High School, Endometriosis and Mental Health

High school can be an exciting and challenging time for any student. It becomes even more daunting when there is the added burden of endometriosis. My endometriosis journey started during the first year of my high school career. This journey affected my hobbies and milestone achievements.

A Passionate Hobby

By the time I reached high school, I had danced for several years. I was so excited to be able to try out for the dance team. Over the summer I did the drill team camp and made the team.

I was not able to dance for all four years of high school. My pain levels and missed school interfered with those plans. Eventually, I had to leave the team. This was such a sad moment for me. It was the first major thing that endometriosis took from me.

Missing Out

Trying to live with endometriosis during high school caused me to miss out on many High School key milestones.

School Days

As my endometriosis progressed, I started missing more school days. During my actual period, I would bleed through a pad and tampon in 30 minutes. My pain levels would often put me in the hospital.

My mother had to have meetings with the principal about my health and school attendance. Luckily, they were able to work things out. I managed to keep up with all my classwork despite missing my classes and being in extreme pain.

AP Exams

Part of the advanced classes that I took involved an end of the year exam. The exam is what provided the college credit. Leading up to the exam for my statistics class, I was dealing with a high level of pain. At this point, I did not say anything to my mom because I really thought this was my new normal.

At the beginning of the exam, I was shaking so badly that I could not write correctly. The proctor sent me to the nurse’s office and they called my mom. At the hospital, they determined I had a softball size cyst inside my right ovary. Since it was so big, I had an infection as well. This infection got into my blood.

Once I got out of the hospital, I had to stay home with a stint in my arm and iv antibiotics. Needless to say, I missed that AP exam!

Graduation

The day of my high school graduation I was in so much pain. Our school had everyone sit on the opposite side of the field and everyone walked around to the graduation seats. I was unable to do this walk. My mom had to help me get to the graduation seats before the ceremony.

Additionally, our school did a graduation lockdown at the school for the entire night. The year I graduated, the theme was casino night. I had to skip this experience as well because I was struggling so much that day.

Depression

When I first started battling endometriosis, I saw so many specialists. The first several doctors told us that I was too young to have endometriosis. (Note: this was 20 years ago)! They would tell my mom that I was simply depressed and it was all in my head.

It was hard to deal with extreme pain and bleeding. The doctors did not make things any better when they dismissed my pain and complaints. Several family members also told me I was being a baby over normal period pain.

Eventually, I became depressed. This did not help the constant battle I was facing. Some 15 gynecologists later, I found a specialist who knew how to treat my endometriosis and the depression I was facing from my decreased quality of life.

Did endometriosis affect your high school career? Feel free to share your experiences with us!