I had my first monthly cycle at age eleven, and it was awful. Unlike all my school friends, right from the beginning I was in endless pain every month. I was officially diagnosed with severe stage IV endometriosis at fifteen years old.
For the next 30 years, I would come to dread my period. The dragging sensations in my pelvis would travel down my legs, around my lower back, and the headaches would turn into migraines. I would always experience heavy flow and flooding of dark red, thick blood clots every period. I was always tired, exhausted, and out of energy.
After all, I was not only fighting the pain of endometriosis but running a full-time business, looking after my family, and keeping my house in order.
Despite being so unwell, I was relentless with myself. Rest was not an option. I had conditioned myself to keep pushing on and on. I put everyone else's needs before my own, and yet there was no else there to support me. My toxic work environment and marriage was destroying me.
I was in and out of hosptial and constantly on painkillers and drugs that did nothing to abate the severe pain and symptoms. I had six surgeries that only ended up making my condition worse.
So, as if in an act of protest, my body literally went on strike...
My endometriosis flared up so badly that I became totally bedridden and I developed seven additional conditions including adenomyosis, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. I was forced to wind up my business. I could not leave the house; even going to the toilet was an immense struggle.
I was in this state for multiple years and at one point, medical tests showed that I was near total organ failure...
I was in a bad way.
Yet, something within me refused to give up. After some very dark moments, a series of epiphanies, and a lot of time with my thoughts, I gradually began to question things...
"I can't keep trying the same thing (painkillers, drugs & surgery) and expect a different result. Surely there has to be another way out. After all, the body is always wanting to heal. All the other women in my family besides my mother were free of endometriosis so surely this cannot be genetic."
These questions created desperate curiosity within me. I used what little energy I had to research on the internet and read. I retrained from my bed in nutritional therapy, psychotherapy and psychology.
Bit by bit I gradually began to piece together a picture of what I thought was keeping me ill, and making me progressively worse.
I had nothing to lose so I tried everything. Through trial and error, and further research this picture became clearer and I slowly got better.
Now, today, I am completely pain and symptom free having put endometriosis and my other seven conditions into complete remission.