My Story
I’ve got a very personal, and vulnerable story to share with you today.
I was at University, learning about hormones and women's health when I began to realise what I had been suffering with and told was normal, wasn’t. 1 year later I was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis and PCOS. It was one of the biggest challenges I have had to overcome. For probably 12 months I had suspected that I may have had endometriosis. This was a condition I had never heard about until I was studying at uni. When I was learning about it I thought gosh what a horrible disease. I think I was also scared by the fact some women can suffer from endometriosis in their nose (a story for another day.)
It took me about the 12 months to have the courage to go to the GP to get a referral to see at a gynecologist. I had done a little research and picked a gynecologist that was specifically trained in endometriosis. After seeing him he suspected that it was endometriosis and only a few short weeks later I was sitting in the pre-op waiting room waiting for my laparoscopy. I was second off the rank and I was expected to be home by lunchtime.
The surgery went longer than expected and when I woke I was very distressed and in a lot of pain. They tried to manage my pain, with heat packs and medication but the medication just made me feel so sick. I was also suffering from low blood pressure which meant every time I tried to get up I would nearly fall over. I spent the whole day in the hospital and we finally made the call at 4 pm we would try and head home as I would feel much better at home in my bed.
After the surgery, I was told I indeed did have Endometriosis, but was given no details, I was to see the gynecologist again six weeks later to go through the full report. The next week was probably one of the hardest weeks of my life. I was in a whole world of pain, I was sitting, well actually laying because the pain was still unbearable, but I was also worried about everything I didn't know. All I was told was that I had Endometriosis, but what did this mean? I really didn't know, so where did I turn to yet again… DR GOOGLE. Even though I was Naturopath, so I really should have known better, but I craved information.
Google Said...
"THERE'S NO CURE FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS"
"1 in 3 people with endometriosis suffer from fertility issues"
These were probably the ones that stuck in my head the most. Would I be living in pain for the rest of my life?? Would I ever be able to have children?? Was there anything I could do??
I decided to call my Gynecologist because my mental health was being affected and I was an emotional wreck, to say the least. So they booked me in for the next available appointment. He reassured me that there were many options to manage my endo symptoms, mainly the pill, marina, or pain medication. None sat right for me and I still didn’t get the support I was completely looking for.
I had spoken to Jess pre-op about how she could help and I was going to book an appointment after I had fully recovered from my surgery but I knew I needed to see her sooner so I took the leap and booked in. Jess is a Women’s Health Physio who also has endometriosis.
She is so passionate and took the time to completely understand what was going on for me and left no stone unturned. With her help, advice and guidance we had a plan to help with pelvic pain.
Awareness for endometriosis is becoming much greater. There is a lot of personal stories on the internet and a lot of Facebook groups. These Facebook groups can be so hindering and aren’t run by professionals.
Facebook support groups saying….
“The pain was unbearable today, I’ve had to be rushed to emergency for pain management”
“I’ve had to take the day off work the pain was too bad”
“We’ve been trying for kids for so many years and now we are starting IVF”
For a while, my mind was sucked into what was going on in the Facebook groups. I was taking on their pain and issues thinking that because I had endometriosis too that I would be in so much pain that I would have to take days off work and probably have to take pain medications as It was the only option to get through hard days.
I was feeling their pain basically and thinking it was mine.
So at this point, my mental health still wasn’t great and the Facebook and social media was acting as a burden to me, adding to my constant worry about if I can have kids or not. I was letting the diagnoses of endometriosis define who I was as a person. It was probably at the stage where I needed to go on medication or get some help from a Councillor. I was reluctant to go on medication so I did a lot of research and I found a Councillor that was also a Chinese herbal medicine practitioner and with my love of natural medicine it felt right that she may be the person who can help me get my health back on track.
It was a massive leap for me to go to a Councillor but after only 3 sessions things had turned and I found my tribe of support. I was seeing my Councillor, physio and sessions of acupuncture plus taking so herbal medicine and I felt I was taking back control of my health. But one of the biggest game changes in my health happened once I found a positive mindset. I stopped thinking of the worst can scenario!! I now live more in the moment, with taking notice of the little daily gratitude’s, trying always to find a positive and this drives my passion to help people find this positive mindset so allow their disease not to define them.
If my story resonates with you, then I hope you have found your positive mind-set. If you are still searching for that please do not hesitate to reach out. Having a positive support network is important, and I am happy to be in your inner circle