My Endo Story, Part 2

My next episode was about 6 months later. It was May and I was home from school for the summer. It was late at night, I had been woken up by severe pain in my lower abdomen, I came upstairs and was walking around trying to alleviate the pain. I ended up throwing up and nearly collapsing. I was very weak and scared. I was only 18 at the time. I remember slowly making my way down the hallway, crawling as best I could. I made it to my younger sister's room and woke her up, asking her to wake Mom and Dad for me, I knew I didn't have it in me.

My parents were very concerned, as was I. My mom ended up taking me to the ER. I remember being so embarrassed that I was being examined, as I was having my period. There was a bunch of doctors in the room, I would guess about 7 or so different personnel. They decided that I was being dramatic, that I was just having cramps. But they suggested I see a Gynecologist just in case.

I did. After telling him of my symptoms he asked if I had had any previous incidents like this one. Only then did I connect what had happened to me back in November. He seemed to be expecting that. He then began explaining Endometriosis to me. Telling me that it sounded like the beginning signs. He told me to expect it to get much worse, gradually at first, and then more often. He said it would eventually get to be every month, and then it could get so bad that I might have symptoms even when I wasn't on my period. He also explained to me that this illness greatly lessened my chances of having children. And that eventually I would likely have to have a hysterectomy.

I was horrified. For months I obsessed over my 'diagnosis' (it wasn't official yet, they could only diagnos for certain with Laparoscopy, right now it was just 'suspected'). I was constantly looking up information online and freaking myself out more and more. I was letting it take over my life. I was worrying whether or not I would ever have children, worrying about when the next episode would hit me and on and on. Luckily I had aome amazing friends that really helped me through things. Eventually I was able to move on a bit and not let it consume me.

The episodes got more and more frequent, but for me, I wouldn't say anymore intense. Maybe sometimes, but not in general. I was put on a constant loop of birth control (meaning that they had me skip the placebos and only take the active pills). Doing so helped a lot, it didn't fix things, but it made it easier to lead a normal life.

My Endo Story. Part 1

November 1999. I was in my first year of college. During my French class I started feeling really odd. I felt really nauseated, stabbing stomach pain, but mostly extreme light-headedness. After class I went into the restroom and sat on the floor trying to throw up, thinking that if I did, it would help me feel better. After an unsuccessful half hour or so I finally decided to just go home, I only lived a few blocks away. I splashed some water on my face and looked in the mirror. I was shocked by what I saw. I was ash white, gray really. My lips were gray also. It was very disturbing. I managed to make it about 50 feet or so. To a bench by the fountain, when I had to sit down again. By this time I was close to tears. I didn't know if/how I could make it home and I was praying that Heavenly Father would send some one to help me. Nearly immediately there was a girl talking to me, but I brushed her off and she left. And then I realized that she might have been the help I needed. Luckily for me a friend of mine came by on his way to class and stopped to help. He helped me stumble my way home. I spent much of the afternoon throwing up and being too dizzy to walk. I had several good friends around that offered their help and opinions as to what was wrong with me. We concluded that I must have been dehydrated.

I wasn't.

This was my first "episode" of what I now know as Endometriosis.