The Importance of Detecting Endometriosis

I suffered for years from endometriosis and it almost cost me my life!  Endometriosis is a silent, often undetectable problem for many women.  I had been suffering from severe lower abdominal pain for a year.  It became so bad that I started getting a fever and having trouble going to the bathroom.  I went to the doctor who passed it off as some type of flu.  He prescribed pain medication and told me it would pass.  My stomach started to become severely bloated.  When I went back to the doctor, he made me feel as though it was all in my head.

 Finally, after eating a large meal one evening, I found myself hunched over on the bathroom floor, with a stomach the size of a five month pregnant women.  The pain was excruciating and unbearable.  My husband drove me to the emergency room.  I was immediately rushed in and they stuck a large tube through my nose, down to my stomach to drain the contents.  After endless tests, CT scan, MRI, Ultrasound and blood tests, they said they “thought” I had an intestinal blockage.

 They took me up for surgery.  After opening me up, they found that endometriosis had gotten outside of my uterus and wrapped itself around my intestines, thus creating a blockage.  Two surgeons worked on me, one cutting away the endometriosis in hopes of saving that area of my intestines, the other performing a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34. The worst part was that if I had not made it to the emergency room that night, I would have died due to the toxins that were backed up in my body for a month.

I cannot stress the importance of listening to your body.  If the doctors are unable to find anything, then ask them to look for endometriosis.  I had little knowledge of the damage that endometriosis could cause to my health. I trusted my doctors to “see the signs”.  I hope that my experience will help bring attention to the life threatening dangers of this hidden problem.