So where did my Journey begin?
I’m sure it must have started although not proven when i was a teenager; I had the contraceptive implant which stops/controls periods. This didn’t quite work for me unfortunately I found myself bleeding pretty much every other week for five years. I spoke to my doctors about it but they just said it’s my body make up and that everything will be fine.
**TIP: Girls if you are experiencing this, it is not normal, it is not your body make up get the thing taken out!**
I finally had my implant taken out and was advised of the coil, I was told it would reduce/stop periods and I thought why not the implant clearly didn’t work so maybe the coil would.
Turns out it was a horrific experience! The woman who fitted the coil really should have been stripped of her medical licence and should never have been be allowed near another human being again!
After it was fitted followed some god awful pains! I thought I would see how they went because after all i did have a completely foreign object in my body that my body needed to get used to but after a number of weeks the pain continued to increase.
I started to worry and think about how the coil was fitted. I thought maybe the nurse caused some damage, so I saw a doctor and explained the situation but they didn’t want to know. They also pretty much told me to man up and deal with it and wouldn’t remove it leaving me feeling helpless.
Another week or so passed and the pain was becoming unbearable! I ended up calling 111 and they told me to go to A&E so dropping everything i headed straight for A&E i was then told there was nothing they could do at this hospital and i would need to go to a different one.
When i go to said different hospital i was told it was appointments only and there was no one available to see me, well im sure you can imagine at this point i was about ready to flip my lid at someone, I was in agony and all these medical professionals were trying to tell me they couldn’t help me!? I politely explained the situation and told them in a very calm manner that i wouldn’t be leaving until i saw someone. I finally got to see a doctor who was very understanding and helpful she even removed the coil. YAY! :)
Obviously i wasn’t expecting the pain to go straight away but I was expecting the pain to go away eventually but instead it got worse! How that pain managed to get worse was beyond me but it did.
When i say pains i don’t mean these were just simple cramps, they were excruciating, agonising pains. So much so when i stood up i was doubled over practically on the floor it was like i couldn’t straighten my body without the feeling of being stabbed.
So back to the doctors i went, Now remember how i said on my previous post that its a gruelling process to getting diagnosed? well i wasn’t lying, every week for a whole year i was in and out of the doctors surgery begging and pleading with someone to believe me, again all the while being told its in my head but I’m quite stubborn so there was no way i was giving in. I knew my body and i knew something wasn’t right.
So not only did i visit the doctor’s surgery every week for a year i also had to change doctors in the process because my previous doctors wouldn’t do anything apart from offer me anti-depressants! I don’t know about where you’re from but my old doctors used to dish those things out like sweets!
Finally after moving doctors i was referred to a specialist! On my first doctors visit to this surgery so i was buzzing about this new place someone finally listened!
After seeing the specialist i was then sent for many blood tests and scans to which they couldn’t find anything, in the back of my head i started to doubt myself thinking maybe all these doctors were right? Maybe it has just been in my head this whole time? But I quickly remembered i couldn’t possibly make up this pain so again i fought, the last option was surgery.
**TIP: Girls DO NOT GIVE UP**
I was 19 years old with no children, giving the location of where the operation had to take place my surgeon wasn’t too happy but we continued anyway as I was determined to get answers.
I will never forget the day i went down to have the operation, i was so scared, being that i was 19 I wasn’t allowed to have my mum with me so i was waiting alone. All gowned up and prepped I had to walk into a small room just outside the operating room. I started to feel dizzy, sick and emotional. I laid on the bed while they hooked me up to the machines and put the needle into my arm but as they did that i began to sob, I looked up at a male doctor standing to the right of me and he asked me why i was crying. As i tried to fight back the tears i explained to him my biggest fear, my biggest fear is being unable to have children. Prior to this point in the pre-op my surgeon told me she should be able to see what my fallopian tubes looked like and if i would be able to have children or not (at this stage at least) so i told him that i was scared to find out. With this the doctor gently held my hand and told me i was going to be OK, with a gentle squeeze and his support he calmed me down and with that i was asleep.
When i woke from surgery i was so groggy i even remember accidentally being a little bit rude to the nurses because i wanted my boyfriend and they wouldn’t let me have my phone. I was eventually moved so i could see my mum but i had to wait to see the surgeon. The pure panic and fear i was feeling was horrible, could i have children? Could i not? What was causing the pain? Did they find something? Did they not? I had so many questions.
Finally a little while later the surgeon came round and before she could even open her mouth i shouted how are my tubes? Can i have kids? She Replied “Your tubes were fine, i didn’t even need to do the test”, i cried again (this was a very emotional day for me) then came the next part, what she did find.
The surgeon then explained what she found. It was at this point i was finally given my diagnosis, it was at this point it was confirmed it wasn’t all in my head and it was at this point the surgeon confirmed i had Endometriosis.
I had mixed emotions, i was so glad they knew what was wrong but i was so sad i had something wrong with me but at least knowing what it was meant i could figure out how to live with it.
The next stage was the road to recovery, the post op and living with this new condition but i think that’s all for now, i will explain my road to recovery and life with Endo in a post soon, so keep posted and follow my journey with me.
Love,
Your Everyday Girl Aka Endo Warrior
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