How Endometriosis Affects Your Life

Endometriosis is definitely a mystery to doctors. They don't know the causes or how to cure it. It is all about pain management and how to get the patient through the day.

Effects on Women
This can become really frustrating for the women who have to deal with endometriosis everyday. Personally, I have always thought that there has to be something more that the doctors could do; something that they must be hiding from me that will make everything better. This feeling of a complete loss of control can make you crazy over time.
Many women will often become depressed because they feel like there is no end to their constant pain. You begin to feel like there is nothing that you will be able to do to end your daily pain. Many women will also become distant from those closest to them during this time.

What's Happened to Me?
I often have felt this way since being diagnosed. There have been many times where I have been unable to get out of bed due to the pain. I just have to try to make it through the day and do the best I can. Ibuprofen will help a little bit but it becomes a mental game. I found that I just have to convince myself that the pain is not as bad as I think it is.
I did have issues with my personal relationships when I was first diagnosed. The guy I was seeing at the time was unable to handle what was happening to me. I always just thought that he was too immature to handle it.
Finally, I realized that had I talked to him and opened up about my disease, he might have been able to understand it. The main reason why our relationship didn't work out was because he knew about the disease but I would never talk to him about it. I never informed him about what was going on so he couldn't comprehend what was happening to me and my body.

What Should You Do?
Learning more about the disease, changing your diet and sleep schedule, and increasing exercise and decreasing alcohol and smoking can make your life a little better. Since I was diagnosed in 2011, I have found that cutting out dairy and smoking dull the pain. The only way to find out what works and doesn't work for you is trial and error. Every woman is different and will find their own triggers for pain.

Here is a link to help explain how diet and exercise can play a role in the treatment of endometriosis.

What is Endometriosis?

Many people don't have any idea what endometriosis is. I think that it is time to get the word out there about endometriosis and its effect on women. This increased awareness will allow for more research to be done and, hopefully, a cure.

What Is It?
According to the Mayo Clinic, "Endometriosis (en-doe-me-tree-O-sis) is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus (endometrial implant)".
This definition sounds pretty complicated but for a woman who has endometriosis, the word means literal hell. It is something that you deal with because you have to.

What Happens Next?
There is no known cause of the disease and also no cure. You basically are diagnosed, then sent off to go deal with it on your own. While many doctors will try medications, these are normally just for pain management. There is no permanent solution to the disease right now.
There are many different support groups you can try throughout the area. These groups will help you to stay sane and learn to manage endometriosis in many different ways; through diet, exercise, as well as pain medications that work and don't work.

With increased awareness, a solution for endometriosis is sure to be found.