My Journey So Far (Part 1)…

Welcome to my second post, I have decided to split my journey with endometriosis into two posts as it’s quite a lengthy journey I’ve had. For many people they have never heard of endometriosis despite approximately 176 million women in the world having endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic condition, it is where tissue that is similar to the tissue found in the lining of the womb begins to grow in other areas such as the fallopian tubes, the ovaries, outside the womb and the bladder. As endometriosis has no cure it can be a really debilitating condition, however there are some treatments available that can help subside the symptoms.

 People tend to dismiss endometriosis as just being “bad period pain”, but bad period pain is just one of the symptoms as there are a range of symptoms. A common misconception is that endometriosis only affects women and causes them pain when they have their periods, but it can affect women at any given time such as before, during or after their periods.

Due to endometriosis symptoms varying for each individual and the symptoms being similar for a load of other conditions it makes it difficult to diagnose endometriosis. For me my journey began very early on, I was 11 when I had my first period and at that age, I had no idea what a period even was. So from my first few periods I can vaguely remember they were excruciatingly painful and heavy, and I used just over the counter painkillers, but they didn’t work. This is what began my frequent trips to the doctors, the doctor explained that it would take a while for my body to get used the periods, but I did get prescribed mefenamic acid. Mefenamic acid is a tablet that is an anti-inflammatory painkiller, it is meant to lighten periods and help the pain. However, for me they did not work instead they caused me to have two periods within a month and the pain continued before, during and after periods.

Around age 13 the doctors suggested to me and my mom that I should try the combined contraceptive pill as it would help regulate my periods to once a month and make them lighter which would hopefully reduce the pain. But I suffered really bad side effects and the worst for me was the nausea and after a year on the pill it didn’t change. I then tried the other types of combined pill like the one you take every day instead of the 21-day pills, but there was never really a change for me, so I stopped them. When I was around 14 years old, a friend’s mom who’s a nurse suggested that my symptoms sounded like endometriosis and that is when I began to research the condition. I suggested to my doctor that my symptoms matched what I read, but I was told that I was too young to have endometriosis and instead was tested for Chron’s and Colitis. The symptoms for me around that time was fatigue, cramps, pain in my stomach and back, my legs would throb, and bowel movements and urination was painful.

At 16 I then got the contraceptive injection every 3 months, which completely stopped my periods and it did help incredibly with the pain at that time. However after 2 years of having the injections I decided to stop them as the injection thins out the bones and I already have calcium deficiency and also, it’s very unnatural to not have periods for 2 years. After a break from contraception, around 6 months after I couldn’t cope with the pain once again, so at 18 years old I went on the progestogen only pills for a year, however they had to be stopped as they had a negative effect on my mental health.

 Once stopping any form of contraception for my pain, I began to get even more symptoms such as passing out from the pain, not sleeping, feeling and being sick, shooting and sharp pains, bloating, pain more frequently and daily, and indigestion. Soon I was back at the doctors and was given Naproxen which is an anti-inflammatory painkiller and Zapain which is another painkiller that contains paracetamol and codeine.

I will be leaving this post here as the rest of my journey will be continued in the next post. If anyone would like support or thinks that they may have endometriosis, feel free to contact me or check out some of the useful links on my resources page.

With love,

Nakeita xoxo