Endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue grows outside of the uterus, along with other places it shouldn’t be growing. It can be found on ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, etc.
I was told I had Endometriosis by my gynecologist when I was 19 (I’m 21 now), but I had been having symptoms for years before that. I’m by no means an expert on Endo, but I have experience with it. I’m going to be explaining more about everything Endo so you can be aware of it too.
Like I said before, I was told I have endometriosis at 19. The first time I went to my gynecologist was when she told me. A lot of people have to wait years to get told this; however, I got lucky, and I think it helps that she had Endo too. My symptoms were mainly severe pain, on my period and without it, and heavy periods. The game plan then was to find birth control to help me with my pain and to stop my period altogether. We decided that I didn’t need to have surgery at that point because I was young. Since then, I’ve been on and off different birth control trying to find something that tames it. Some caused me more pain because it was growing the tissue at a faster rate, and with others, I didn’t really see a difference in my symptoms. The one I’ve been on for about a year now worked for a while up until recently.
Since finding out I have Endo, I have also found out that all the women on my mom’s side of the family have it too. Which makes me wonder why we’re not talking more about this. Not just my family, but I have noticed there is more of a taboo regarding talking about Endometriosis. Is this because it has to do with the uterus? I don’t know, but I believe everyone with a uterus should know what it is.
The biggest symptom of Endometriosis is pain. Specifically pain during your period, although some people also have pain outside their period, like me. Having pain on your period is not an uncommon symptom but how much pain you’re in can tell you if you might have Endo. Are you in so much pain you can’t get out of bed? Are you throwing up? Are you just unable to continue on with your normal life when you’re on your period? If so, it’s probably not normal. I know for me, I thought that much pain was normal, which is why I really didn’t see a problem. Pain during sex is also a big one for a lot of people with Endo.
Another big symptom is heavy periods. This was a big one for me too, my periods were so heavy that I was anemic. I was exhausted all the time and changed my pads every 1-2 hours even with the thick overnight ones. Again, I thought this was a normal thing because no one ever told me it wasn’t. Heavy periods can be a lot to handle and deal with, especially in college.
You know your body and if something doesn’t feel “normal”, investigate it. If you are having bad period pain, talk to your primary doctor, or gynecologist, or go to the Women’s Clinic here at Tech! It doesn’t have to be normal to be in pain!