Opening up about personal stuff has never been easy for me. I used to be so prideful, never wanting to show weakness or vulnerability. It was hard to keep such a strong front, when internally I was suffering. Over time I have found that talking about the personal stuff and the pain makes it easier, so that’s exactly what I want to do.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with a disease called Adenomyosis — I still can’t pronounce it and I just had to google it for the spelling. I was experiencing a range of different symptoms that had me worried about my reproductive health. I had this intuition that something wasn’t quite right. My menstrual cramps were, and still are, totally out of control. Debilitating at times. The pelvic pain can be so severe that it keeps me from doing the things that I love. I was having irregular periods. So I went to my OBGYN.
With blood tests, an ultrasound and a series of questions and tests she came to her conclusion — #Adenomyosis, a condition where endometrial tissue exists and grows into the uterine wall, causing cramps, lower abdominal pressure, heavy periods, serious fatigue and an enlarged uterus.
This disease typically affects middle-aged women and women who have had children. I am neither. However, it’s estimated that 5-70% of women have this condition (other reports say 20-30%). Hysterectomy is the only cure. Although, doctors can prescribe hormonal treatments to help ease some of the pain.
At this point I’m still learning to live with this condition. And there are still a lot of unknowns. I wanted to opened up about my experiences not only because there’s a chance that it might be therapeutic for me but the chance that it might help someone else who is struggling with the same condition.
To my surprise there are not a lot of relatable resources about this (relatable for me, I should say), and being a younger woman who is affected I feel especially isolated. I will continue to post about my life with Adenomyosis in hopes to bring awareness this condition (before I was diagnosed I had never heard of it) and to be a relatable voice for other women who are living with the same condition as me.
loved this and your other pieces, they have been so informative. I too was just diagnosed and your writing has not only comforted me but made me laugh at our shared pain. Its scary trying to find out the facts and developing an everyday treatment plan, Thank you for writing this and making it little easier!