When Period Pain Isn’t Normal: Why We Need to Talk About Fibroids and Heavy Bleeding

Why debilitating periods aren’t something to ‘push through’ and how nutritional therapy changed everything. 

Some level of discomfort during your period is common. But pain that keeps you in bed, makes you miss work, or leaves you drained for days? That’s not “normal.”

If you have a womb, chances are you’ve been told to just get on with it — that cramps, bloating, or heavy bleeding are just part of being a woman. I used to believe that too.

The Pain We Normalize

A friend once told me she saw her period pain as a reminder to slow down — an end and a beginning each month. I respected that perspective, but for me, the pain wasn’t gentle or reflective. It was disruptive.

As a teenager, it meant missing school. Later, in boarding school, it meant taking stronger painkillers. By the time I started working, it meant hoping my “work from home” request would be approved.

When COVID-19 hit and remote work became normal, I secretly felt relieved — I could manage the pain without explaining it. 

But that also meant I’d normalized it.

Long and Heavy — and Getting Worse

Eventually, my cycles stretched on. Two weeks. Sometimes three. An intrauterine device (IUD) that was meant to lighten my periods had the opposite effect.

That experiment ended dramatically one cold Boxing Day. I was back in my gynaecologist’s office soon after, looking for new answers.

Heavy bleeding, I learned, had a name: menorrhagia. My GP prescribed medication that didn’t help much. What followed was a string of appointments and questions no one seemed able to answer.

Breaking the Silence Around Period Pain

If you’re wondering why I’m still talking about this, it’s because period pain remains one of the last taboos.

Women whisper about it in private, but rarely talk about it publicly. Yet one evening, while out with friends, a woman in her twenties started sharing how she and her school friends used to “sync up” before exams. Even the men in the group listened quietly. I remember thinking — maybe things are finally changing.

We need more of those conversations.

Periods belong on the agenda.

Finding the Root Cause

For me, the turning point came when I began studying Nutritional Therapy. I discovered that long, painful, or heavy periods can signal deeper imbalances often linked to hormones, inflammation, and even fibroids.

Fibroids are benign growths in the uterus that disproportionately affect Black women. They can cause pain, bloating, fertility challenges, and the kind of bleeding that takes over your life.

Understanding that connection changed everything.

Now, my mission is simple: to help women stop suffering in silence, understand what their bodies are telling them, and prepare for healing — whether naturally or through surgery.

Want to Take the Next Step?

If your periods are long, heavy, or painful, know this — you’re not alone, and it’s not something you just have to live with.

I’ve created a free Myomectomy Prep Checklist to help women prepare for surgery and begin addressing fibroids from the root.