Wednesday 27-03-2024 - 10:38

“You have Endometriosis”. Three little words that seemed to affect the trajectory of my life as I knew it. Having had symptoms for the entirety of my adult life and seemingly since childhood, the relief I felt to know that my pain finally had a name was unreal! I was diagnosed with Endometriosis on the 28th of November 2023, so happy early Christmas to me, but navigating life post operation/diagnosis has been...difficult.  
 
Endometriosis is ‘is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus (and often found on other organs as well)’. It is painful, it is infuriating, and it has no cure. Endometriosis can differ from person to person, for example I have stage 2 Endometriosis meaning I have it on my uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries as well as on my pelvic wall and bladder. While I assumed it would be on my uterus, I had no idea that it had reached my bladder especially since I had no symptoms relating to its presence even being there!

My symptoms included having painful and heavy period which kept me off work, uni and stopped me from doing my daily routine, migraines which would last for almost a week, shooting pains in my legs and my biggest symptom, nausea...I have been carrying mints, gum and a million bottles of water in bag since 2017 in case of a nausea flare up! In light of my diagnosis, my whole life has changed! I must be mindful of what I eat, how much I drink, how much exercise I do, all to help “combat my symptoms”. Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t usually help! After my post op appointment in February, I was essentially told ‘We’ve done all we can, you’re on your own now, come back if it gets worse though!’. Oh. So, no pain management plan? Or painkillers? Or return to work/university plan? Okay, cool, guess I’ll figure it out myself! 
 
So, I was sent on my merry little way with nothing but a stitched-up tummy and prescription for the contraceptive pill to help “manage my symptoms”. Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t really look after my health. I’ll go to the gym when I can, make sure I eat enough fruit and veg and whatnot but with long hours, especially as a student, it can be easy to slip into unhealthy habits like excessive caffeine consumption and sugar intake which is not great, to say the least. Along with health worries, there is a lot of emotional baggage and worry which came with my diagnosis. Will I be able to live a normal life? Can I keep a good relationship with my friends? Will I be able to hold down a romantic partner, who understands the strains this can put on a relationship? What about my family life? I was left with so many questions, all of which had no answers. Yikes.  
 
March is endometriosis awareness month. To me, it is one of the most important months of the year. I know so many young people who are struggling with their health and are left with little to no answers. I hadn’t even heard of endometriosis until my older sister was diagnosed a few years ago! The journey to get diagnosed was long and tiring and there are times where I thought giving up would be easier. But I am so very glad I didn’t. While all my questions have no answers, and I am often left feeling hopeless, knowing that I can navigate my diagnosis is exciting! Finding what works for me and what doesn’t has been tricky...for example, meat flares up a lot of my symptoms! Who would have thought it?! It’s little things like that which I wish I could have been informed about, how subtle changes to my lifestyle may benefit me in the long run. However, the lack of research into Women's Reproductive Health is staggering. The current statistic of people diagnosed with Endometriosis stands at 1 in 10, but that could be so much more...on average it takes 8-10 years to get diagnosed, it took me 11. 11 years is half of my lifetime...what's up with that?! That is why Endometriosis Awareness Month is so important to me; if even talking about it can help someone get the courage to seek out a diagnosis or inspire a student to research it, or if we as a student-led collective are able to spread awareness about an often-invisible disease, then we have the potential to save so many lives and hopefully find a cure to stop and prevent such a horrible thing!