Okay, there are a lot of things you have to deal with when you have endometriosis. And everyone is different in the type and severity of these things. Let's look at the symptoms first.
Okay, so pain. Your period hit.
You're like
So, rate your pain:
Ha! One more??? Try "I lost count!"
You go to the doctor and the experimentation begins. They try a myriad of medications to try to help. The birth control pills, Depo, IUDs, Lupron, NSAIDS, depression drugs used to treat pain, etc etc
Of course, all those have side effects.
And you're like:
Meanwhile your uterus is all up in your grill.
And you just feel like this most of the time (curled up with your heating pad, of course):
Add in all the other symptoms and you're like:
There are the bowel issues.
The bloating.
Pain with sex, which can make you avoid it. Like the plague.
Memory problems, especially with some of hormone treatments.
The fatigue.
In the end, it's like:
But you soldier on in your search for relief:
Then there's surgery. Or in many cases, surgeries.
You hope you don't get one like:
You feel like they've been doing this:
Or by the time, they're through:
Then there are the people who try to be "helpful." "So and so's sister's cousin's best friend got pregnant/had hysterectomy/took this all natural herb and was cured!"
If it's a man, you're like:
The questions of "when are you getting married/pregnant?
You get to the point where you want to curse or kick some a*s.
In your mind you're like:
Or give them the dissertation:
But really, you wish they wouldn't judge what they don't know.
We all need a good support system. Sometimes the only place we find it is through those who know what we're going through (shout out to my facebook endo ladies!!!! You rock!!).
We understand the magic of:
But we realize we can't just wait for things to change.