Do any or all of the above words describe what you feel on a more often than not basis? Have you been tested for EVERY possible illness or disease in the handbook? Has NOTHING worked to make you feel
better?
Well, you sound something like me.
I could go as far back as 9 years old with painful periods, stomach issues, and mood swings. Now that I can take a step back I see why for several years I just fell into the typical pre-teen to teen girl category, but it's the young adult years that really should have raised a red flag.
My periods hurt so much even before they'd begin that I lived in a ball in the bathroom...because if I moved that's where I was headed. I bled so much I could have supplied a blood bank on my own. The pain would hit such high levels that I'd pass out and break into cold sweats, but that's just my period and only the beginning. I tried at a minimum of 30 birth controls, each giving me no help or severe side effects. At one point I developed such bad migraines I thought I had brain tumors and scared my husband, and mood swings that should have landed me in a psych ward. I also suffered with uncontrollable cystic acne, painful abdominal bloating, extreme fatigue, all over aches and pains, and weight issues.
Early into my teens I developed stomach issues; sharp pains, cramping, and low burning sensations that carried into my low back....similar to menstrual cramps but nowhere near the right time and often related to eating...and then again related to nothing. I would be awakened from a deep sleep with abdominal attacks of pain and sickness often taking me to the hospital.
I was scoped top to bottom at least 6 times, I had ultrasounds inside and out, I had CT's, I was tested for the same blood tests every year for 13 years, I had my gall bladder out, and I was told that I had to manage my IBS and deal with being a woman and went on birth control full time taking only the active pills to fully avoid a period.
As time went on my and my issues continued I went to live with being diagnosed with; cyst forming ovaries but not PCOS, then IBS, then food allergies to dairy, gluten, soy, and nuts, then anxiety, then depression, then fibromyalgia, then a dysfunction of the sphincter of oddi, then a bacterial over growth. What didn't take the blame though was the true reason to ALL of my problems.
It was me that finally spoke up to my doctors to test me for endometriosis, and I must say 2 of them weren't thrilled about it. When I looked into my symptoms it was the only thing left that made sense. I had made all possible adjustments to my diet and tried everything thrown at me with not even the slightest relief. At this point I was so sick I wasn't able to work, and my attacks were several times a day to the point I wasn't eating or sleeping, and my stomach was bloating to such a painful point I wished it would just rip open to relieve the pressure.
The only way to truly determine if you have endometriosis is to have a laparoscopic surgery. I went in almost praying to have it, anything just for a real answer. As it turns out, I have it.....a lot of it and all over the place. The doctor was only able to reach to remove a small amount and will send me to see a specialist to remove the rest, but I know now.
I also know now what all it can cause! Immune issues, fatigues, bloating, cramping, burning, pains, intolerable periods, infertility, painful sex, and the list goes on!
I'm sharing all of this with you because if someone would have listened to me years ago I could have saved myself thousand and thousands of dollars and years of suffering. I think one of the worst parts of my experiences was having doctors think I was fine. It really is challenging to look fine on the outside but to truly be miserable on the inside.
I find it very unsettling that I talk to so many women of all ages with undiagnosable abdominal issues and can't help but want to offer they speak with their gynecologist about the possibility of having endometriosis too.
When it's all said and done I'm happy that I never stopped looking for a real answer when my doctors gave up, I knew I wasn't crazy, and I knew something really was wrong inside. Please never stop fighting for the quality of life, none of us deserve to live in doubt, pain, or sickness.
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