The Different Kinds of Pain I Live With

Endometriosis is one of those illnesses that can turn you into a fairly panicky person. It comes with such changeable, new, and unexpected symptoms that I find myself asking myself, is this "endo" or something worse? Is it cancer? Am I dying?

In fact, my journey towards a diagnosis began with a lot of fear. I was dealing with strange symptoms for so long - the kind that if you google, always come up as “definitively cancer”. I suffered from painful ovulation and intercourse, extremely bad periods, and a whole bunch of other irregular symptoms. Even now, diagnosed with endometriosis and with two surgeries under my belt (or around my belly button, more precisely) I still experience a good range of new symptoms every other month. And yes, I still worry way too much about them.

Endometriosis forums are full of posts that are basically variations on "does anyone else experience this?". Because we are dealing with so many different sensations and uncomfortable symptoms, it can be stressful to work out if what is going on is normal, or worth checking out.

The different kinds of pain I experience

Ovulating pain

This one coincides with the days I am ovulating. It’s a mild type of discomfort, and it tends to dissipate after two days, Interestingly, it only makes an appearance every other month. When I first complained to a doctor about this, they said “it was probably stress”. It turned out it involved my left ovary, the one riddled with endometriosis adhesions, and stuck to the walls of my body.

Random pelvic pain

In my case, it's the one resulting from the progesterone pill I am taking, the latest trick up my specialist’s sleeve. This type of pain is of a medium level, and it's present almost all day. Additionally, taking this pill involves some heavy bleeding too. It’s definitively something I need to discuss with my doctor as soon as possible.

Period pain

The absolute worse kind. It doesn’t even fall into the mild level, it just goes straight to the “ouch, I feel you” and “alright, alright, I’m dying” category. It's a horrible discomfort that tends to last an average of three days. Very much like birthing pains, it comes in waves. With this type of flare-up, I am completely unable to function and permanently hooked to my TENS machine.

Adhesion/scar tissue pain

This feels like a  sharp tug. It happens completely randomly, sometimes triggered by digestive issues, others because I have overdone it walking. Sometimes it appears for no reason at all. I’m supposed to have surgery soon to try to locate its exact location and determine whether it’s scar tissue from my last surgery or the return of "the endo".

Of course there are also migraines, shooting leg pains, and a myriad of other forms of discomfort. All of them appearing and disappearing depending on... anything and everything. The best way to manage all of this is to find a doctor that will actually listen, and give every symptom the importance it deserves. It probably isn’t cancer, and just the endometriosis, but it’s worth checking out just to sleep more easily.