Great abdominal pain started when I was about 12, not too long after I started menstruation. At age 12 my family doctor thought it could be immature ovaries and put me on the birth control pill. As I got older the pain got too great and overcame me. Family members told me to get over it, all women go through this but I knew it wasn't right.
When I was 17 years old my mother took me to several doctors. They would run tests and tell me nothing was wrong and give me prescribed ibuprofen. My mom and I didn't understand how anyone could tell me nothing was wrong when I'd be crying because the pain was so unbearable.
My boyfriend (whom is now my husband) would try to make me comfortable when I would have painful episodes.
Then a couple doctors told me a little about Endometriosis. One doctor told me to either have surgery or just deal with the pain. The other doctor told me that if I had Endometriosis I would be in too much pain for her to examine me. She didn't know that shortly after being examined the awful pain would begin!
Then one day my mother in law saw an ad for a research study on Endometriosis! I had all the symptoms listed so I called and made an appointment with the research doctors. I was told that I was a good candidate for this study and may even get some relief from my pain. Well it turned out that I did have Endometriosis. Part of the study was to have a larascopic surgery, at that point Endometriosis was identified and removed.Since the surgery I have no pain, just occasional cramping.
July 1999-
just yesterday after 3 years of no pain, it hit me again. I am going to see a doctor about this and hope I don't have to go through it again. But now that I know I have it, I won't tolerate the run around with any doctors! I am currently on the birth control pill continuously to suppress Endometriosis. I take only active pills, this way I don't have a period because it is believed that the tissue that forms Endometriosis is the tissue that makes up a period.
I wish I knew about Endometriosis a lot sooner, then I would not have experienced the terrible pain as long as I did.
After the surgery, I was told that I could still have children, I was not aware that Endometriosis is one of the most (if not the most) leading causes of infertility.
August 1999-
I went to the doctor and found out that the Endo. is coming back. Apparently when I switched birth control pills last spring, I switched to one that is not good for suppressing Endometriosis. The pills, Estrostep, has different levels of hormones for each week. That's good for someone who is irregular. The doctor started me on the same pills I was on after my surgery. Hopefully this will help suppress future Endometriosis but some is there and can not be suppressed unless I have surgery or receive Lepron Depot shots for six months.
I will not do the shots because some women can not become pregnant until two years after the shots. I also don't want to go through those side effects again, it's like menopause. The doctor did say another option is to have a baby. My husband and I want a family, but not right now. Maybe we'll try at the first of the year.
Hopefully I will still be able to have children.
I still have pain, but it is not getting worse since I started the other pills again. The doctor did give me a pain prescription, the same thing that's in Aleve. It helps most of the time.
November 1999- I quit the pill about 3 weeks ago. I have been having pain more often and in August we talked about trying to start a family after the holidays, well we decided to start now. I am 23 now and he is 26. We feel that now is a good time for us. :o)
I hope I can still get pregnant. If not I don't know how I'll feel. I know that there are options if I can't, but I hope it doesn't come down to some of them. I guess I'll just have to have hope and not worry about it until it comes up, cross that bridge when we come to it. I will continue to update my story on this quilt. Maybe I am ahead of someone else and they can relate to my story as they go through it themselves and know the possible outcome. :)
March 3, 2000-
Well, all this week I have been in pain. I made an appointment a few weeks back to see my ob/gyn on March 20. I hope I can handle it till then, but I guess I have no choice.
I am very frustrated. I am so depressed because the pain is getting bad again. I made an appointment for my ob/gyn because it is time for my yearly and I want to discuss what to do about my pain. I don't want to have those awful shots so I have chosen not to do that. I fear that I may need to have surgery, again, to be able to get pregnant. I guess I will update this on the day I go to my dr. or soon after. I feel bad for being in pain, even though I know it's not my fault and I can't control it. I feel like I am being a burden on people around me that have to see me in pain and have to hear me say I'm in pain. I know I shouldn't feel that way, but it's taking control over my life once again. It is making me more and more depressed every day. I am becoming more and more demotivated even though I am trying so hard to stay awake even. I wish I new how to take this away, but I don't know what else to do. I hate not telling my hubby that I hurt, even though I know he would understand. I am keeping the pain to myself again and that is not good to do.
I wish there was a support group close to where I live. I wish I could find chats or something on line about Endometriosis so someone else who is like me could tell me I'll be ok, even if it's not true! It hurts just to sit here and type this, it hurts when I am trying to fall asleep at night. It is not as bad as it was before, atleast not yet, but I don't know how I handled pain worse than this for as long as I did. I guess it made me weak, that I am not as strong as I use to be. I shouldn't think like that though. All I can tell myself is that while other people have it better, I have it better than someone else. I am not just talking about the pain, but about life in general. Yes I have had a hard life, but others have had it harder and some didn't make it. I am not saying that I would kill myself or anything like that, I just mean that others didn't have anything positive in their life while they where living. I have a few, like my husband, my granpa (whom I was separated from for 12 years)and my grandpa's family that I was also separated from, including my mom, and a dad who loves me so much. I also have 3 younger sisters that I know love me and know I love them.
That is what keeps me going everyday. That and the thought that my husband and I are meant to have children. I can not get over this overwhelming feeling that we will have children that will help change the world, that will make it a better place. I guess I'm crazy, or maybe I'm not! Anyhow, that is all for now.
April 2000-
Well I went to my ob/gyn for my annual and to discuss my Endo. She is having me chart my BBT to see if I am ovulating. I go back on the 24 of April to go over my chart and discuss more things. Since that one week last month I haven't had as much pain, at least not yet. I know I shouldn't think like that but it is getting hard not to. I am cramping more though, on any day during the month. Oh, I am beginning to get depressed again just typing about it. But I know that somehow sooner or later things will be ok in their own way. I have a good ob/gyn and a terrific hubby! I also have many supporting people in my life. Plus my pets HA HA! That is all I have to type at this time.
May, 2000-
Well today is the first day of May. Last Monday I went back to my ob/gyn. She went over my BBT chart and said I should be or have ovulated. She had blood taken and on Friday her office called and told me that the test shows I am ovulating, so that is good. In about a month I am suppose to call back and maybe go in. I will update it then.
June, 2000-
Well at the last dr. visit, she wanted hubby to get checked out too. Well, long story short, he is ok. LOL. He had to see a Urologist. His dr. was really nice, he ran some tests and stuff and hubby is ok. So I need to call my ob/gyn. This month I didn't keep up with my BBT chart. I know I need to, and I am starting it up again. I called my dr. last week and asked if they could send me some more charts and they did. I am still hurting, nothing has changed about that. I guess that is all for now.
October 2001-
A lot has happened. Last September, 2000, my grandmother died. Then in January 2001 my husbands grandfather died, and on the death date anniversary of my other grandmother.
I started working in November 2000 though and still working. I started working for the YMCA after school program, that was okay. I enjoyed it. Then in June I started a summer job at a local private daycare and school. I liked it so much and all that I didn't go back to work for the YMCA when school started last fall. I am doing pretty good now. I am an afternoon preschool teacher. I hope to even go to college and get a degree. Next month is the last month of hormone treatment for my Endometriosis. I started taking Synarel (a nasal spray) for my Endometriosis because I couldn't handle the pain anymore, it was getting bad again. I am taking Synarel for 6 months, next month ,November, being the last. After that I will ttc again.
The Synarel is working very well for me. The first 3 or 4 months I had lots of hot flashes, but now I really don't have them as much. I have no Endo. pain now. Hopefully this will help me to increase my chances of getting pregnant. I will try and update as I can. For more info you can visit my personal homepage I have on talkcity.com
November 7, 2002-
Talkcity.com is no longer around, so I have been working a little on another homepage. Not up yet. After I stopped the Synarel treatment I did ok. I sometimes get pain but not as painful as before. I have missed a few days in the last 3 months or so due to Endo. pain. For the first time in my life my periods have been off the last 3 times, and really light. So I am going to the doctor before my health insurance runs out at the end of this month.
September was an awful month. On the 13 which was also a Friday my husbands grandfather died. The on the following Tuesday my husband was laid off, and to top it all of that same Thursday, the 19, I dislocated my knee. He hasn't been able to find work yet and I am going to physical therapy. I didn't have to have surgery thank goodness. The dr. said I have bad knee's. Anyway, I hope that better things start happening. I hope to be able to go to back to work sometime this next week or so.
July 2007-
I went to my ob/gyn for this past year and was told by her practitioner "You always need to be on the pill". I thought to myself oh no, I am not going through all this again. If I am always on the pill then how am I suppose to get pregnant?! I decided that since we have health insurance to find the doctor that diagnosed me Endo. I found him. He has his own practice now. So I went to him in May. He told me once Endo. always Endo. So I had surgery in July for it. They found it on my ovary, bowel, uterus and tubes. He also diagnosed me with insulin resistance which is why I keep gaining weight over the years. I am now on metformin for that. I kept having signs of Diabetes but my family doctor said I was ok. So I bought a blood glucose kit. Turns out my numbers are in the risk zone, pre diabetic. At least now I know and can still turn it around.
Have been doing well since the surgery and in September 2007 stopped the pill. Dr. Mac says the best odds of conceiving are within 6 months of the surgery. We shall see.
July 2008-
Went for my yearly at Dr. Macs. I have been on and off the metfornin because I had two cases of food poisoning and the medicine can be hard on the stomach without being sick. After missing a few days of the medication it is hard for me to get back on it. I am am now on the regular dose. Anyway, I talked to the doctors about not being pregnant yet. They said after I am on the medicine on the regular dose for a month they will do a fertility workup by blood sample. I told them tat our insurance covers diagnosing infertility but not treatment of it by things such as invetro, artificial insemination and such. Over all I am doing well. I have even lost some weight. The pain is bad for only one day if that so I haven't had to depend on the vicodine much. I do have muscle relaxants for my sciattic nerve and at night I have taken one to help with the pain, to help me so I don't get into agonizing pain. A preventive in a way.
August 2008-
Had surgery for the endo. was on my ovaries, bowel, uterus. After , what nearly 10 years, so it was in there along with adhesions.
