Michele’s Endometriosis Story
Written by Michele
Here’s my story:
I started my period at age 11. A very young age. I had cramps from the beginning and they got worse as I got older. It was when I was newly married in my early 20s when I suspected that I had endometriosis. I had read a pamphlet of symptoms and my symptoms matched what was said in the pamphlet. I never had a formal diagnosis since I didn’t want to do laparoscopy.
I had spoken with women who had had it and talked about the different ways they had treated it. I talked with one woman who had had a hysterectomy and said her bowel habits had changed because of no longer having a uterus, the bowel had shifted and she was now having issues with her bowel movements.
I talked to women who had had the lesions removed from laser only to have it come back again. I talked to women who used the pill and other such treatments and they said that the hormones really made their mood swings worse.
It was in my late 20s that things changed. I was on a cruise to Mexico and had gone to sleep at night only to be woken up with a sharp stabbing pain in my left side. Had it been on my right side I would have thought that my appendix had burst, but since it was on my left side, I knew that it had to be the endometriosis worsening. I literally could not lie down flat and had to sit on the floor and take deep breaths.
This started a long descent into constant pain that literally almost drove me crazy.
I was an aerobics instructor and personal trainer and used to run 6 miles a day and had to give up running because when I was at mile two, the stabbing pain would start and literally flare up for 24 hours. It would take a long time to calm down and it just wasn’t worth it to continue running. I literally could be fine but running would make it flare up.
Stress could also make it worse.
In the beginning, it was only right before my period, but as it progressed, I would also have it when I was about to ovulate.
My life was becoming miserable and my activities were becoming more limited.
My husband’s mother had been a sickly person with diabetes who later had to get her leg amputated and was on dialysis for 10 years before she died at age 59 so I didn’t want my husband to also have a sick wife.
Plus I was too young to have this much pain and disability in my life. I knew surgery or drugs would be a temporary fix unless I corrected the underlying problem that caused the condition in the first place.
Thus I began searching for answers. After literally a decade, I have finally found the answers and reversed it without drugs or surgery. I am back to running and personal training and have no pain. Even my cramps are almost non-existent.
I learned that while stress can be somewhat of a factor, diet is the biggest factor and there are certain foods I have had to completely eliminate from my diet. While they were some of my favorite foods, they didn’t love me as much as I loved them so we had to “break up”.
It’s been a good parting since I am so much better off without them in my life. I have found delicious substitutes and do not feel deprived at all. Now I spend my time writing recipe books so other people can transition and heal, too. In fact, I wrote an e-book about how not only to heal endometriosis naturally, but also found women who shrunk fibroids naturally, healed breast cancer, ovarian cysts, inferitility, polycystic ovary syndrome and went through smooth menopauses with minimal symptoms and no osteoporosis.
Being female should not feel like a curse. We should be happy to be female and not feel that our bodies are betraying us.
We have too many people depending on us and we have too many dreams to go out and fulfill to be sick and in pain. That is not an empowered state to live in and I’m glad I was able to find this way of eating since it not only heals endometriosis, but diabetes, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune, arthritis and much more!
At 45 years of age, I look forward to the second half century of my life with optimism and joy.
May you be well and find peace and joy.
Michele
Thank you for sharing your story. I hope it helps many women with Endometriosis see that there is a way forward.
This Post Has One Comment
Good one Michele! Laparoscopies are not always necessary with endo.