Even while not on their period, many EndoWarriors have pain in their pelvic cavity, or elsewhere
Alex lives in New Zealand and was diagnosed with Endometriosis when she was 14.
Alex’s Journey: Well at the age of 14 I was seen by my specialist after going into hospital 2 with in a few weeks with abdo pain… She said I’ll see you for surgery so she did! Adhesions, endo and appendix.
By the time I was 18 I was back to square 1, pain killers are useless to this day. I have seen specialists around the country for other opinions…
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Alexandra is a fellow blogger out of Brisbane, Australia. Today she share’s her Endometriosis journey with us. She was diagnosed when she was 20, and now five years later here she goes, starting us out with a *bang*:
Alexandra’s Journey: “Uterus.” There, I said it! Uterus! Periods. Ovaries. Fallopian Tubes. Bleeding. Tampon. Rectum. Hormones. Bladder. Cervix. Menstruation. Vagina. Discharge. Pelvis. Pads. Endometriosis. Awkward.
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Donna lives in Britain and was in her early 20’s when she was diagnosed with Endometriosis. Nearly 20 years later, she tells us her story…including something that happened to her eyes about 10 years ago. She continues to live with Endometriosis and her eye-issue.
Donna’s Journey: Hi my name is Donna, it all started when I was nine years old when I started my periods. My childhood was ripped away from a very young age. I never had normal periods my cycle was every 14 days. When I would bleed I would often drench the bed with blood. My Mum took me to my doctor and he decided to put me on hormone replacement tablets to begin with. The pain I would experience was unreal yet no one really understood. Year in and year out my periods stayed at a 14 to 19 day cycle.
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So, if you’re reading this you probably already know a little bit about Endometriosis. Recently at our support group meeting, the question of iron levels and anemia came up. With all that bleeding, can we suffer from anemia or an iron deficiency?
And, again, the topic of iron levels and Endo came up at our Endometriosis Awareness & Support Walk: could the blood left in my pelvic region from shedding Endo have caused the “abnormally high” iron levels during a blood test?
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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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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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You may have heard about Peggy Santa Maria on CBS-TV, LA or read about her in the Contra Costa Times or various online blogs. I bumped into the CBS-TV LA link, which was aired on their 5pm news on December 25, 2015, and just had to know more about her. The e-mail address on their site didn’t work, so I reached out to my friend, Margaret, at The Vital Health Institute, who got us in touch.
If you don’t know about Peggy and her husband Roy, they host The Endo Inn. The what? As Roy says, “Stay at the Endo Inn while you have your Endo taken out.” They have converted their guest bedroom into The Endo Inn, a room where a woman and her guest can stay while she recovers from surgery for her Endometriosis, free of charge and for several weeks, if needed. This includes access to all of the house for cooking, doing laundry, entailing everything that covers “living,” and The Endo Inn becomes “their home.” Roy and Peggy have been doing this since January 18, 2000.
More about The Endo Inn shortly…but right now I want to focus on the beautiful people behind it: Peggy and Roy. I had the pleasure of speaking with Peggy several days ago, spending over an hour on the phone with this purely delightful woman.
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As you may recall, last week I shared how I have heard a lot of recent buzz about sexual abuse and Endometriosis sharing a causal link. As promised, I did some digging to figure this out for myself. Curious on my opinion? Read on! But, please remember : it’s only my opinion.
According to The National Center for Victims of Crime, 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys are a victim of child sexual abuse. In 2012 in the United States alone there were 62,939 reported cases of child sexual abuse. That same year, there were 346,830 reported rapes or sexual assaults of persons who were 12 or older.
Continue readingSarah’s symptoms began when she was 13 years old…but her diagnosis not until she was 34! Why not? How is that possible? It happens more than it should…curious? Read on, Dear Reader, read on.
Sarah’s Journey: I don’t think I’ve had a single day where my female reproductive organs were active and NOT pissing me off. I got my period one day in summer when I was thirteen years old. And it just … didn’t stop. For the first year of my menstruating life, I bled for 25 days out of thirty. It was ridiculous, and led to me having anemia and needing fluids almost all the time. My well meaning GP at the time said my body was just “adjusting”.
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Bloomin' Uterus 