Hi Nourish family,

Firstly, I want to thank each of you for hanging in there with me during this turbulent and unpredictable time with my health. I truly appreciate your support and your continued commitment to your practice. It is inspiring and admirable to witness, and I feel so grateful to be part of this community.

I also want to say that I have never wanted Nourish to be centered around my own personal health, but rather around our shared yoga practices and this community space. At the same time, I recognize that not knowing what is going on can feel stressful or unsettling for some, while others may prefer to be protected from details and simply want this space to remain focused on yoga and support. With that in mind, I have written a more detailed post only here for anyone who would like to learn more.

I had so many hopes and intentions for Nourish this year, as well as for my own personal life. But as we all know with chronic illness, things can change very quickly and often with very little warning or control.

What has been happening

The medical issue I have been dealing with is a very large uterine fibroid that would not stop bleeding. What I have learned through this experience, unfortunately, is that the medical system for women’s health is often not much better than what many of us have already experienced within the system for ME. There can be so much dismissal, delay, and minimization until a situation becomes impossible to ignore.

This fibroid was first discovered years ago when it was still small, but it was left alone until heavy bleeding became a serious issue. By that point, an ultrasound revealed that it had tripled in size. Along the way, I was repeatedly told that it was “just menopause” and that there was no need for concern, treatment, or change. So I tried to carry on as best I could. At that stage, I was more fatigued, but I was still managing.

Advocating for Treatment

As things worsened, I found myself having to fight very hard to be heard and to receive appropriate care. I have had to advocate for myself over and over again, push for follow up, ask difficult questions, and keep speaking up when something clearly was not right. That kind of advocacy takes a tremendous amount of energy under the best of circumstances, and even more so when you are already living in a body with limited reserves.

Over the Christmas holidays, the bleeding escalated to a severe level. Over the last three months, I have been to the ER four times for iron infusions, and on the most recent visit, I had lost so much blood that I needed a blood transfusion because my levels had dropped dangerously low.

During this time, I was advised to try several different medications in an attempt to stop the bleeding. None of them truly resolved it, and one of them actually made things worse. I am now taking a high dose hormone medication, which has helped bring the bleeding more under control, though it has not completely stopped. So at this point, I am in a catch up phase of trying to replenish the blood I have lost, and I am still currently anemic.

Next Steps - Surgery

Because things have escalated during the time I was told "Everything is fine", I now need to have a full hysterectomy, as the fibroid is too large to come out on its own. I am now waiting to hear when that surgery date will be, but I am hoping it will happen in April or May, depending on availability. My gynecologist is now pushing for things to move more quickly and more urgently through the system, and I do finally feel this is being taken more seriously.

The impact with ME/CFS

As we all know, when you already live with underlying health challenges, something like this can intensify everything. My fatigue levels have been severe. Sadly, the medical system sees that I am already someone living with chronic fatigue, but does not remotely understand what that actually means in practice, nor is there much meaningful support for it.

So I have been leaning on all the tools I have gathered and lived over the years, both personally and through my yoga training. Each day, I am working to calm my nervous system, rest and recharge, pace carefully, and find small glimmers of comfort and pleasure to help carry me through.

A little more context on fibroids and ME/CFS

For those who are interested in a little more context, fibroids are very common and can cause heavy bleeding, pelvic pressure, pain, and anemia. For some people, they can become severe enough to deeply affect daily life and require medical treatment or surgery.

There also appears to be some overlap, in at least part of the research, between ME/CFS and gynecological or menstrual concerns. This does not mean that ME/CFS causes fibroids. But it does suggest that menstrual and gynecological issues may be more common in people with ME/CFS than many realize, and it is something that deserves more attention and research.

For those of us living with ME/CFS, the impact can be especially intense. Heavy bleeding, anemia, repeated appointments, medication changes, and simply being upright more often can place a major strain on an already taxed system. When orthostatic intolerance, exhaustion, and symptom flares are already part of daily life, adding significant blood loss on top of that can make functioning even harder.

My hope in sharing this is not only to explain what has been happening for me, but also to name something that may be affecting more people in this community than we realize. If this is part of your story too, I hope you feel less alone, less dismissed, and more encouraged to keep advocating for care.

Leaning on our tools and on each other

I know this season is temporary, even though it is incredibly hard. And I know I will come through the other side. One of the things this community has taught me again and again is that resilience does not always look like pushing through. Sometimes it looks like resting deeply, receiving support, staying tender, and continuing on one small breath, one small choice, and one small act of care at a time. That too is courage. That too is strength.

I also want to encourage you to keep leaning on one another and staying connected in whatever ways feel supportive. Please continue to make use of the video library as a gentle resource for tools, practices, and steadiness along the way. My hope is that it can serve as a soft place to land, a reminder of what your body already knows, and a source of comfort on the harder days.

There is such quiet strength in continuing to return to what nourishes us and in letting ourselves be held by community when we need it most. We may not get to choose every storm that arrives, but we do keep learning how to hold one another through them. There is something deeply brave and beautiful in that.

Thank you all for your kindness, your patience, and your care as I move through this chapter. It means more than I can say.

With love,
Shannon