Seeing as this is my first entry I thought I'd begin with some family history which will in turn explain why I wasn't shocked when I discovered I had Endo.
My Maternal Nan, my Mum & her six sister's all suffered with endometriosis for years before they were diagnosed & in all cases except one hysterectomies (total removal of the womb) had to be performed for them to get any relief. The remaining sister who is 12 years older than my Mum had just her ovaries removed but up until now still suffers with pain. Mum is now 47, had a hysterectomy at 32 after having me at 22 & my sister at 27. She did unfortunately have several miscarriage's in before & in between her pregnancies.
My Mum (Gloria) was only diagnosed with Endo when she was trying to get pregnant about a year after having me. She went in to see her specialist & after weeks of testing & laparoscopies plus losing a foetus they discovered that she had endometriosis.
Ok so quickly for anyone who doesn't know or is unsure Endometriosis is defined as;
Endometrioisis(from endo, "inside", and metra, "womb") is a debilitating gynecological medical condition in females in which endometrial-like cells appear and flourish in areas outside the uterine cavity, most commonly on the ovaries. The uterine cavity is lined by endometrial cells, which are under the influence of female hormones. These endometrial-like cells in areas outside the uterus (endometriosis) are influenced by hormonal changes and respond similarly as do those cells found inside the uterus. Symptoms often worsen in time with the menstrual cycle.
Endometriosis is typically seen during the reproductive years; it has been estimated that it occurs in roughly 5% to 10% of women.
Symptoms may depend on the site of active endometriosis. Its main but not universal symptom is pelvic pain in various manifestations. Endometriosis is a common finding in women with infertility.
I know it sounds like a completely manageable situation-on paper maybe but in reality day to day it can be horrendous. Every patient is different, has different symptoms & stages of the disease & some women, like my Mum can even become pregnant, give birth before they'll ever realise there may be something not quite right.
Moving on from the long winded defintion's & such now. So my Mum was diagnosed, put on Danazol which caused her to black out constantly & in the end the con's outwayed the pro's of the treatment. Mum stopped taking Danazol herself & within a few weeks realised she was once again pregnant. This time nothing went wrong with the pregnancy & on 27th September 1990 my baby sister Vicky was born.
Five years later however, after suffering for more than 8 years Mum was completely fed up with the pain & heavy bleeding. Add that to raising two young children & I'm sure you can see where she was coming from. My Dad & her knew they didn't want any further children & even though it was my Mum suffering my Mum's specialist went over my Mum's head to my Dad to "make sure it was ok" to go ahead with the Hysterectomy. Such was Ireland back then. Mum had the surgery at 32 as I've already mentioned & in her own words "has never looked back". She (touch wood) hasn't had any further symptoms from the Endo but due to her age the surgeons decided to leave her with one ovary to "ease" her into the symptoms of the menopause. She is still to this day suffering menopausal like symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats, clammy feeling, depression, weight gain & now has osteoporosis in her lumbar region & both hips. My Mum decided not to take any HRT while going through this period & is confident that her side effects are beginning to settle down. Other than the effects of "getting on" as she says.
My Mum & I are so close, we consider each other our best friends & can discuss anything with each other. So when my Mum was going through her bad times with Endo she would talk to me & explain why Mum was feeling "teary" today or tender, sore, tired or "down". She also always made me aware that there was a possibility that I could too have this disease & when Vicky was born one of my immediate thoughts was that she could grow up & end up having it too.
I began to suffer at age 11 & continued until about 17 when we finally found a G.P who would take us seriously. As my Mum had such a strong history the doctor's assumed she was "wishing" the disease on me rather than thinking it might be hereditary. No one believed that my symptoms were as bad as they were & even though I kept a constant diary all through each cycle & on days when I would have pain, fell faint or weak they still wouldn't take us seriously. One Doctor actually told my Mum "just because you had Endo doesn't mean your daughter does". Which in my opinion was completely out of line as my Mum never used her history as the reason she thought there was something amiss with my own cycle. She knew the symptoms having lived through the disease & watching her Mum & Sister's live through it & that is why she had me keep track of everything.
Eventually, I got referred to a specialist OBGYN & my journey began to find out what was causing me such pain & heavy irregular periods.
The referral came from a stand in or locom G.P as my usual G.P happened to be out ill himself. I had at this time tried 3 different types of OCP's (different doses) but unfortunately had to be taken off as my childhood problem of severe migraines & inherited high blood pressure (Dad's Mum) surfaced again. Plus, while on a flight with my Mum both my legs swelled up & it was diagnosed that I was at risk of DVT.
In October 1997 I had my first appointment with my specialist & thus my journey, such as it was began.
