Endometriosis story


  These stories can help other women so they do not feel so alone when trying to cope with effects of this disease.





Severe endometriosis as young age


(Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

I started my period at age 10, and each month would vomit from the pain, have an extremely heavy flow (2 night-time pads and a tampon changed once an hour), hot flashes and migraine headaches.

I missed school 3 days a month from being sick, but all the doctors told my mom I had no pain tolerance, to deal with it, or that it was from the high altitude after moving to the Rockies.

My granddad was the one who said this kid isn't faking!

I can't say I fought, I was too young. I knew something was wrong with me because I never had a period that I didn't throw up, make a mess or miss school from. My mom fought hard, and after my symptoms increased and got worse my mom demanded that someone do an internal.

The doctors had refused up to that point because I was young. They wanted me on the pill, but again my mom refused because I still didn't have a diagnosis.

Finally I had an ultrasound - which at 15, I decided I didn't need my mom with me for (big mistake, the technician flipped out after she found all of the cysts) and had an initial diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

The 2 months before my surgery were agony - by this point the cyst had grown that any pressure on it would cause it to twist, so a full bladder or full bowel would cause me to curl into a ball. I remember Christmas dinner spent laying on the floor from the pain.

After my surgery, which was done by a gyno-oncologist, they diagnosed me with endometriosis. The gyno said she had never had a patient as young as me nor had she seen such a severe case.
I have been on the pill ever since, but I have not had many problems come back.

I have had a few cysts, but they have not grown or they have disappeared. This just shows me that you need to stand up and fight, and if you cannot then the people that advocate for you need to!

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