There have been quite a few posts here referring to Endometriosis - asking if it is related to thyroid, worsened by thyroid, etc. Today the Guardian has put Endometriosis as its lead story for the whole paper (might change over the next few hours hours - but the story will remain.
Sadly, it doesn't give much positive information or help - but it does very clearly recognise the suffering of so many.
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Endometriosis: the hidden suffering of millions of women revealed
Often dismissed as ‘women’s troubles’, endometriosis affects one woman in 10 of reproductive age, yet a lack of research and funding means sufferers can live in severe pain, unable to work or socialise
I had this disease. As a teenager I was told by my mother that women just had to put up with it, so I didn't start seeking help until I left home, aged 18. I finally got a diagnosis when I was 30 or 31. It didn't help me much though. The doctors had me pegged as a woman who was depressed, anxious, a liar, an attention-seeker, and a hypochondriac. The pain was all in my head etc. Getting the diagnosis didn't change a single thing.
I am sorry you had that response from medical professionals who should know better. Once some things are noted on our medical records I don't know whether it can be changed. I think it should be as it can affect any future treatment/diagnosis.
Did you have it bad? Taking birth control pills to help it or what? Is it still painful?
I wonder if I have it after all as pain during my ovulation is sort of awful. Right side hurts walking, standing up etc moving and when you feel the area around you can feel bowel or something swollen and touching it causes sharp pain. It It is always the same. But my periods are not painful anymore after going gluten free 10 years ago and got my lower back "snapped". I am not using any hormones.
LOL did not sound so good. I meant manipulated by professional I can not translate. Not chiropractic nor osteopathy. Type of that manipulation is common in Finland. Not used similar techniques than others like chiropractic etc.
Person fixing my back asked if I have painful periods and then he explained it might be down to SI joint because of my bad knee and ankle which made me limp for years.
Well however before that I had so painful periods I needed strong painkillers. After manipulation pain was "normal" and going gluten free helped with normal pain as well. I barely feel periods starting. Not on birth control pills and not have had any kids.
Justiina, I had a hysterectomy quite a few years ago. I still have extensive scarring, damage, and adhesions, and that will never go away. So, yes, I still get pain, but it is no longer from active endometriosis.
I did spend several years during my 20s taking the pill continuously for three months at a time to stop me having periods. I was also given something called Dimetriose (I don't think this is ever used any more, which is good because it had zero effect) in my 30s, and I was also put on Zoladex during my 30s. For the time I was on it it stopped periods so it helped from that point of view. But as soon as I stopped getting the Zoladex the pain immediately came back.
This article, following my original post, is by one of our most popular and famous authors.
Well worth reading through.
Endometriosis took my fertility, and part of my self
Hilary Mantel
For many years, women with endometriosis were ignored and stigmatised. It was labelled “the career women’s disease”, afflicting those who supposedly were too selfish to have their babies young. Imagine the anger and distress this stigma caused, among women who would have loved to have children … if the condition itself didn’t hinder them. The myth was that endometriosis did not affect women until they were in their 30s, which was tough if, like me, you had your first symptoms with your first period.
My own battle with the disorder seems to have occupied most of my life. Period pains were normal, I was told, and if I seemed to suffer more than most, it must be because I had a “low pain threshold”. At 19, I began actively seeking a diagnosis. I was 27 when I received it, and by that stage, major surgery was the only answer. Abruptly I lost my fertility and, in some ways, lost myself. Though I was told I was cured, the condition recurred, and drug treatment led to huge weight gain. Thyroid failure followed and the devastating chain of consequences pursues me to this day. Anything I have achieved has been in the teeth of the disease.
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