My story begins twelve years ago when I first started really struggling with terrible back pain every month usually just for the first day or so of my cycle. I thought this was fairly normal and before long the doctor put me onto the pill. It eased everything for a while but as the years progressed it just didn’t seem to have much affect and I preferred to not be on the pill. So ten years later I stopped taking it and tried to regulate everything and get back to feeling more normal. This is when the pain really started to rear its ugly head. I would often land up in tears after taking roughly eight or so anti-inflammatories or whatever I could find, and still it would barely numb the pain. I would lie in a ball with heat pads or have a bath. Nothing would ease it. I just had to find a way to make it through to the second day and I would be ok for another month. During this time, it felt like my back and ovaries were constantly cramping and I would often be extremely nauseous from pain. I cannot put into words how painful it was.
The problem with having pain only during your cycle is most people casually push it aside and think it can’t be that bad as everybody has pain during their cycle. I fought for two years trying to get a Doctor or anybody to understand that this was indeed serious. That it cannot be normal to be in this amount of pain. Eventually this year I found a specialist who even himself thought it wasn’t a high chance that I could have Endometriosis but insisted we look anyway to be sure.
13 February 2019 I went in for my first ever Laparoscopy. I was absolutely terrified. I’m not one to be very brave in the face of surgery and the thought of all this work being done to look inside areas of my body terrified me. Everyone kept telling me it will be over quick and it would just be a routine one-hour operation. Over two hours later I finally came out. When I eventually woke up the doctor came to speak to me. He told me he had found severe inflammation all over and severe Endometriosis on my side reaching all the way to my back (this explained my severe back pain!).
This was it!! I finally had a name to put to all my years of pain and no one understanding how much it hurt. Although it was a tough pill to swallow knowing I had Endometriosis, it was such a relief being able to understand what was happening to me. To think it took just under 12 years to finally diagnose me makes it necessary to create awareness so others don’t have to suffer as long.
“Endometriosis can have a Devastating effect on quality of life due to its very painful symptoms; it is the biggest cause of infertility in women, and carries a huge personal and societal cost! It is time to raise awareness of a disease that affects women-and their families-in their most (re)productive years!” – Endometriosis.org
Some facts about Endometriosis:
· It affects an estimated 10% of woman worldwide
· 24 to 50 % of woman who experience infertility have endometriosis
· 82 % of women are at times unable to carry out day-to-day activities due to endometriosis
· Because the symptoms are often passed off as ‘normal’ it can take an average of 7.5 years to get a proper diagnosis. Awareness is key!
Please, if you think you have it, research it as much as possible to educate yourself and fight for yourself. Get the laparoscopy done. It isn’t an easy task but you can finally get the diagnosis confirmed and have it removed. It is a chronic disease and later on the pain and Endometriosis might come back, but you will feel so much better and you will know what you are dealing with. You can finally rest assured knowing you are not being hyper-sensistive or crazy.
The reason I am sharing this is to help those of you in the same boat. I want you to know that I understand what it is like to have no one understand or listen when you tell them how much pain you are in. I want you to know that I am here to listen if you need support. You are not alone. Let’s raise awareness and help others fighting this battle too.
Ashtyn xx
