Navigating the Maze: My Journey with Endometriosis

Since I can remember I have struggled with painful menstruation, and heavy bleeding. I got my period in elementary grade 5 or 6. I went to different doctors trying to figure out what was going on. Only to be met with this is womanhood. Like many I was put on birth control at a young age, I tried so many different birth control pills trying to figure the best one for me to use.

When I hit Jr.High it had only gotten worse. I started heavily bleeding for months. I went to doctors, I called health link, I did all sorts of tests, tried continuous birth control to skip the period. and imaging feeling hopeless, scared and overwhelmed. I still didn't receive much help navigating this maze.

It wasn't until a couple of years after high school when I found a doctor that would refer me to a gynaecologist. After many visits this gynaecologist said the words. "I think you might have Endometriosis, I want to do a laparoscopic surgery to confirm." He also recommended placing an IUD at the same time to avoid the painful procedure in office and to hopefully help reduce bleeding and pain. During the laparoscopy the doctor ended up using ablation to burn the endometriosis. Once I did more research and connected with fellow Endo Navigators, I learned that ablation is not the best option when it comes to endometriosis and that excision, cutting out the endo is the gold standard.

I have now found a specialist that has way more knowledge in this field. She agreed that the IUD was a good fit for me and replaced in through day surgery with pain meds and anesthesia. (we love a doctor who cares about our pain) We did discuss going through another laparoscopy to have the proper procedure but that will be a while down the line but I am so relieved to know I have a specialist who cares and can hopefully help me navigate this maze a little better.