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High school
My endometriosis started bothering me in high school. I can’t remember what year it started but we will just say 2013. I was a cheerleader, I was base and back spot. Other cheerleaders stood on my shoulders. On my last box squat final I squatted with 120 pounds (this is when you put the weight bar on your shoulders and sit down and immediately stand back up) which was how much I weighed. I loved weight lifting in high school. I loved gym class. I lifted my cousin who weighed 89 pounds more then me (not once but three times in a row) I didn’t consider myself a wimp until my periods got worse, then I felt like the world’s biggest wimp and people looked at me like one too. It would get so bad I would hate gym class when I was on it, and once a year I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for school. My mom believed me because she had endometriosis and she didn’t find out until after she had both me and my little sister. Every time I would go to the Dr. for a physical my mom would always bring up how bad it was for me because she didn’t want me to be in pain like she was. But the Dr. always said that “period pains are normal” and “Endometriosis is not hereditary”. She never seemed to believe me so I started telling myself “I am just a wimp and I need to suck it up”. So for six years I would just take Tylenol, Ibuprofen and Midol and use a heating pad. The pain during periods just kept getting worse. On hard workout days in gym class I would throw up because the pain was so bad. One day I asked my high school gym teacher what she thought and she seemed to think endometriosis wasn’t hereditary. So I kept pushing through the pain.
2014 Thanksgiving I picked up my cousin who was a football player at the time. He weighed 89 pounds more than me, so was I really a wimp? No, clearly something was wrong to be lifting my cousin one minute and a month later I’m in so much pain I can’t enjoy Christmas tree hunting. I was also a firefighter, this picture was at my first fire (it was a tractor on fire in the middle of a field, I got to put out one of the tires) have you ever held a hose? They are very heavy you have to have several people behind you supporting you so you don’t fall back. Another fire I put out was in the woods, they filled up a backpack full of water on my back and I had to walk down into the woods with my 20 pound gear plus 20 pounds of water on my back. Again that’s not something a wimp would do.
Two pictures from 2014 Christmas. “sick”… that’s what we would call it because nobody would understand “period misery”. My periods only lasted about 5 days. I would have it for 3 days skip a day and then have it again. There’s no reason feeling this miserable 5 days after it ended. It ruined what should have been a very wonderful experience. It was our first and only real tree.
College
The last semester of my two year college my pain got worse and it wasn’t just during my period. I assumed my back pain was from working with kids lifting to change diapers and sitting on the floor with them. I started using my heating pad every night. After graduation I started working at a daycare. More diapers and more sitting on the floor. Some of my coworkers told me I should see a chiropractor. I saw the chiropractor for about a year and the pain didn’t improve. It got worse and worse. It got so bad I couldn’t bend down to pick up toys off the ground or lift a child without crying.
Pictured above I was a back spot in college cheer.
Marriage
The pain was so bad I cried having sex with my husband. He insisted that was not normal and that I should call a dr. I finally called an obgyn and set up an appointment. One day before my appointment the pain was so bad, my husband thought my appendix was bursting so he insisted I went to the ER. Of course I was reluctant because “they won’t believe me or find anything wrong”. I Unfortunately was right, the first thing the Dr told me was “I’m going to guess you’re pregnant”. That comment hurt me so badly because my husband and I wanted nothing more but of course we knew it wasn’t possible because I was in too much pain. Then the next thing he said was “I bet you’re constipated”. After doing lots of tests that is what he settled on “you’re just constipated go home and take a laxative and check in with your dr tomorrow”. So I had to walk out of the ER in the same if not more pain. It was a little funny looking back on it because I was crippled over in so much pain wobbling out and the nurse looked at me with such sadness “ can I get you a wheelchair?” My reply wasn’t very kind. “no apparently there’s nothing wrong with me” and unfortunately this is what I learned to believe, work through the pain because you’re just a wimp and there’s nothing wrong with you. Because no-one seemed to believe me.
Unfortunately over the past 7 years I’ve seen more and more friends and family members in the same situation. Nobody is listening to them making them feel wimpy. So the women start believing it and causing their body’s more harm than good. So my advice to you is listen to your body. If your pain is getting worse with every period that’s not normal. If your period brings you pain that doesn’t go away after your period is gone, that’s not normal. Seek help. And don’t give up seeking help until you find someone to listen to you. Endometriosis normally can not be seen on an ultrasound. The only way it can be diagnosed is with a laparoscopic surgery. I know surgery is not ideal, especially for just diagnosing something. But if you truly believe you may have it, it’s the best thing to do. Letting endometriosis grow on can cause permanent damage, infertility, and sometimes life threatening issues.
This is another day that should have been fun but it was out shadowed by the pain. I really wanted to go to an air show. my husband talks about the air force planes all the time and I really wanted to see them. We drove an hour to get there. Car rides are the worst for me, so we get there and I’m miserable. we can’t find a parking spot anywhere, and we were running late. We go to the bus station and the lines were so long we knew we couldn’t make it so we left and went back the next day. The next day we went early and found a parking spot in somebodies yard (yes, it was legit. people were charging to let you park in their yards, Crazy!). We still had to walk a while. Not only was I in so much pain but it was an extremely hot day in July (hens the umbrella, that just so happened to be in my purse). The air show was great and afterword’s I got to see Clydesdales and the inside of a plane, but I was so miserable it was hard to enjoy it
The two pictures above are from my nephews baby shower and when he was born.
I put a picture of my husband holding my nephew to show you how pail I was. We were sitting side by side and the camera settings were exactly the same. (I’ll talk more about these two pictures in my next blog)
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