Happy that endo has finally been recognized!

Hi, I got my first period at 10, complete with endo! This was in 1979! No gyn's knew anything about endo then. I went through years of undescribable pain in my lower belly, my legs, and my intestines, also hemorrhaging, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headaches, for 4-5 days steady out of the 7 every month! I wanted to die every month. Back then I had my hymen tore through exams which lead me nowhere. I was put on every kind of birth control to male hormones hoping something would stick. I had to go to the ER almost every month to be put on a demerol IV for 2-3 days. Constantly hospitalized, sent home with narcotics and no rhyme or reason. I had several laparoscopies. I did medical trials for Depo Provera through Albany Medical Center(NY) for a year in which case the injections were supposed to be every 3 months, but I bled through the majority of that whole year with them changing my injections to every 6 weeks! I was told at 17 I would never have any children. Thank god they were wrong, I had a daughter in 1988 and a son in 1993. I was still fighting endo every month for 16 years with no real help in sight! When I was 26, I begged my obgyn to give me a hysterectomy, thank god they agreed there were no other options for me. I had a full hysterectomy with cervix removal, bladder and small intestine scrapings to remove the unknown disease at that time. I am soo thrilled for all the young girls like I was and women who can now be treated because research finally put a name to this disease! There wasn't 1 aspect of my life that wasn't affected by endo in my 16 years of extreme suffering. Good luck to all you women out there that have this horrible disease but can get treatment for it now. I just thought i'd share my story, even though it has been 26 years since my hysterectomy that saved my life! God Bless!