Uterine fibroid is a big problem for many women. The reason is that the non-cancerous growth is often a major frustration for women trying to get pregnant because it causes infertility. While experts have said that surgery may be the best treatment option for fibroid, especially for some women, many women feared fibroid surgery as they think it would make getting pregnant more difficult. However, Mrs. Comfort Jemiseye, who battled with the health condition for over a decade, shares how she overcame the fibroid surgery phobia. She also shared how she conceived and gave birth to twins after fibroid surgery. AMARACHI OKEH reports
After Mrs. Comfort Jemiseye got married in 2011, she set two main goals. First, she wanted to get rid of the uterine fibroids in her womb, and second, she wanted to get pregnant and carry her child in that same womb.
She was, however, afraid of removing the fibroids believing that it would destroy any chance she may have of conceiving a child.
Mrs. Jemiseye could not overcome her phobia of fibroid surgery for seven years into her marriage and despite all her efforts to get pregnant without going for the surgery, she was unable to conceive.
According to her, she was only able to pluck up the courage to go for fibroid surgery after seven years of marriage. Fortunately for her, she was able to conceive after the surgery and gave birth to twins after 8 years of marriage.
Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise, the Lagos-based woman said her fear of fibroid surgery was not just because of what she heard about it from family and friends, but also because of what some doctors told her, noting that doctors told her her chances of having a child after the surgery was a 50/50 chance.
Prevalence of Fibroid
According to experts, fibroids are abnormal non-cancerous growths that develop in or on a woman of childbearing age uterus. Sometimes they can become quite large, which was the case with Jemiseye, and could cause severe abdominal pain and heavy periods. However, in some cases, they cause no signs or symptoms at all.
Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise, renowned fertility expert, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru noted that fibroid is very common in Nigerians and Africa, unlike Caucasians, adding that this is due to many of the saturated oils that we consume.
These oils, Prof Ashiru said, cause a lot of fat tissues, adding that they are also impacted by some environmental factors and can thus cause infertility in women.
According to the University of Michigan, African and African American women are diagnosed with fibroids roughly three times as frequently as white women, develop them earlier in life, and tend to experience larger and more numerous fibroids that cause more severe symptoms.
While there are different types of fibroids, they are all noted to be located either in or on the uterus of the woman, the University said.
Also, according to a 2019 study conducted by researchers from the University of Port Harcourt, out of 217 women that were the subject of the study, 92 women, (33.9 per cent) had fibroids.
Also, a 2013 research titled The Incidence of Uterine Fibroid Among Reproductive Age Women: A Five-Year Review of Cases at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo, Nigeria found that out of 4,536 cases reviewed, 896 were positive giving a prevalence of 19.75 per cent.
Quest for miracle healing for fibroid without surgery
According to experts, the best solution to fibroids, especially when it is causing infertility is surgery. They, however, noted that many women are always searching for miracle solutions rather than going for surgery.
This was the case with Mrs. Jemiseye. Despite the pain and discomfort of the fibroid and her inability to get pregnant, she was searching for alternative solutions to the fibroid and dreaded going for surgery.
Jemiseye, now 39, said she had hoped for a miracle that wouldn’t involve her being cut up, adding that she took all sorts of concoctions to melt the fibroid in her quest to avoid surgery.
Recounting her years-long ordeal with PUNCH HealthWise, Comfort, who is now a mother of twin girls, said her faith in the surgery was dampened because she was told it could further reduce a woman’s chances of conceiving.
“I was really scared of undergoing the surgery to remove the fibroids because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to conceive after the surgery.
“The normal thing everybody tells you is that if you do fibroid surgery, you won’t be able to give birth again so for many years I didn’t go for it,” she said.
She recalled that she resorted to taking all sorts of herbal concoctions, adding that unknowingly the concoctions were even causing the fibroids to multiply.
She disclosed that she even travelled to different African countries to get herbs that they told her will help to shrink the fibroids.
“I went as far as outside Nigeria. I went to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to get herbs. There was even one they gave me. They did it with the heart of a cow or so and they told me when I want to take the herb, I shouldn’t take it where people are.
“So, whenever I wanted to take this herb, I’d wait till 11:30 or 12:00 in the midnight. I wouldn’t even open it in the compound because the odour was so pungent.
“So I would take it outside the gate of my compound to drink and oh, the smell was so bad that I would start crying after taking it.
“I would even be asking God what I had done that He gave me this fibroid but my husband would softly encourage me and tell me to just focus on the result we wanted,” she said.
She disclosed that many people sold spurious concoctions to her and told her lies that what they gave her would solve her problem only to realise later that those things were even harming her health.
“Someone promise me that the fibroid would shrink after I take one concoction but instead, it was my menstrual flow that ceased,” she said.
Recalling how the battle with fibroid started, Mrs. Jemiseye said she first noticed signs of the fibroid in 2005 long before she got married.
“I remember when I was doing this fibroid scan, I saw one later it increased to two, then three and it continued increasing.
“When I finally did the surgery, they picked 14, the biggest one was the one the doctor said was getting close to my heart,” she said.
Fibroid affected my self-confidence
According to Mrs. Jemiseye, her battle with fibroid also affected her mental health, noting that it made her lose her self-confidence and made it difficult for her to get employment.
She disclosed that she was turned down by some employers, who taught she was pregnant and told her that they do not employ pregnant women.
She said she was also constantly harassed by people in her neighbourhood to buy baby things as they mistook the size of her stomach for pregnancy, adding that she had to resort to wearing large maternity gowns to hide her stomach.
“You can imagine walking on the road and people are calling you a pregnant woman. Someone will say, ‘madam I dey sell baby things, please come and buy from me. But, how do you explain to them even though you know that you know you are not pregnant?
“These things made me cry because they didn’t know what I was going through then. God really changed my story.
