Happy Hysterversary to Me! And Part 2 of Endometriosis Awareness Month

Today marks 9 years since I divorced my uterus! We parted company on an operating table at a hospital in middle England and my cervix and fallopian tubes went with it. Although I still have problems from time to time, it was still the best decision I ever made.

Being out of treatment options I was willing to consider for endometriosis, adenomyosis and fibroids led to my decision to part ways with body parts.

Like a lot of Endo women, my treatment journey started with birth control pills. Lots of them. 6 brands over 5 years. Plus the Nuvaring. And every one caused problems. I had my period for a month straight on the first. The second flared my eczema so badly that I looked like a fish for scaly skin. The third one gave me two periods a month (double the endo symptoms!). The fourth one caused panic attacks. The fifth raised my blood pressure and made me feel awful. The sixth one caused two periods a month again. With the Nuvaring, I broke out in a literal head to toe rash that was so itchy that I drew blood scratching. All of them messed with my ability to absorb vitamin B12 and none of them really worked on the pain and heavy bleeding I was experiencing.

Fuck that.

And my experience is far from unusual. So it being Endometriosis Awareness Month, it was very timely that comedian Samantha Bee brought this up on her show. I do love Samantha Bee. Not only is she a Canadian living abroad like me, she is also kick ass funny and on point. Do watch these, it says a lot about the lack og options for women with endometriosis and how women with endometriosis are treated more broadly by the medical and scientific communities.

Endometriosis Awareness Month 2018

Every March I keep thinking that I need to post something about Endometriosis Awareness Month and I often forget until it's the end of the month, then I'm scrambling for something. But this year, I came across the right thing to share.

I've always liked the CBC Radio show 'White Coat, Black Art'. The host is a doctor who reports on a variety of health issues and he can be brutally honest about how the medical model works. And sometimes, he gets brutally honest people to do pieces for the show.

This week's is about Endometriosis. It's been done by a woman who attends the Endometriosis Support Group I used to attend when I lived in Toronto. That group was a lifeline for me when I was navigating the murky waters of gynaecology trying to get answers, and I owe several debts of gratitude to many of the women I met there.

This piece is definitely worth a listen if you want to better understand what things are like for women with Endo. It is brutal in its honesty, especially where she recorded herself in a pain crisis. I found that particularly hard to listen to as I know EXACTLY what that is like. But it is all kinds of real.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/endometriosis-my-painful-search-for-answers-1.4569537