Often, women diagnosed with uterine fibroids are not happy with the treatment options offered to them. They are not interested in surgery and they aren’t told of any other solutions except living with fibroids. Today, we are going to hear from real women, our patients, about how fibroids affect their careers and home lives.
How Is It, Living with Fibroids?
Uterine fibroids are abnormal benign growths in or outside the uterus that are not cancerous and not life-threatening, but they often cause a number of symptoms and women often aren’t able to continue their normal lives.
Heavy bleeding is most commonly due to fibroids. When ignored, bleeding often increases and can result in anemia (iron deficit) with a number of accompanying problems like general weakness, fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, cloudy thinking (brain fog), migraine-like headaches, and even ice cravings or chewing inedible substances like chalk or clay (kaolin).
Pain often comes along with heavy fibroid bleedings. Large-size fibroids can press on nerve endings causing pain in the abdomen, back, and even down the legs (sciatica). They can also squeeze neighboring organs, which results in frequent urination, waking up at night to urinate, or even leaking urine. They can also press on the colon to cause constipation.
“It was multiple symptoms. Bleeding beyond control. Pain beyond control. During the day, I had to wing it with two or three pads and literally have to stand up out of my chair at my desk with blood running down my legs”, – an Atlanta Fibroid Center patient.
“Long work days or just daily life were a real struggle for me when I was on my periods. I experienced fatigues, severe pain. My life was really limited because I had to take days off work. I was depressed because of the pain I was going through”, – an Atlanta Fibroid Center patient.
Very often, a woman living with fibroids has to plan her work and social life around her periods to avoid embarrassing “accidents” that are overwhelming. Fibroids literally take control of women’s lives.
“I’ve gone through terrible symptoms that were impending on my life, I couldn’t go to work, I couldn’t do activities that were expected of me. I had no energy. I felt terrible most of the time. It was hard for me to make it through the day”, – an Atlanta Fibroid Center patient.
Why Do Women Keep Suffering from Fibroids?
First of all, not all women are aware of their condition. As reported, many women think heavy periods and menstrual pain are normal. They refer to their mothers that have been experiencing the same symptoms and didn’t even consider it abnormal. If menstrual cramping is a general problem for women, severe pain and heavy bleeding are always a reason to visit a healthcare specialist.
Another reason for treatment delays is the fear of losing the uterus. The most widely offered but absolutely unnecessary fibroid treatment is hysterectomy, which involves the surgical removal of the uterus. A woman without her uterus does not just lose the possibility of getting pregnant and bearing a child, but can also suffer physically, emotionally, and sexually. Therefore, women knowing the risks and long-term side effects of hysterectomy or any other fibroid surgery (e.g. myomectomy) often prefer to leave fibroids untreated and suffer with the symptoms in the hope of making it to menopause.
Atlanta Fibroid Center’s Mission Is to Educate Women with Fibroids
At the Atlanta Fibroid Center, we aim to inform women that hysterectomy as a fibroid treatment option can be avoided, and that there is a non-surgical solution called UFE (Uterine Fibroid Embolization). The UFE procedure has many advantages, but the most notable are:
- UFE has a very high success rate: 90% of patients get significant or complete relief of their symptoms.
- With UFE you avoid the significant risks and long recovery of a surgical operation.
- UFE is performed in an Outpatient Center rather than in a hospital which houses Covid-positive patients.
- UFE allows women to keep their uterus.
Atlanta Fibroid Center provides exceptional customer service in a warm and caring environment designed for women, along with unparalleled physician experience from Dr. John Lipman who has dedicated his career to serving women and has performed over 8,000 UFE procedures.
“After UFE, I went from a pain level of 10 to 0, from wearing thermal patch for my back to nothing at all, from laying in the bed because I was so drained and in pain, and from 6 days of really heavy cycles down to 2”, – an Atlanta Fibroid Center patient.
“I’m so thankful to have found Dr. Lipman! My life has changed for the better. I felt like I was trapped inside my body. I was a slave to fibroids. Thanks to Dr. Lipman, now I’m free. I’m so happy! I can schedule things. I’m full of energy. I feel that I have my life back”, – an Atlanta Fibroid Center patient.
To hear more from our patients about living with fibroids and to learn more about their UFE experiences, visit our YouTube channel, where over 80 women thus far shared their life changing stories!
If you’re suffering from fibroids and are tired of having no control of your own life, come to share your struggle and get a consultation from one of the nation’s leading fibroid experts, Dr. John Lipman of Atlanta Fibroid Center. To make an appointment, please call 770-953-2600, or go to ATLii.com.
