Post by meka on Feb 24, 2006 0:49:26 GMT -5
Hello, fellow hopefuls. My name is Meka. I’m 28, and I have no idea how long I’ve had endo, but it made its presence really known in June 2005. Here’s my story (forgive me, it’s long, but I need to let it all out:
Junior high school: suffered painful periods --it’s normal, THEY SAY -- I never liked to take medicine/pain killers for some reason. I usually tried to endure the pain.
High school: became sexually active, 1 partner, always protected (so no infections). I frequently experienced pain during and after sex, but I didn’t know I should think anything of it. Figured it was God's way of punishing me for having unwed sex! ;D
College – definitely missed a few classes due to my monthly visitor. I went on birth control pills to try to get rid of the cramps (and, hopefully, gain a little weight and clear up the acne). Alas, the fine print--possible side effects-- on the packaging scared me, so I stopped in two months.
Post-college: The menstrual cramps and pain with sex persisted. I tried the birth control pills again in 2004 and experienced my ABSOLUTELY worst period ever while on them . . . I quit again in less than a month. Motrin became my best friend for many months.
April 2005 – doctor suggested I go through a sigmoidoscopy to figure out why I had such pain with bowel movements over the last year during my periods. Results: colon looks okay, must be some small hemorrhoids causing the pain, THEY SAY!
June 2005: My period got so bad that the pain was unbearable, I was blacking out, had hot flashes, could barely crawl to let the paramedics in. . . My first, and hopefully, my last trip to the ER. Not even two doses of morphine helped. I was in pain every day for a month, even hugs hurt.
Two weeks later the doctor suggested that I might have endometriosis—the first I’d ever paid attention to the term, though my older sister suffers from it, too. (My sister is a bit of a hypochondriac, so I didn’t think that I could possibly have the same medical problem as she did.)
August 2005: Finally, an ultrasound confirmed the pelvic exams. There are many cysts in my abdomen area, including on my ovaries, and my future-baby tubes are clogged (with blood or puss from some unknown past infection). But, sigh, nothing can be truly confirmed without a laparoscopy, the dreaded L word.
I’ve declined the procedure, as well as the medications, hormones, pills, etc. I’m trying to cure myself naturally. So far, no good. But I still have some more fight left in me! I’m not totally opposed to the above, but they are, FOR ME an absolute last resort.
Thanks for listening to my story, and thank goodness for this message board. We all need it.
Meka
Junior high school: suffered painful periods --it’s normal, THEY SAY -- I never liked to take medicine/pain killers for some reason. I usually tried to endure the pain.
High school: became sexually active, 1 partner, always protected (so no infections). I frequently experienced pain during and after sex, but I didn’t know I should think anything of it. Figured it was God's way of punishing me for having unwed sex! ;D
College – definitely missed a few classes due to my monthly visitor. I went on birth control pills to try to get rid of the cramps (and, hopefully, gain a little weight and clear up the acne). Alas, the fine print--possible side effects-- on the packaging scared me, so I stopped in two months.
Post-college: The menstrual cramps and pain with sex persisted. I tried the birth control pills again in 2004 and experienced my ABSOLUTELY worst period ever while on them . . . I quit again in less than a month. Motrin became my best friend for many months.
April 2005 – doctor suggested I go through a sigmoidoscopy to figure out why I had such pain with bowel movements over the last year during my periods. Results: colon looks okay, must be some small hemorrhoids causing the pain, THEY SAY!
June 2005: My period got so bad that the pain was unbearable, I was blacking out, had hot flashes, could barely crawl to let the paramedics in. . . My first, and hopefully, my last trip to the ER. Not even two doses of morphine helped. I was in pain every day for a month, even hugs hurt.
Two weeks later the doctor suggested that I might have endometriosis—the first I’d ever paid attention to the term, though my older sister suffers from it, too. (My sister is a bit of a hypochondriac, so I didn’t think that I could possibly have the same medical problem as she did.)
August 2005: Finally, an ultrasound confirmed the pelvic exams. There are many cysts in my abdomen area, including on my ovaries, and my future-baby tubes are clogged (with blood or puss from some unknown past infection). But, sigh, nothing can be truly confirmed without a laparoscopy, the dreaded L word.
I’ve declined the procedure, as well as the medications, hormones, pills, etc. I’m trying to cure myself naturally. So far, no good. But I still have some more fight left in me! I’m not totally opposed to the above, but they are, FOR ME an absolute last resort.
Thanks for listening to my story, and thank goodness for this message board. We all need it.
Meka