Pain free – for the first time in years

“No it can’t be endometriosis, you are too young, you are only 13”, my surgeon/doctor told me (who wasn’t trained in gynecology). My intuition told me otherwise. According to the doctor, I was “psychologically creating the pain” because I was going through puberty. I suffered mystifying pain that would see me doubled up for seven days PRIOR to my menstrual period and would settle the day it started.

I endured this from the age of 12 until I was 20. My first laparoscopy, at 20, revealed endometriosis. I was on the hospital waiting list for four years, hoping and praying every day that I would receive a call for surgery. The laparoscopy revealed golf ball sized masses of endometriosis attached to nine parts of my body.

Although I am glad that I now know what the pain is, I feel a hint of sadness that the damage could have been prevented if the doctor had listened to me from the beginning.

Nowadays, I see a naturopath who has put me on a simple diet excluding red meat, fatty foods and processed foods, and incorporating more whole foods (fruits, vegetables, wholemeal bread, rice) and I take simple supplements that don’t cost more than an hours wage. After one year on this diet I have been able to come off the pill and so far, I am pain free – for the first time in years, my body appears to be fending for itself.

Content Updated  July 15, 2008