My Endometriosis Story:

My name is Jeanette and I’m 29 years of age. For 16+ years I have struggled with a chronic illness called endometriosis. https://endometriosis.org/resources/articles/facts-about-endometriosis/ Endometriosis has no cure but you can find temporary relief from treatments such as excision surgeries, pelvic floor dysfunction therapy, and pain meds (all which can be very expensive, if insurance doesn’t cover). I have always suffered from severe symptoms of this illness that has impacted my general physical, mental, and social well being. Some of the symptoms of this illness include; chronic bloating, excessive fatigue, severe pain due to menstrual cycles, painful intercourse, migraines, leg pain, pelvic pain, painful urination, frequent urination, lower back pain, painful bowel movements and overtime the pain became debilitating. Through out my younger years every doctor I would see kept telling me it was normal to be in pain on my period, I would cry to them and explained how the pain was unbearable. My pain was not valid to any of these doctors and I decided to give up and continue to take a bunch of pills to get me through the days- especially since I was workingtwo jobs and going to school. Then in 2018, I went in to see my new primary care provider and I explained to her how overtime my period pain had worsened and I couldn’t walk on the first week of my period. I also described all the symptoms I was having. I also informed her that I had been trying to get pregnant for over two years and still haven’t been successful. She mentioned it could be endometriosis but needed to run tests and refer me to specialists to confirm. I’m so grateful for her because She was understanding and listened to me. The whole process took about a year because of all the tests doctors had to run. My doctor explained to me how there were risks with the laparoscopy surgery and removing endo and their was a possibility of never having any children if there were any complications with this surgery. I still decided to go through with it because my pain was unbearable. In 2019, I was finally officially diagnosed with endometriosis stage 4 and had my first surgery to remove some endometriosis and 1 endometrioma from my left ovary. Unfortunately, The gynecologist that performed my surgery wasn’t too knowledgeable of endometriosis and did an ablation surgery instead of excision, he also removed “70%” of adhesions because he was afraid to damage any other parts of my organs that had endometriosis such as my bladder and did not remove the other endometrioma I had on my right ovary. My pain had tripled, both endometriomas came back even bigger within two months, my flare ups became worst, and my bloating was so chronic I haven’t been able to shake it off. I look 6 months pregnant from my bloating every day. Every time I’m out in public, people often ask if I’m pregnant or how many months I am - it’s extremely frustrating. I know they have no bad intentions and I try to remain positive because that’s all I could do but it still effects me tremendously. I have been trying to conceive for several years now, since I don’t have any children. I was also seeing a fertility doctor for a while right after my surgery but money ran dry I couldn’t continue with treatments. 59522833_1629957270381101_r.jpeg59522833_1629957340269908_r.jpeg In May 2020, I lost my job due to covid and was unable to find work right away. Fast forward to 2021, I decided to continue my search and look for work full time to save up money to see an endometriosis specialist. I started a teaching job on March 1st and It was difficult to attend work because my pain was excruciating at times. Often times, while at work, I would cry in the restroom from the amount of pain I was in. I was consuming approximately 6-8 Tylenol pills a day to mask the pain but it wasn’t enough because no matter how many I took my pain was still there. I was walking around with a smile on my face for my students and overall around the staff. I decided to inform my boss about my medical condition in May and asked her if I could see a specialist and she gave me permission to seek treatment. Shortly after- I was fired on July 7th, 2021 because of my medical condition. My boss stated “we feel bad seeing you in pain so we need to let you go”. It was heartbreaking because she knew that my job was paying my medical bills. I was torn and could not wrap this around my head. Many thoughts and questions were crossing my mind “how will I continue my treatment? How will I pay my bills? How will I pay my car? How will I pay my insurance? My student loans? My rent? What did I do to deserve this?” My world was shattered in a split second. I continued to remind myself that I will get through this and remained positive. I went ahead and still continued to seek treatments. I have been seeing an endometriosis specialist since June 2021 and he recommended I see additional specialists to help my illness become more tolerable. I am seeing a physical therapy for pelvic floor dysfunction once a week, a gastroenterologist, and a pain management doctor that’s has put me on 12 pain meds a day. All of these doctors are out of pocket and it has been very difficult to cover expenses due to losing my job. This is my endometriosis story. Thanks for reading and let’s raise awareness together 💛