.
08:49It's unbelievable what our bodies carry.
08:52And it can be very dangerous, life-threatening.
08:57And I was at a doctor's office, and he said, did you drive to the appointment?
09:02And I thought, why is he asking me that question?
09:06And he said, I'm afraid that you might pass out behind the wheel driving home.
09:11And that was the first time that I understood what anemia really, really meant for me personally, and how it
09:21could impact my day-to-day existence.
09:24And so, and I've met women in spaces where they're like, oh, I have to be careful bending down and
09:30standing up.
09:32If you have, usually for me, it was like when my hemoglobin got between 9 and 10, that's when I
09:39was waking up in the morning and slowly getting out of bed.
09:42When we start making those types of adjustments or feel lightheaded or see stars, that's one of the first things
09:49I ask our community members is, what's your hemoglobin level?
09:54Do you know what it is?
09:55It's because it can be an emergency issue.
09:58And there's so many people I've told, go to the emergency room right now.
10:02And I'll say this.
10:03I know I'm talking a lot, but it's important.
10:05When you get to the emergency room, Dr. Gillespie Bell, let me know if I'm right on this.
10:12But I usually say try to work with your emergency room physician to get a blood count and not have
10:21to endure a pelvic exam while you're hemorrhaging.
10:25Is that?
10:26Yes.
10:26Yes, absolutely.
10:28If you already have the signs, you have the symptoms, even if your hemoglobin is a little bit higher, you
10:35need a blood transfusion.
10:37A pelvic exam is not going to tell us anything.
10:40And so you don't have to have that, but definitely that blood transfusion.
10:46And another thing is the physicians in the emergency room don't do pelvic exams that much.
10:53And so you would be in agony and hemorrhaging.
10:56So if you've experienced that, just hopefully this is freeing you from having a terrible experience if, heaven forbid, you
11:06have to be transfused.
11:09Thank you for sharing that.
11:11We have another story.
11:14One piece that you touched on that I really think is also important, especially as someone who might be a
11:18little bit younger in the room, is the intergenerational conversations needing to happen more.
11:23I'm blessed that my mom is a nurse, so we had a lot of conversations, I think, early on.
11:28But now that I'm getting older, my late 20s, almost 30s, there's not a lot of conversations about, like, the
11:33next phase and preparing for that.
11:35So it's like, you know, hearing about menopause or postpartum, what does that look like, even though right now in
11:41this phase of my life I might, you know, only be experiencing my menstrual cycle.
11:45So knowing more about what's to be expected or how I can, you know, improve my health to make sure
11:50that that's a smoother transition, I wish more of those conversations were happening.
11:53So it's good to see a range of people in the room from different ages and, you know, stages, because
11:58I think, again, like you spoke about, the only way we're going to understand and grow as a community is
12:03if we have conversations openly and can hear someone else's perspective to learn from, you know, to bring into your
12:09own.
12:10So just wanted to say I really think that piece is important, and I hope that, like, women, tell your
12:14daughters, you know, daughters, talk to your moms, ask them about their experiences.
12:19And then even just asking questions so you know your own health history in order to make sure that you're
12:24informed and taking care of yourself.
12:26Yes. Oh, that's so good. Thank you for sharing that.
12:32Yeah, I'll just kind of lean into that.
12:34So I mentioned this on stage, and I don't know that people always understand what that means.
12:38I'm a board-certified OBGYN, but I specialize in pediatric and adolescent gynecology.
12:43And folks say, well, what you doing there, right?
12:46But the reality is many of the people who have endometriosis and PCOS and heavy menstrual bleeding had it earlier
12:52on than when it was deemed as appropriate or worthy of treatment or worthy of discussion.
12:58And so we need to be talking with younger generations about our family history, right?
13:03We shouldn't be finding out when we're 35 about to go into the operating room that everybody in the family
13:08got fibroids.
13:08Like, why didn't you tell me, right?
13:10We don't need to be finding out about our fertility struggles, you know, when we are much later in life.
13:16That conversation needs to be something that we are pushing all the time.
13:20And so I think that always in CVS, bringing this to essence is a beautiful example about where these conversations
13:28belong.
13:29Yes, we're having a good time.
13:31Yes, we got some freebies.
13:32We're going to be at the concert on tonight, okay?
13:35But we can still talk about the very real lived experiences to make it better for the people in the
13:41room.
13:41And so all of us, the fullness of us, it is all worthy and it all belongs.
13:46That's such a good question.
13:48And Dr. Sharris, is there any advice on when parents should start with, you know, yeah.
13:55Yes, so people always ask me this, and of course in this space, a lot of folks, especially in our
14:00community,
14:01think that if we don't talk about it, we are preserving the childhood of our daughters, right?
14:05And then we grieve when our daughters start to bleed as if they are no longer girls.
14:09Hear me this.
14:10Just because your daughter starts to bleed does not mean that she is suddenly a woman overnight.
14:15She is in more need of your love and care and mercy and guidance than she ever was before.
14:20For that very reason, it is important that we talk about these things early and often.
14:24We are not waiting for the first drop of blood to start dropping seeds of truth, right?
14:30You can plant those as young as potty training years.
14:33Whether you realize it or not, you're having conversations about how to manage your body when you're teaching your two
14:38-year-old how to wipe.
14:39So when we remove the hyper-sexualization, the adultification, the politicalization, and all of those things that weigh us down
14:47as adult women, we can let our children be the children they should be.
14:50And we can give them honest and true and compassionate advice so that they can manage their body appropriately and
14:57let them know that whatever happens, they can come to us.
15:01It is being that advocate, that consistent advocate for your child, where it's not just one talk, it is multiple
15:08talks, and those talks never end.
15:10And your question just has so many layers that are important to address.
15:17One is being the child of a mother who was almost 40 when she had me, her period journey was
15:24very different from mine.
15:26The products were very different.
15:28And so some moms and parents may be more educated on period products than others, but mine was not particularly.
15:38And so, you know, she brought me a belt and I was like, well, what am I supposed to do
15:43with this?
15:44And I think I used it one time because I was like, there are some other products available.
15:51So that is important to really recognize that since there are generational gaps, that what's typical for one family member
16:01may not be well informed, even though they care about you.
16:05And I also want to touch on the menopause piece because for years I was told, oh, when you get
16:11the menopause, you don't have to worry about the fibroids.
16:15And I always say that fibroid pain and cramping is just a tiny bit worse than some menopause symptoms can
16:24be.
16:24So, and hormones need to be managed and monitored even through menopause.
16:32So at the Fibroid Foundation, we like to support our community from the first period through and beyond menopause
16:40because their needs are over the whole life continuum.
16:45And it's really important to get comfortable having those conversations cross-generationally.
16:51Hi, everyone. My name is Kayla.
16:53A couple of years ago, I started to have what felt like really bad gas in my chest and it
16:59just would come every month.
17:00And I didn't really start to notice the patterns until about maybe the third or fourth month.
17:04And I'm like, what's going on?
17:06Then I noticed it will always be around my cycle about a week or so before.
17:09So I would bring it up to doctors.
17:12They're just like, oh, you know, just it's probably stress.
17:15You know, stress is their favorite word.
17:17And it's like, it's not that.
17:18It's kind of weird.
17:18Like, I don't know what it is.
17:20It's like it would travel up and down my chest.
17:22So again, just mentioning it multiple times.
17:26And I started to have, I went to several appointments and I started to do more research.
17:30Turns out it's a version of endometriosis called catamenial pneumothorax.
17:37So essentially every month my lungs are collapsing.
17:39And that's what I'm feeling.
17:41So I had to go to the doctor and I told my doctor, she's black, you know, my providers are
17:46black.
17:46And I would, this may sound crazy, but be open to it.
17:50Sometimes you have to teach her doctors because it's such a rare situation that she didn't know anything about it.
17:55There's only a handful of people.
17:56It seems like that really have been treated for it.
17:59I'm still like, we're still trying to figure out all the screening and how to fix it.
18:03But she sat there and she did the research right then and there once I told her not.
18:07But I had to go and I had to keep mentioning it.
18:09I went to other doctors.
18:10Like I had a cardiologist and they just didn't bother with it for a long time.
18:14But she actually sat down and researched it.
18:17So like I said, I just want to encourage you guys to consider other parts of your body because it
18:22all works together.
18:22It's not just your uterus.
18:24Really quickly, I just want to just define endometriosis.
18:26So endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition that's estrogen dependent and it is systemic.
18:31We used to think it was gynecological in nature and we used to call it that.
18:35And many people, patient advocates with endometriosis said, y'all have it wrong.
18:39Because of Kayla's story.
18:41Because of knowing how it could affect the lungs.
18:43Even being the brain.
18:44As gynecologists, if we are only looking in your pelvis, we are not looking in the right spot.
18:49And so I want to hold space for that as a gynecologist who hears patient stories that we don't always
18:54get it right.
18:55And it is your persistence that shouldn't be necessary.
18:59But that is, and a lot of times, with a doctor who looks like you, who values you, but it's
19:04just something really aware that can mean the difference.
19:07And so you are not being dramatic.
19:09Let's stop telling our daughters that they are being dramatic.
19:12Let's stop telling our friends they are being dramatic.
19:15Let's hold space for women being heard the first time.
19:18Thank you all for being here.
19:21And Erica, do you want to close us out?
19:26I'll see you next time.
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