March is Endometriosis Awareness month! It has been my experience that not many people really understand Endo or what it does to people (women). As one of many women that suffers from this hormonal/reproductive/immune system disorder I always jump at the opportunity to talk about it and share my experiences. Unfortunately I am part of that group of women that went 10+ years without being diagnosed correctly (we are a majority unfortunately) all because of the still all-too-common misconceptions regarding Endometriosis... even amongst physicians, sadly enough!
This being a "womanly" disease (as I've heard it be called, I kid you not) I guess not everyone feels comfortable talking about it. I used to be one of them and then I realized that it was partly because of this "taboo" attitude that many have about it that it is still as unknown and misunderstood/diagnosed as it currently is!
Endometriosis has not put me in any grave danger, nor will it kill me. For that I am very grateful. It has, however, stolen much from me. Had I known how much trouble, pain, money, and time it would eventually cost me, I would have been less embarrassed and more proactive and demanding of my doctors YEARS ago.
Had I been diagnosed in my teens (when all heck broke lose for my body) I truly believe my life would be very different right now. It would have saved me from much pain, many useless trips to the ER, missed days of school/work/life, and most importantly... I would probably be a mommy by now. I wish Endometriosis had been mentioned to me. I wish I would have had at least a clue as to what was wrong with me instead of being patted on the head, told it was "normal" and handed a bunch of pain meds... For this and many more "I wish"-es, I try to be that person for others.
I could go on and on about this forever, but as I have a mountain of homework and dinner to fix, I will keep this post short. Instead of posting a humongous amount of information that may or may not be read, I will pose this question: What (if anything) about Endo would you like to know? Go ahead, ask away! I will answer any and all questions to the best of my ability, whether with plain old info, my own experiences, or both!
3 comments:
hey! i'm just curious, what could have been done when you were younger to treat endometriosis? or possibly have prevented all of the heck you've had to go through?
Had I been diagnosed earlier,say in my teens, I could have had surgery to remove as much as possible.I also would have been put on the right kind of BC pills with lower dose estrogen, as estrogen is what Endometriosis implants feed off of. By the time I was diagnosed at 26, my pelvis was frozen with adhesions and both my ovaries had suffered a lot of damage. I also have tons of bladder and bowel problems that might not be as bad. I would have known from the getgo not to waste 10 months on Clomid since it actually causes estrogen flareups which exacerbate the problem. We would have done quite a few things differently. :(
wow, i am truly sorry hermana...thank you for sharing.
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