08/16/2026
If you know our owner Brei Lmt , either as a client, friend, or colleague, you probably know about her fibroid journey. What you might not know is everything that journey taught her about how fibroids affect the body in ways most people — and even some providers — don't fully connect.
And here's something Brei wants every woman to hear: we are so conditioned to chalk up changes in our bodies to 'that time' — whatever that means at your age. Heavier periods? Must be stress. More tired than usual? Probably hormones. Hair thinning? Just aging. We're told to tough it out, that it's our emotions, that it's normal. We normalize so much without ever asking why — and in doing so, we can miss something that's been quietly growing and affecting our entire system for years.
Most people know fibroids can cause heavy bleeding and pain. But the conversation usually stops there. Here's what doesn't get talked about nearly enough:
🩸 **The bleeding isn't always just "heavy periods"** — it can be hemorrhagic episodes that stop you in your tracks. Unpredictable, debilitating, and exhausting.
😴 **Chronic fatigue** — not tiredness, but bone-deep exhaustion from months or years of slow iron depletion, even between bleeds. Many women are told it's stress, age, or thyroid related before fibroids are even considered.
💇 **Hair thinning** — directly linked to chronically low ferritin (iron stores) from ongoing blood loss. Often blamed on hormones or age.
📈 **Changes to your lipid panel** — fibroids drive chronic systemic inflammation which can affect cholesterol and triglycerides over time. Most women never connect the two.
🦵 **Leg cramping and lower extremity symptoms** — mineral and electrolyte loss during bleeds, combined with mechanical pressure from larger fibroids on pelvic vasculature and nerves, can cause leg cramps, localized heat, and vascular changes that seem completely unrelated to your uterus.
🚽 **Bladder and bowel pressure** — fibroids pressing on surrounding structures can cause urinary frequency, incomplete emptying, and re**al pressure. Often dismissed or treated as separate issues.
😮 **Bloating mistaken for weight gain** — an enlarged fibroid uterus can add significant visible abdominal volume that no amount of diet or exercise will touch.
🧠 **Mood and cognitive changes** — chronic pain, unpredictable bleeding, and ongoing inflammation have real documented impacts on mental health and brain fog.
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Here's the part Brei wishes she had known sooner:
**Ask for imaging.** An ultrasound will show you what's there first. An MRI will give you the full picture — size, location, type, and what's actually affecting what. That imaging is what gives you real options.
Once Brei had an accurate picture, she could see that common treatments like ablation, Sonata, or hormonal management weren't going to cut it for her specific situation. The imaging didn't just give her answers — it gave her the roadmap to the right solution.
**And that solution was UAE.**
Uterine Artery Embolization is a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure that cuts off blood supply to fibroids — causing them to shrink — without removing your uterus. No major incisions. Same day discharge. Most women return to normal activity within 7-10 days.
And here's something even less known: UAE has also shown significant symptom relief for adenomyosis — a related condition where uterine lining grows into the muscle wall — which often coexists with fibroids and compounds symptoms significantly.
Brei had her UAE procedure on August 14th, 2026, performed by Dr. Mark Garcia of https://www.facebook.com/EVCdelaware,
out of Wilmington. He also at practices at
https://www.facebook.com/SDVI2023
right here in Lewes — making this option more accessible than many women in our community realize.
Recovery isn't a walk in the park. The first few days are rough — cramping that feels like labor, fatigue, and your body working hard to process what just happened. But she can tell you firsthand — canceling the constant drain these fibroids put on your body, the bleeding, the inflammation, the systemic toll — is absolutely worth it. Your body deserves the chance to actually recover and rebuild.
If any of this sounds familiar — whether it's you or someone you love — please share this post. Too many women are suffering through symptoms they don't recognize as fibroid-related, and too many don't know UAE is even an option.
You deserve answers. You deserve options. And you deserve a provider who takes your symptoms and concerns seriously. 💜
Pictured: anatomical illustrations of Brei's specific fibroid anatomy and a visual breakdown of the UAE procedure.
