March is National Endometriosis Awareness Month

MARCH BLOGGING MADNESS FOR ENDOMETRIOSIS AWARENESS


Please sign The Petition to Create Endometriosis Awareness and Understanding.

I have Endometriosis. Thankfully, I believe I've made it to menopause with most of my female organs intact. I lost my left ovary to an endometrioma in 2001 and the resulting side effects from referred pain caused by Fibromyalgia started my saga of being unable to work full time and permanently.

Hysterectomy is not always (or even very often) the answer for Endo. I'm really glad I realized this way back when I was diagnosed, in 1989. Plenty of docs would have given all or part of my anatomy the heave-ho, in spite of the fact that back then the statistics were that hysterectomy only actually helped with endometriosis about 50% of the time. There's still the possibility that the Endo will grow back. And if you do have to have a "hissy" (as the nurse who attended to me when I had my diagnostic laparoscopy called it) then you're stuck with all the side effects of living the rest of your life without those rather important (imho) parts of your anatomy. Like your other insides start to shift and DROOP as you age, causing all sorts of other unsavory problems. And your hormones get all screwed up. I'm not even going to try to go there.

See the Newsweek article, Female Trouble for the latest stats on hysterectomy.

Check out Jeanne's Endo Blog, for tons of great info on Endo and lots of other stuff, and this Endometriosis Awareness Month Toolkit from healthywomen.org.


Off topic, in case you missed it there was a great article in the February issue of More magazine about work and chronic illness: Ill in a Day's Work.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 23, 2009 at 9:21 AM

    I found your blog and my heart goes out to you as your story seems to echo my own. After years of searching, and avoiding lupron and Depo I found a chinese herb that has saved my sanity. My story is here. http://www.squidoo.com/Endometriosis-and-Pain

    ReplyDelete
  2. SherrilMarch 23, 2009 at 11:52 AM

    Hi Lulu. We do seem to have similar stories. Although my teen years weren't as bad as yours sound, the male gynecologists that I saw every year discounted the pain I told them about until I was married and ready to have children. THEN they were ready to do a laparoscopy and see what the problem was.

    Wish I had know about your wonder herb back when I needed it!

    I only go to female gynos now.

    ReplyDelete

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