Tia Mowry Reveals Endometriosis Diagnosis After Years of ‘Debilitating Symptoms’
Though actress, Tia Mowry is now a proud mom-of-two, Cree and Cairo, her road to parenthood wasn’t an easy one — and she’s not afraid to share that with the world in hopes of inspiring others to do the same and feel less alone.
In a recent interview with TODAY Parents, the 43-year-old mom opened up about experiencing years of “debilitating symptoms” before finally being diagnosed with endometriosis, at which point she was also struggling to conceive.
Tia is no stranger to receiving a misdiagnosis. She recently shared her fight to find the proper diagnosis for her eczema. Unfortunately, that’s not the only medical instance in which she’s had to advocate for herself.
Mowry’s 20s were plagued by extreme period pain, migraines, and eczema, yet doctors wouldn’t take her “seriously,” leaving her to feel “lost and alone,” according to the publication. According to Tia:
“I was not being taken very seriously when it came to my symptoms. You know your body more than anyone. You are the one living with what you’re going through day in and day out. Don’t let anyone tell you that something is not wrong with you.”
The Sister Sister star went to a specialist after a friend suggested she get another opinion, and the gynecologist was finally able to diagnose her.
“She’s a Black woman from Harvard,” Mowry says of the doctor that was quick to listen to the symptoms. Mowry says her doctor realized right away that Mowry was experiencing a classic case of endometriosis.
Mowry said at first, she couldn’t even pronounce the name of the condition. She continues:
“It was something that wasn’t talked about, but she told me how she knew was my symptoms. I’m a Black woman, and I was in the age range. I was basically a textbook story.”
Endometriosis is a condition where tissue develops that looks and acts like normal endometrial tissue (the tissue that lines the uterus) but, it develops on the outside of the uterus.
The tissue can grow on other reproductive organs inside the pelvis or in the abdomen. Because the tissue acts like normal uterine tissue, it will break down and shed inside the pelvis during the menstrual cycle.
This can lead to inflammation, swelling, and scarring of normal tissue, according to Hopkins Medicine. The disease affects up to 10% of American women between 25 and 40.
Endometriosis symptoms include painful periods, discomfort during sex, difficulty getting pregnant, discomfort going to the bathroom, pain in between periods, heavy bleeding during your period, and random bleeding or spotting.
There is no cure for endometriosis, but doctors will often prescribe birth control pills, Lupron injections (a medication that calms the hormones and ovulation), or surgery to remove endometriosis implants or ovarian cysts, Alyssa Dweck, M.D., a New York-based gynecologist and author of The Complete A to Z for you V previously told Prevention.
Though the diagnosis came as a relief for Tia, she felt frustrated that it took so long to find a doctor that believed her, and that was able to find the source of her pain. She further said:
“I experienced four or five years of debilitating symptoms. Why didn’t the other doctors [I saw] diagnose me if I was a textbook story?”
The diagnosis was especially important when Tia began to see a common side effect of an endometriosis diagnosis–infertility. That didn’t keep her from trying—she was determined to become a mother and worked with her doctors to eventually become pregnant with her first child. But, she says the pregnancy wasn’t all smooth sailing. She went on:
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“When you have endometriosis you’re prone to having an ectopic pregnancy, because of the scar tissue. With my firstborn Cree, I was experiencing excruciating pain after getting pregnant and that was a fear that the doctors were talking about.”
It was a time the Hollywood star felt very alone in her journey.
To help other women understand that the path to parenthood isn’t always simple and linear, Tia partnered with the baby brand Coterie for its “Becoming Parents” campaign. She said:
“I don’t want people to feel or go through what I went through with being diagnosed and trying to understand what that means. The more awareness and stories we share, the more people won’t feel alone or discouraged or depressed.”
As part of the campaign, Tia is encouraging more conversations around alternative methods for becoming a parent.
“The more we talk about our own stories, the more we get rid of the stigma that comes along with IVF, surrogacy, sperm and egg donation … there are amazing ways that families become families.”