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Zinhle Essamuah, co-anchor of NBC News Daily and a correspondent for NBC News, regularly reports on Black women’s health. Now, she is sharing her own health journey with fibroids, noncancerous growths in the uterus that can cause a variety of symptoms depending on their size, location, and quantity.

“I had lived with my fibroid symptoms—heavy periods and painful cramping—until two months ago, when I ended up in the emergency room,” Essamuah said on the Today show. “I learned one of my fibroids had doubled in size as big as my entire uterus, affecting my comfort and daily health.”

Between 70 to 80 percent of all women have fibroids, but the chances of developing fibroids are higher for women who are Black, over 40 years old, obese, or have a family history of fibroids.

Essamuah had a hysteroscopy, surgical removal of fibroids. Her doctor was Taraneh Shirazian, MD, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon and the director of �����о��� Langone’s Center for Fibroid Care. Other treatment options may include medications and nonsurgical techniques that shrink fibroids without removing them.

“You do not need to suffer,” Dr. Shirazian said. “There are enough choices that you can find one that works for you, that addresses your symptoms and that gives you better quality of life. I think the main thing is women don’t have to just sit there and deal with it. We have options and we can feel better.”

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