A Personal Endometriosis Story
A Personal Recount of Suffering with Endometriosis
"Ever since I can remember I have suffered from severe period pain. As early as the age of 12 / 13 I can remember days off school, in bed with the faithful old hot water bottle! At 16 I finally went on the Pill but this certainly did not help the period pain, only regulate my periods. Days off work seemed to be a happening thing especially the first day of period where 9 times out of ten I couldn't walk and my tummy was so swollen I looked like I was 10 months pregnant! Numerous visits to the doctor offered no help and certainly no sympathy - as everyone at some stage suffers from period pain! Never was I referred to a Gynaecologist only given a pocket of pills to try this month for the pain. I narrowed it down to Synflex tablets working the best but was taking two 550mg tablets twice a day for the week of my period.
After a really severe bout of period pain, massive flooding and vomiting while in England May 1994, I decided enough was enough. When I came home I finally got my referral to a Gynaecologist. I'll never forget that day in July 1994 when after a Laparoscopy my Gynaecologist sat by my hospital bed and told me I had severe Endometriosis - actually the worse infected pelvis he has seen in all his years! He then proceeded to tell me I would never have children and most certainly not conceive children on my own! I was only 25! Hey at least he was honest.
This was a massive shock for my husband, Stephen and I. I mean what is Endometriosis and most of all, why me and why had the Doctors not done something about my period pain sooner? So many questions but no answers. I honestly thought the world had come to an end! After the initial shock set in, we both decided that since the Doctors could do nothing for me, we had better help ourselves. I was told that my Endometriosis was so bad that not even a course of Danazol or Provera would help! We were put on the IVF short waiting list of nine months because of the severity of my Endo - sent home and told to wait, but still suffering severe pain, now irregular periods (27 - 45 days), vomiting and fainting!
Colour therapy was my first approach to helping myself and alternative medicine, which I have now been doing on and off for the past 12 months. Then a friend told me to write to a Homeopath - Lance Workman in Whangarei. So started the change of diet, vitamin supplements, and homeopathic remedies. The vomiting stopped, the periods not so irregular but still the pain.
October 1994 we both went the Endometriosis Seminar in Palmerston North, which is the best money I have ever spent. We got so much out of the weekend and came home with a better understanding of Endometriosis, a better outlook and more ideas on how to help ourselves. I hadn't even met anyone with Endometriosis until this weekend and realised how it effects everyone differently. Telling people you had Endometriosis was the easy part, explaining what is it, is another story. So things were certainly looking up, I had my Colour Therapy, a great Homeopath that was not only interested in my problem but me as well and I also changed Doctors and now have a really neat lady Doctor who is very understanding and sympathetic to my problem!
However, November 1994 I had a shocking period, the flood gates of hell had opened ip. Friday night about 11pm - vomiting and a trip to the callout Doctor for a pethadene injection - Saturday morning no better and another injection and tablet in my pocket to take later if the pain got no better. My tummy once again was so swollen I looked like I was 12 months pregnant! I took the pethadene tablet Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning back to the Doctors and into Waikato Hospital. I had two Endometrial cysts - one 6am in diameter and the other 3cm! I had these removed the week before Christmas at Southern Cross Hospital.
I was then put on a course of Provera - two tablets four times a day! This was fine for the first eight weeks then my period came back in full force for nine weeks - now we try the new Zoladex injection, this was even worse as I go through Menopause at 26 and I have since found out that I have grown another 5cm Endometrial cyst. No more Zoladex, I only had one injection but decided to concentrate on more alternative medicines. eanwhile Stephen is there for me 110% of the way, telling me things will get better, the pain will go away and of course we will be parents one day!
Then we were told about this wonderful man - Neville Caseley a Vibrational Therapist from Wanganui. For once someone knew about Endometriosis, had treated women with it before and was our ray of hope! My first visit to Neville in Wanganui was in March 1995 and I have been seeing him once a month since, in Rotorua. I carried on with my Vitamin Supplements and Neville also treated me with various herbal formulas - I got my first real seven day period at Easter - no pain - and I was a regular 27 day kid!
And now I am three months pregnant and Stephen and I are going to be proud parents in early April 1996!
Never give up hope and always keep faith! I am very lucky that I have a great husband who has stuck by me all the way, family and friends who have good listening ears, my Colour man who came out of retirement especially for me, a wonderful Homeopath who not only wrote to me but rung constantly and last but not least someone who said we had put my body 90% back into balance through the above and then helped us greatly by going that step further!"
Story by Christine West, November 1995