My Diagnosis Journey: Part 2
Finding a new doctor was not easy, especially because I had moved to a new state. When it was time for my yearly, I wished I didn't have to go. I disliked these check-ups as it was, and to know I had to deal with a whole new doctor made me nervous. As I sat through that dreadful appointment, the doctor told me my cervix was inflamed and bleeding. She claimed it was normal and would go down. As always, I listened and didn’t question a thing. My periods still seemed non-existent or light due to the pill, and my pain seemed to only be around my period. So, I figured there wasn’t all that much to question.
Waiting for answers
A whole year went by and it was time for my yearly again. The doctor performed the check up only to tell me my cervix was again inflamed and bleeding.... but still took no action. A few days later, my phone rang to tell me my pap smear had come back abnormal. My mind raced to the worst-case scenario possible. As I went in for the second procedure (for them to take a sample), I prayed nothing was wrong. Luckily for me, it was a false positive.
But a part of me felt something wasn’t right. Sex started to hurt, along with heavy bleeding right after sex and the pains in my stomach were increasing. Each time I went to the gynecologist, she blamed it on my birth control and would switch me to something new. I fought back and forth for many years, with many doctors. Eventually, I gave up.
Around January of 2016, I started to feel very sick. Each day was a battle of diarrhea, constipation, nausea, puking, and dizzy spells. According to my doctor, this was normal. When I finally found a primary care doctor to run some tests, I thought I would find all the answers. Blood tests came back normal, besides my vitamin D. My doctor decided to send me back to GI, due to my diarrhea and nausea being so bad.
Tests, tests, and more tests
The GI ran all sorts of scans, along with another colonoscopy, a two-hour stomach study, and endoscopy. Each came back with something, but nothing big enough for the doctor to treat me. He insisted I tried the FODMAP diet. I thought to myself, “great, another diet”.
When the diet did not help, my GI doctor decided to send me to the heart doctor, because I was having a lot of pain and issues. I went through many more scans, along with an exercise stress test and a scan of my heart. Besides a leaky heart valve, nothing concerning was found. I was back on the which doctor next train and it headed to the lung specialist. Because of my dizzy spells, palpitations, and struggling taking deep breaths, the lung doctor ran some of his own tests. Nothing abnormal besides nodules on my lungs. Which meant, still no answers.
Endometriosis runs in the family
As I continued my research, I learned about endometriosis. To my surprise, three out of my four aunts had it. This was now the only thing on my mind. I was ready to find a doctor willing to help me.But, would anyone?
Join the conversation