Reproductive health conditions like ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids represent a massive, under-discussed crisis for women worldwide, yet the burden hits particularly hard across the African continent. According to Dateline Health Africa, African women experience some of the highest rates of fibroids globally. Ovarian cysts are fluid-filled sacs that develop on or inside an ovary, while uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths in or around the uterus that commonly emerge during a woman’s reproductive years. These conditions frequently trigger debilitating physical symptoms, yet millions suffer in silence due to systemic healthcare gaps and deeply entrenched cultural stigmas.
Barriers to Diagnosis, Care, and Traditional Alternatives in Sierra Leone
In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the path to a proper medical diagnosis is frequently blocked by financial hardship and social taboo. Dr. Frances Wurie, an obstetrician-gynecologist at The Women’s Place Medical Centre, points out that economic constraints keep countless cases hidden if they don’t have the funds to go and have an ultrasound scan, it would be undiagnosed.
Beyond equipment costs, the social climate surrounding women’s bodies fosters profound silence. Wurie emphasizes that the psychological weight of secrecy compounds physical suffering. This should not be a taboo subject in this day and age, and for some reason it is, depending on where you are, Wurie explained, noting that people often dismiss private health concerns as improper to discuss openly. This pervasive silence delays critical medical intervention.
In rural regions, patients often bypass licensed clinicians entirely, turning instead to traditional healers as a first point of contact. Patients frequently receive herbal concoctions intended to treat the underlying growths. If a patient is believing that the herbs are going to reduce the size of the fibroids, you’re basically just delaying whatever complication will come in the future, Wurie cautioned regarding traditional herbal remedies. Meanwhile, in urban centers like Freetown, patients who can afford care increasingly opt for surgical interventions.
Personal Toll, Public Advocates, and Alternative Lifestyle Strategies
The physical toll of these conditions reshapes lives long before patients ever reach an operating room. As a teenager in Kenya, professional bodybuilder Evelyn Okinyi Owala suffered excruciating menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, and fainting spells, enduring the agony for years under the assumption that severe symptoms were simply normal. At age 30, she finally consulted a gynecologist and received a diagnosis of ovarian cysts. Following an initial surgery, she experienced a painful recurrence just one month later before her surgical stitches had even healed.
“And I went in for surgery. The problem is one month later, before I healed from the stitches, I had a reoccurrence of the cyst.”
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Evelyn Okinyi Owala, via CNN
Faced with the prospect of repeated operations and insufficient insurance coverage, Owala began researching alternative approaches. Convinced that surgery addressed only symptoms rather than the root hormonal imbalance, she overhauled her lifestyle by starting an exercise routine and changing her diet, cutting out sugar, vegetable and seed oils, and wheat. Within four months, follow-up doctor visits and an ultrasound confirmed her cysts had completely cleared.
High-profile public figures have also stepped forward to break the silence. Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o, who won an Academy Award for her role in 12 Years a Slave., revealed that she was diagnosed with uterine fibroids after her Oscar win. Surgeons removed 25 fibroids in a single operation, and Nyong’o has endured a total of 77 fibroids throughout her experience. She now actively partners with the Foundation for Women’s Health to advocate for increased research funding and broader access to noninvasive and minimally invasive treatments.
Understanding the Broader Neurobiological and Emotional Landscape of Chronic Pain
Beyond reproductive organs, chronic pain conditions share complex underlying mechanisms that intersect with emotional regulation and stress biology. Clinical literature highlights that chronic pain syndromes involve central sensitization, autonomic dysfunction, and affect dysregulation, where no single physiological pathway explains every patient’s experience. For a clinically meaningful subgroup, conditions reflect a neurobiological imbalance between overactivated threat systems and hyporesponsive soothing systems, heavily shaped by early life adversity.
My Painful Journey with Endometriosis, Fibroids and Ovarian Cysts | Diagnosis & Management
Emotions carry measurable biological correlates that actively modulate the immune, neuroendocrine, and inflammatory processes sustaining chronic pain. Consequently, the relationship between a patient and a clinician acts as a biologically active component of care. Compassionate, validating clinical encounters help restore a sense of safety, operating through placebo mechanisms and neural synchrony to improve health outcomes across chronic pain conditions as detailed in clinical literature.
