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nuggets of wisdom on reducing PAIN & SYmPTOMS naturally

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How the “knowing” somehow makes you feel better. How long did it take to discover you had Endometriosis?

I always remember that funny little devise they use in Star Wars where they can simply scan over the body with this little tool and it lists all the things that are going on inside, without having to cut you open. That is what I wish they would hurry up and invent! Wouldn’t it be cool to have a little thing that tells you if Endo has spread, gotten better or what is going on?

I know when I first started getting painful periods all those many years ago when my whole discovery of Endo began, I felt so frustrated. The pain was unbearable. I would yell and scream at doctors to find the cause and for over a year they simply said I needed to change my diet as it was Irritable Bowel Syndrome! It was frustrating not perhaps because changing my diet just wasn’t enough but perhaps because I knew it was more than that. I wanted something definite. I wanted a label. Something I could claim as a condition which would justify my pain and my complaints to everyone around me. After a year of complaining about period pain and various other ailments my parents started to put me down to simply being a weak little pathetic girl who just didn’t deal with pain well and wanted extra attention! In a way having a label helps. It can put claim to something. You can get sympathy 🙂 and it also makes you feel like your pain is justified and that someone else has got it. Knowing now that there are about 1in7 women that have it, it makes me feel so much better. Somehow it is not just me being pathetic and just suffering from “painful periods”.

Well, yesterday my period pain was ridiculous. It hasn’t been this sore for ages. I started to get all panicky. My mind started to wonder and that is never a good thing with me and pain. I start to imagine the worst. I start to picture that it has spread to all parts of my body and it has begun mutating and clinging onto all my organs and it has just spread everywhere. Aaaaahhhhh it is scary! I wanted that scanning device from Star Wars so bad! I wanted someone who could just have a quick scan, without an operation to tell me that it was all okay and I shouldn’t worry, it is just the accumulated stress from work and quitting my job and moving to a new town. But, we haven’t invented that little scanner so….. I resorted to the next best thing and went for some acupuncture instead. Now, I am not a huge fan of acupuncture but I figured it would work and it did! It worked amazingly well and I feel much better today. It somehow releases the tension in the body and things start to ease and all the worries start to disappear as I feel back in control again.

I know there are some women out there who never experience any pain with Endometriosis and on some level I am envious of that. Yes, pain gives us an indication of how our healing is going but it can also create extra stress – like when it makes you think it is worse than it really is! So much of our pain comes from stress, anger and emotional thought patterns that we can then easily misinterpret physical pain over emotional pain release. I know for me, when I am stressed, endo gets sore. This is not to say my overall healing isn’t working, it just means that the stress of that particular day has affected my body and is causing me pain. Big difference! I guess there is one obvious solution to this….. alleviate any stress where you can in your life to avoid any pain – whether that is overall pain or “day specific”.

My biggest saviour when I get sore has to be my personal pain diary. It records how I am feeling and details my digestion, endo pain, headaches and any other symptoms I might have. When I have a particular endo sore day and those nasty thoughts come in, I review this diary. It helps so much because I can see how far I have come. I can see that I no longer have headaches. My digestion is dramatically improved, my body aching has dissipated and my endo pain is so intermittent compared to what it used to be. Healing through natural methods takes so much time and being patient with it is often a struggle for me as I am sure it is for you too. Thing is, recording where you have come from will make you feel like the waiting and the working at it, day by day does work and that you will get there.

If only I had recorded my ailments and pains when I was a wee 16year old girl! If I had known that my headaches, migraines, digestion issues, back ache, emotional ups and downs, bladder infections, candida, tiredness, nausea, pain during sex and major major period pain were in fact much clearer indicators that it was Endo. I just never put them all together when I went to doctors and perhaps knowing that they were related might have pointed them in a better direction.

How long did it take you to discover you had endo? Was it years? What did doctors say to you? Mine were really funny now that I look back on it. I had tests for digestion, stomach ulcers and even appendicitis! Do you agree that having a label helps?

Hugs, Melissa x
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This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. Melissa

    Hi Michelle. Sorry to hear of your struggles! Wow! I always think pregnancy must be hard. Carrying a second life and all that 🙂 It is simply because your hormones are used in different ways when you are pregnant. I will write a product I have been researching called DIM. I am positive this will help you 🙂 Keep your eyes out for that one.

  2. Melissa

    Thank you for sharing Rachel! I have never tried it but will be sure to get some in case I get any headaches!

  3. Rachel

    White Flower Oil (embrocation.50webs.com) was introduced to me by my mother. During one of my headaches, she gave me this tiny bottle of oil and told me to massage it on my temples and forehead. Amazingly, it worked! Somehow the oil penetrates into the affected area and relieves the pain.

  4. Melissa

    Hi Kim,
    Thank you so much for your comment! Finally I got you to comment 🙂
    I see how not having symptoms would have been almost more painful (emotionally) than having them but you were lucky to have known within yourself that you needed to go for the op to find out. I know many girls who have had similar problems with Endo who have had children – you can sweetie and you would make a wonderful mother 🙂 Glad you have taken charge of your health and have found a really good doctor to help you do that! Healing is all about holistic balance. – doctor, yourself and all the elements all rolled into one make for a perfect way to heal yourself!
    Enjoy trying for a little one! 🙂

  5. Kim

    I guess I have had endo for years and didn’t realize it. I am one of those women who don’t have any pain. I’m not saying that to gloat at all, but it was especially hard to detect it because I didn’t have any of the regular symptoms. I had doctors tell me that I had PCOS and that I just needed to lose some weight. I had a Dr. tell me that I just was prone to bladder infections and again to change my diet and drink lots of water. I tried to describe some of the weird symptoms that I did have and got all sorts of weird answers. Finally, last July, I had a laparoscopy done and it was there that I was diagnosed with Stage IV Severe Endometriosis. If I had had some of the “common” symptoms, it might have helped diagnose it sooner rather than later. I’m 37 now and with some of the damage to my ovaries (from the endo and from the laparoscopy) it’s going to be a HUGE miracle if I’m able to have children. But I have now found a wonderful new Dr. who encourages Ancient Medicine like Acupuncture and also supports modern medicine, too and I think with the knowledge of the diagnosis (having that label) along with both medicines, miracles of all kinds can happen. I think you’re so right, Melissa, a big key is for us to keep a diary of some kind to chart our progress and our symptoms so we can help ourselves improve our health and well-being. It’s also up to us to take charge of our health (physically, mentally and even spiritually) and by doing that we can make a difference in our quality of daily living. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to find a Dr. who takes all of this seriously and can support and promote various ways to help us that are more natural and holistic. But it’s ultimately up to us to take those steps in taking charge of our bodies.

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I'm Melissa

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