Guam : Endometriosis Care & Support

Satellite image of Guam that reads Greetings from Guam

Hafa Adai!

I’ve been wanting to look into territories and countries around the world to see how they are dealing with Endometriosis.   Not only does it give me a chance to learn about other areas in our world, but it is a very fun research tool for me (I love to look things up, to reach out to facilities, physicians, and people)…This blog lets me know where my viewers are located, so it’s fun when I see views from places I either have NEVER heard of, or places that I don’t know much about…

As of today (1/4/21), our blog has received 230 views from people in Guam.  That to me shows that someone in Guam is searching for answers about Endometriosis; which made me wonder what sort of medical care and support there is in Guam for someone suffering from Endometriosis.  So…I’ll start this geographical project off with GUAM!

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Share Your Story : Kristina

flaming text that reads "my body has been through hell"

Kristina was 24-years-old when she was diagnosed with Endometriosis, after the birth of her beautiful daughter.  Nearly a decade later, she tells us her story…

Kristina’s Journey: I received my diagnosis weeks after having my daughter in 2009. Turns out I could have been dealing with this since I had started having cycles but none of my doctors thought to even test and I had no idea what Endo was until I got pregnant. After having beautiful Kara my period started like normal but the pain was so intense. I went to my OB and she had me try the pill first, but that didn’t help.  Then we tried Depo and that made it worse. In the mix of all this I also have been dealing with multiple hernia repairs so one could imagine my hell some months.

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Adenomyosis

The word Adenomyosis covered in little spots and lesions

April is Adenomyosis Awareness Month.  Ado-what-o?  A disease, similar to Endo; some say Ado is the cousin to Endometriosis.  And many people with Endo also suffer with Adenomyosis.  So, I figured I’d spread a bit of awareness of Ado during this month and learn something in the process.

A few folks who attended our Endo walk suffer also from Adeno.  And one who showed up to our last Endo support group meeting suffers from Ado (but not Endo).  It’s a term I’m beginning to hear a lot more about.  But, what is it?

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Share Your Story : Kelly

woman with glasses smiling

Kelly was 15 years old when she was diagnosed with Endometriosis.  Nearly a decade later, she shares her journey with us.

Kelly’s Journey: Hi! My name is Kelly; I was diagnosed with endometriosis while I was in high school at the age of 15. I had problems with my period but was too scared to tell my mom because I didn’t want to go to the gynecologist. Needless to say, she eventually found out and I was forced to go. My period would last a month at a time, then a week free, then it would be back. While this was happening, I was losing tons of blood so I would see my primary doctor to be put on iron pills because they didn’t know how or why I was losing so much blood. Like I said my mom found out and I was put on birth control which regulated my period.

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Share Your Story : Kelly

text that reads "Life with Endometriosis"

Kelly was 23 years old when she was diagnosed with Endometriosis.  Two years later and living in England, she’s started her own blog to help spread awareness about this illness.  But today Kelly tells us her story…

Kelly’s Journey: My name is Kelly and I’m a 25 year old woman who has been living with endometriosis since roughly 2003. I was diagnosed in January 2015 after laparoscopic surgery at the age of 23, fifteen days before I turned 24 years old. I have endo on my bladder, bowels and peritoneum (as far as I know – it has been over a year since I had a laparoscopy).

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Share your Story : Kyla

Text that reads "I don't know how to proceed at this point..."

Kyla is 34-years-old.  Nine weeks ago she had a total hysterectomy and is struggling with a potential diagnosis of Endometriosis and needs our help…

Kyla’s Journey: Hello everyone .. I recently had a total Da Vinci hysterectomy with bilateral tube removal due to several years of horrible pain with my monthly cycles and irregular bleeding with painful intercourse. I have had a very rough recovery, suffering 2 large hematomas and am still slowly recovering at 9 weeks post op. I have suspected for a long time that I had/have endo. My Dr. Has not discussed her findings during my hysto. ..she has only told me that she removed extensive scar tissue.

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Share Your Story : Hailey

A husband, wife, and two sons standing in a doorway

Hailey lives in Okalahoma.  When she was 22 years old, she received her Endometriosis diagnosis.  Now, over a decade later, she offers some stellar words of advice!!

Hailey’s Journey: I am going to call this the short version because we all know too well that listing every ounce of our story would be more like a novel than a blog post! Looking back I think it’s something I have had issues with for much much longer than my diagnosis.

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Endometriosis & The Bowel

Diagram of human bowels

As you may know, Endometriosis is not limited to just your reproductive bits & pieces.  It can implant, grow, and fester in many places; the bowel included.  But what does that mean? How do you know if it’s on your bowel?  Today’s blog will go into that…Read on, dear Reader…read on.  Word of warning : I will be using words like fart and poop! Why dance around the subject with flowery words when I feel like I’m a giggly 12-year-old girl?

It is estimated that between 5-15% (and some even doctors guess it’s actually between 3-34%) of women with Endometriosis suffer from Endo on their bowels.  Bowel Endometriosis may affect the colon, the rectum, the large intestine, the small intestine, the colon, or the sigmoid colon.  The implants may be physically located on the bowels, or even just located adjacent to them in areas like the Pouch of Douglas, uterosacral ligaments, or rectovaginal septum. The close proximity of the inflamed and irritated lesions may be enough to induce bowel Endometriosis symptoms.  And these symptoms may also be caused by adhesions pulling or twisting the bowels.

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Share Your Story : Charlie

woman with curly brown hair wearing a sweater and beanie

Charlie lives in the UK, and was diagnosed with Endometriosis when she was 16.  Now 19, and two surgeries later, her pain is already returning.  This is her story.

Charlie’s Journey: 

So, I guess we should start at the beginning.

This post will feature words that usually have a stigma behind them or make some people feel uncomfortable such as ‘periods’ so look out.

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