When Tanika Gray Valbrun began seeking care for uterine fibroids—benign tumors that grow in and out of the uterus—she had to convince her doctors that she was in pain. “They give you the chart,” she says, adding that patients use it to number their pain. She says her doctors told her, if her pain was truly a 10, she’d be on the ground in a fetal position or unable to walk. “If a patient comes in and they say [their pain] is a 10, it’s a 10,” Gray Valburn says. “And we need to treat it as such.”
The hardships Gray Valburn faced while navigating her fibroid care journey led her to believe that she wasn’t alone. She was right—most people with uteruses, about 70 percent, will get fibroids before they turn 50. And if you’re Black, that number shoots up to 80 percent. Of folks with fibroids, only a little under half will develop symptoms, which can include heavy and prolonged bleeding, increased pelvic pain and pressure, and an enlarged uterus.
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