It's been 5 years since my Endometriosis excision and I keep reminding myself how lucky I was to finally be diagnosed after years of unexplained pain. I am thankful because so many women go undiagnosed for years and others are simply misdiagnosed.
It's a horrible thing to be told 'some women just have bad periods', when you know for a fact your body is telling you something is wrong. But how can you possibly prove it when the doctors are supposed to be the ones to know what's wrong and why?
It's frustrating because the bad days are really bad, and the other days I would consider great.
Because mild discomfort to me is no pain.
The pain of a bad day is unexplainable. It's the type of pain that makes you physically sick. My legs go numb, and my entire body contorts from the pain, rolling up inside itself between each sharp pain.
The bad days are the worst days and I dread them every single day. They are at their worst around my period but sometimes the bad days come around with no warning and no time-line to follow. Unexpected and unexplained.
However since my diagnosis I've learned alot from my doctor and also from other women going through the same thing as me.
There are so many of us dealing with this every single day of our lives. The problem is that dealing with it becomes the norm and I sometimes wonder what life would be like without it.
I wonder how different life would be and also how different I would be.
I've been living with it for so many more years than the five since my diagnosis. But for the last five years I atleast know what it is.
And that's what's so important about this month. It's about educating both men and women. The more you know, the more it makes sense.
Knowing what it is, is the power I have.
But this year I am looking back at what I've been through and how lucky I am that I was diagnosed.
Because my symptoms are no longer a mystery.
It's been a long and difficult journey and one that will continue.
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