Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a pain in the ass. Really. I have no other way to describe it. It's cramps, pain, diarrhea, bloating, back pain, cramps, and more cramps. I've spent 2 days hurting pretty bad, and tonight doubled over in pain. Enough pain that I actually cried, and finally took a Darvocet (painkiller).

Endo, for short, started for me years and years ago, and I have, in fact, blogged about it before. I suffered through it as long as possible because I knew I wanted children. 4 pregnancies and a few years of breastfeeding later, I knew I couldn't deal with this anymore. Cue a hysterectomy, and you'd think all would be well.

Not so. Evidently the Endo has spread to other areas of my body. Who knew it could? Anyway, I'm in a tremendous amount of pain right now, and I'm pretty sure the painkiller just kicked in. So this is going to be a short blog, but I still felt the need to write about it.

Here's a video that explains Endo in a very simple way.


Here's more info on Endo, for those that are interested.
I found this part particularly interesting, as I have all but the last of these symptoms:

Pelvic pain

A major symptom of endometriosis is severe recurring pelvic pain. The amount of pain a woman feels is not necessarily related to the extent or stage (1 through 4) of endometriosis. Some women will have little or no pain despite having extensive endometriosis affecting large areas or having endometriosis with scarring. On the other hand, women may have severe pain even though they have only a few small areas of endometriosis. Symptoms of endometriosic-related pain may include:

• dysmenorrhea – painful, sometimes disabling menstrual cramps; pain may get worse over time (progressive pain), also lower back pains linked to the pelvis
• chronic pelvic pain – typically accompanied by lower back pain or abdominal pain
• dyspareunia – painful sex
• dyschezia – painful bowel movements
• dysuria – urinary urgency, frequency, and sometimes painful voiding