The Overlooked Epidemic: Fibroids in Women’s Health with Taraneh Shirazian, MD (Episode 242)

Hit Play Not Pause

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

4.9 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Eighty percent of us will develop fibroids by age 50–making them an epidemic nobody talks about. Tennis legend Venus Williams, 45, has recently spoken up about the debilitating pain, fatigue, and heavy bleeding she suffered with due to fibroids for literally decades. This week we talk with the doctor who finally helped her find relief, Dr. Taraneh Shirazian, Founder and Director of the Center for Fibroid Care at NYU Langone Health. We shine some much needed light on what fibroids are, common symptoms, how fibroids intersect with perimenopause, menopause, and hormone therapy, and what we can do about them.

Dr. Taraneh Shirazian is the Founder and Director of the Center for Fibroid Care at NYU Langone Grossman School of Medicine, a state-of-the-art wellness center that takes a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to treating fibroids, abnormal uterine bleeding, and pelvic pain while prioritizing patients’ life goals, including family planning. A minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon and Associate Professor at NYU Langone, she also directs Global Women’s Health in OBGYN and at NYU’s College of Global Public Health, where she has taught for seven years. She is the Founder and President of Saving Mothers, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing preventable maternal deaths worldwide. Recognized as a leader in women’s health and an advocate for patient education and empowerment, Dr. Shirazian specializes in fibroids, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, pelvic pain, and abnormal bleeding, and is frequently featured as a women’s health expert on major media outlets including CBS, CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal. You can follow her on Instagram @drshirazian

Resources:

Venus Williams Opens Up About Her 30-Year Fibroids Journey, Self Magazine

Venus Williams Shares Her Journey with Uterine Fibroids & Advocates for Women’s Health, NYU Langone Health NewsHub

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Hit Play, Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
0:14.6	I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help you feel and perform you best no matter what your hormones are doing.
0:25.0	This show is a production of Live Feisty Media.
0:30.6	Hello, strong, feisty women.
0:33.0	I hope you all are well.
0:35.3	So, I was reading about Venus Williams recently, who at the age of 45
0:41.0	became the second oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis at the
0:47.8	D.C. Open, which I just love to see. But then as I was flipping around through Venus Williams stories, I saw a
0:56.6	couple others that I didn't love to see quite so much, and I will drop them in the show notes
1:01.3	because they're really worth checking out. In these stories, she talks about how she suffered
1:07.0	with nearly debilitating uterine fibroids for nearly 30 years before finally getting relief
1:13.9	last year. And she was talking about how she was vomiting from period pains during the French
1:21.1	open when she was 16, though I'll note she still won. And how she didn't even get diagnosed properly with these fibroids until 2016.
1:31.9	And at that point, her doctors were like, yeah, fibroids suck.
1:35.2	We'll keep an eye on them.
1:36.8	It wasn't until 2024.
1:38.9	Again, last year that Venus finally got real care.
1:43.4	She told Self Magazine that she found a fibroid care clinic
1:47.3	while scrolling through Instagram. And that made her realize like, hey, maybe there is
1:52.6	designated care for this out there. And that led her to the Center for Fibroid Care at NYU,
1:58.7	Lagone Health. And that led her to this week's guest, Dr. Tara Shirazian, who is the founder and director of
2:07.0	that clinic.
	...

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