Lupita Nyongos Struggle with Chronic Uterine Fibroids

 Lupita Nyong’o has opened up about her agonising experience with uterine fibroids, as she launched a new campaign to bring awareness to the painful condition.

The actress, 42, was first diagnosed in 2014, the same year that she won an Academy Award for 12 Years a Slave, and recalled feeling 'very alone and scared' at the time.

For a decade, she privately battled the debilitating condition, where non-cancerous growths form on the uterus, which can cause heavy and painful periods, abdominal or lower back pain, frequent need to urinate, constipation and pain during sex. 

Lupita underwent surgery to have her fibroids removed, but her relief was short-lived as they soon returned, with the star revealing she now has twice as many as she had taken out, with the largest being 'the size of an orange'.

She shared her condition publicly for the first time last year, and said that speaking out has 'made me feel less alone' as it's enabled her to connect with other women going through the same thing.

She is now working to amplify the conversation around fibroids and drive better treatment by joining the Foundation for Women’s Health to create the Make Fibroids Count campaign and commit $200,000 toward research for less invasive treatments.

While she's also joined several congresswomen to push for bills expanding research into the condition and reject the idea that 'pain is simply part of being a woman'. 

Appearing on the Today Show on Wednesday, Lupita detailed why she'd decided to open up about her health struggles, as she explained how she'd initially felt a lot of 'shame' about her fibroids and alone in her search for treatment.

She recalled: 'I felt shame. What did I do to cause them? And I felt very alone and quite scared for my reproductive health.'

After undergoing surgery to remove them, her doctor warned her that it was 'only a matter of time until they grow again.'

Revealing that the growths had indeed returned, along with the painful symptoms, she said: 'The first time I got the fibroids taken out, they took out 23. And this time, I’ve been informed two years ago that I have over 50.'

Lupita explained that doctors usually use fruit to explain to patients what size their fibroids are, adding: 'So your fibroid could be the size of a grape. My biggest fibroid is the size of an orange.'

She admitted being conflicted about whether to get a myomectomy - an operation to remove the fibroids while preserving the uterus - because of the risks it poses to her fertility and there's a chance the fibroids will grow back and more surgery required.

'I’m being faced with the same options. Surgery or live with the pain,' the A Quiet Place: Day One said. 'I’m not ready to make that decision. It’s quite invasive… and it’s a big threat to our reproductive organs.'

But, the Black Panther star admitted went on to say describe how sharing her story had 'empowered' and 'bolstered' her, as she encouraged other women to speak out so the condition was 'no longer trivialized' by society and the medical community.

She said: 'I’m excited right now because speaking up has really empowered me. I’ve found community. I’ve locked arms with women who have been fighting this fight for a long time.

'And we get to raise this money with this campaign, Make Fibroids Count, and actually have women who are most affected, participate in the solution we long to find.

'By sharing our stories that's how we actually make this issue unavoidable, so that we are no longer neglecting it and we're dealing with it head on.'

Lupita added that she'd deliberately launched the initiative right in the last days of February and start of March to hit the intersection between Black History Month and Women's History Month, as black women are more adversely affected by fibroids.

'There’s a lot of power in speaking up,' she added. 'I spoke up and the amount of support I got hearing women say "me too" and share their stories made me feel less alone and it’s honestly what has bolstered me to do the work that I do now.

'I think it’s high time we speak up to ensure that this is no longer trivialized and it’s no longer considered normal just because it’s common'.