Like many, Bianca Cedes suffered from bad periods. Cramping, nausea, vomiting. Except when the pain started showing up weeks before her actual menstruation, she knew something else was going on.
“I was having such severe pain and doing my own research and recording my own stats, trying to make a pattern of it, I found out that the pain was coming during my ovulation phase of my cycle,” Cedes said.
Getting that concern taken seriously proved far more difficult.
“Going from one doctor to the other, they’re both telling me try new birth control,” she said. “I’ve tried three different types of birth control, two different pills, I got another IUD, and nothing was solving my problem. I knew that birth control was just going to be a Band-Aid to cover up whatever was really wrong.”
The only option she was offered were ultrasounds, which she said did not help.
“They told me that unless I was in the middle of a flareup, they weren’t gonna be able to see anything, so I wasted my time,” she explained.
Black Women Are Still Being Dismissed In Healthcare
Cedes’s experience reflects a broader pattern. Black women disproportionately experience severe period pain. The same goes for conditions like uterine fibroids which are up to three times more common in Black women than white women. Studies show that 84 percent of surveyed Black women report moderate to severe menstrual pain. And 65.5 percent miss work due to symptoms.
“They’re just telling me, ‘Sorry, ovulation is just painful sometimes,’” she said. “And at this point I’m like, ‘Is it because I’m Black? Is it because I’m a woman?’ There’s plenty of people in the world who are not in severe debilitating pain once a month.”
Like many Black women navigating the healthcare system, Cedes felt dismissed. She eventually sought answers on her own, opting for an elective MRI through Prenuvo. That decision shifted everything.
“I had my scans done and I feel like a new person,” she said. “I have a diagnosis that I can work with now. I know certain foods and things to stay away from. I know what I’m up against for the rest of my life. I have answers and I don’t feel ignored.”
How a Preventative MRI Delivered Answers
Prenuvo offers full body MRI screenings designed to detect a range of conditions, including tumors, autoimmune disorders, metabolic disorders, brain aneurysms, and early-stage cancers. As a direct-to-consumer service, it allows patients to access imaging without going through traditional gatekeeping in the healthcare system. For some women, particularly those who feel medical professionals have minimized their symptoms, that access can be a critical step toward clarity.
Dr. Shannon Ashley, a board-certified family and preventive medicine physician at Prenuvo, says bias can play a role in how the medical field evaluates symptoms, especially for Black women and younger patients. She explains that when the care being offered does not match what a patient is experiencing, it is important to pause and reassess.
“That’s when you have to take a step back and say, ‘There’s probably more I need to do then,’” Ashley advised.
The doctor emphasizes the role of information and preparation in self-advocacy.
“We live in a world of almost unlimited knowledge and technology,” she said. “So just getting a basic understanding of what screenings I should have, what I should be thinking about for the next five or 10 years when it comes to my health, that arms you so that you know the options that you have.”
She also encourages patients to ask direct questions, even when it feels uncomfortable.
“It’s perfectly fine to ask, ‘Well, why aren’t we doing this?’ or ‘Why can’t we do this test?’” she said.
Screening And Long Term Health Risks
From a preventative standpoint, Ashley says understanding risk is critical, particularly given how often research excludes Black women.
“When it comes to Black women, there are worse outcomes, but that often comes from not getting screened early enough, detection early enough,” she said. “You have to know what your risks really are.”
She points to higher rates of breast, ovarian, colon, and lung cancer. She also stressed the importance of asking about screenings rather than waiting. She also notes that underrepresentation in research is tied to both historical harm and lower participation in clinical trials today.
“It comes from participation, and that comes from a deeper conversation about how research was developed and conducted in the past,” she said.
The Bigger Shift Toward Preventative Care
Ashley says tools like Prenuvo offer a different path forward by giving patients direct access to information about their bodies.
“It’s a preventive tool in which there’s no reference or higher authority that is dictating when and who should do something,” she said. “Everyone has that opportunity to advocate or gather information for themselves.”
Beyond the scan itself, she says the broader goal is to shift how people think about their health.
“Even if I’m not ready for that whole body scan, I need to be thinking about how I can know more about myself than what they’re telling me,” she said.
Ashley also highlights how earlier imaging can help women better understand their reproductive health. That’s especially true when it comes to conditions like fibroids, adenomyosis, and endometriosis. That knowledge can be critical for those thinking about fertility later on. Ultimately, she views preventative care as an investment.
“We’re preventing financial collapse for ourselves all the time, so we need to prevent our health collapse,” she said. “Just because I don’t feel sick in the moment doesn’t mean that I don’t still need to be doing healthcare planning to not feel sick later.”
The post When Doctors Dismiss Black Women’s Pain, Some Seek Preventative MRIs appeared first on Blavity.
