This Pain Isn’t Normal

I remember one February seven years ago I had the worst period I’d ever had in my life. This was after two kids, and doing research I found out this wasn’t normal at all as you got older. Instead of getting better, my periods we’re getting more painful.

And then other strange things happened

Simultaneously, my tastebuds started changing, severely. It is the absolute strangest thing to have your diet do a 180 because of this. My gyn said just take stronger ibuprofen “here’s a prescription”. Meanwhile the length of time I was in pain kept lengthening, as the list of foods I could eat without crying in frustrating and disgust was shrinking.

That's when I found it

I finally found it on the internet, searching over and over again for what on earth was happening: endometriosis. I learned as much as I could (which was thoroughly confusing), joining groups on Facebook, reading other stories and treatment. I found a surgeon in town who was familiar with the disease and grudgingly said she’d do the surgery (since she wasn’t convinced I had endo). She tried talking me out of it, but the large cyst found on my ovary, the amount of weight I was losing from food troubles, and the daily pain, sometimes doubled over unable to move had me desperate.

A temporary fix

This surgery ended up a temporary fix, treating the most extreme problems I had. I next went to a naturopath who helped immensely! But period pain continued to increase again, and I knew from the surgeon that I had a lot of endo left in me. This time I found a Nook approved surgeon in a city nearby. That surgery was three weeks ago.

Feeling relief

Stage 4 endo and all my organs glued together. I’m still taking it slow as recovery from a surgery where an expert got all the endo he could find and pushed and prodded my insides is going to take awhile. Even if I’m not going to be fully pain free, I’m so glad to know I can take steps towards it now that the endo is gone. It’s been a very painful time, but my family and close friends are supportive and understanding.