March is considered Endometriosis Awareness Month.
What is endometriosis? It’s when tissue similar to what normally grows inside the uterus grows on the outside. Symptoms include: fatigue, nausea, painful sex, heavy periods, and extremely painful menstrual cramps. All of which could someone's life a HELLA lot less fun. What should you do if you think you have it? Tell your doctor. They’ll usually do a pelvic exam or ultrasound to look for abnormalities, like cysts and scars. Initial treatments could be OTC meds (like Advil and Midol) to help with cramps. Which I know is some bullshit. Because regular painful cramps may not even stop fast enough from taking Ibuprofen, let alone cramps from endometriosis. Birth control and hormonal therapies may also be prescribed for endo-related pain. In more extreme cases, your OB-GYN may recommend surgery to remove any potentially harmful tissue. Surgery can be dangerous, even fatal, as it is a major surgery. Also, understand that the pain can come back and you could need to have another surgery to remove more tissue. People with endometriosis can have a harder time getting pregnant, so your doctor might recommend seeing a fertility specialist. I'm including more resources about endometriosis below, plus some current news about more access to birth control and the abortion pill.
I have so much love and respect for all of the Endo Warriors out there! After witnessing a close friend pass out in public from her painful symptoms, I understand how debilitating this condition can be. I'm also witnessing in real time, the silence on your pain, cries for more treatment options, and more research. I'm telling you if men had endometriosis, chillleee, the world would be so different. We should be talking about this more. It take some women almost a decade before they get a proper medical diagnosis. That's ridiculous. I pray for y'all. I'm praying for your womb and endometrium lining, I swear. We have to look out for each other. We all we got. I hope any of the resources below help someone. I'm doing this for you.
