My battle with Endometriosis.

So today I wanted to write about something quite serious. 

Well where should I start.

A year ago I was diagnosed with a condition called Endometriosis, it's a common but rarely discussed gynaecological disease, which causes small pieces of the lining of the womb to be found else where in the body.

Yes this is a post about gynaecological issues so if that grosses you out (although I'm not sure that it should) you should probably stop reading.

So I guess I should start by saying that I've had problems with my periods since they began when I was thirteen, but they didn't get really bad until I was fifteen.

Having debilitating prolonged pain, time off school every month, heavy bleeding, it was awful. 

So since I was fifteen I've been to the doctor about every two months, just about my periods. Hundreds of urine samples, countless blood tests, ultra sounds and numerous different doctors and what was I told time and time again, that it was normal to experience pain and that they would settle when I was older.

Well that just wasn't acceptable to me. So I kept going back and telling them that there was something else going on, that this wasn't normal.

Finally I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (a condition that causes cysts to form around the ovaries). But I was told that there was no cure and given anti inflammatories for the pain.

So I went with that for a year or so. Taking the pain medication every month and still debilitated. 

It was also around this time that I started developing a terrible pain in the side of my abdomen, so bad that I would collapse to the floor and even pass out. Because of this I was taken to the hospital twice and both times told that they couldn't see anything wrong  (after poking at my stomach and doing yet another urine sample) and sent me home with pain killers. The doctor told me I had IBS.

By this point I was nineteen and the pain levels were worse than ever, and had started effecting me almost all month round. I would be taking codeine and still be in agony.

I had started a small house cleaning job, eight hours a week because that's all I could handle, still I spent hours sat on their floor, having a little cry because the pain was so overwhelming (thank goodness they were never there). 

I went back to the doctors and insisted that there was something really wrong. Thankfully they finally listened, after so many years I was referred to an actual gynaecologist. 

A lovely middle aged Scottish man, who took one look at me and recommended a laparoscopy (a small incision is made just below your belly button and a camera fed through to get a close look at what is happening). A few weeks later I was in, the procedure was awful and the recovery terrible, but I finally got my answer, Endometrieosis. 

A month after the Laparoscopy I had an appointment with the professor (yes he's a professor) to go over what he found and what we could do about it.

To my horror one of the things he discovered as he was poking and prodding inside my abdomen was that a section of my bowel is fixed to my abdominal wall because of my endometrieosis. That's why I get such bad abdominal pain, and what the hospital failed to notice. There's no way to fix it now, if he cuts the two apart they will heal back together or he could cause more damage. It's just something I have to deal with.

We discussed the courses of treatment. TREATMENT finally I was talking about a way to end the pain.

We settled on hormonal treatments with a medicine called Decapeptyl. 

There's only two things that have been known to cure endometriosis, pregnancy and menopause.

I'm going through the latter.

It's not something I ever thought I would be going through but I am. 

So here I am eight months later. Still having my monthly injections. And still going through the bloody menopause, in the middle of the hottest summer ever as well.

When I was first put on this injection I was told I would have it for nine months, well it took awhile to kick in and I'm still experiencing pain, so now I'm scheduled for twelve. Just my luck that even the course of treatment doesn't work how its supposed to.

So now I have another laparoscopy scheduled for December (just in time for Christmas... great) and fingers crossed it's worked.

  

So there is my story, and sadly I'm not alone. 

But I'm going to carry on fighting and hope that I can get through this.

If you're going through something similar or just want to know more visit the endometriosis UK website at www.endometriosis-uk.org