I have endometriosis. Me and roughly 8.5 million other North American women suffer from what can be an incredibly painful condition. It isn’t a terminal disease, but it can cause debilitating pain and infertility. And even with the large number of women who suffer from endo, there is very little known about it and there is no cure.
What is Endometriosis, you ask?
Great question! I had no clue until I did some web MDing after I was diagnosed a year ago. A woman with endometriosis has uterine cells elsewhere in her body other than her uterus. They can be anywhere in the pelvis (by the bladder, intestines, colon, ovaries) or anywhere in the body (the brain, lungs, etc.). These uterine cells act just like uterine cells in your uterus, each month they bleed, but unlike uterine cells in the uterus, they have have no way to escape the body. This can cause a buildup of nodules and cause scaring.
When I first read what was going on in my body I was like “&^%$! No wonder why this hurts so much!” But the interesting thing is some women with endometriosis don’t exhibit any symptoms, and the amount of pain you feel does not correlate to the amount of nodules and scaring you have. A woman with stage one endometriosis (little scaring) can have tremendous pain, while another woman with stage four (a lot of scaring and adhesions) won’t necessarily exhibit any symptoms and might not find out she has the condition until she is trying to get pregnant.
That’s the other real downer to endo. Apart from the pain, roughly a third of women diagnosed with endometriosis are also infertile. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Why is it important to know about endometriosis?
Roughly 10% of women suffer from it, but very little is known about endometriosis and it’s often misdiagnosed. Even as recently as a few decades ago, women were told their painful symptoms were in their head OR that being in constant pain was just a natural part of being a woman (What the what?!). Not only was that incredibly unhelpful and alienating, it also prevented any research from happening.
The Endometriosis Foundation of America works to bring awareness to this condition and toward finding a cure. As of now, women can have surgery to remove these painful nodules, but it isn’t a cure. Sometimes the surgery helps, but more often than not, more adhesions develop and women suffering from endometriosis have multiple surgeries throughout their lifetime.
Endometriosis Foundation of America founders: Padma Lakshmi and Susan Sarandon with Bridget Moynahan (photo credit).
Thanks, you guys, for letting me bend your ear about this stuff. It means the world to me if you just gave this post a little read and know a bit more about this pervasive condition. Feel free to click the donate link below to contribute to the Endometriosis Foundation of America if you so choose, but know I’m just as grateful that you took a minute to read this post. Spreading awareness is the first step toward helping us become even more educated about our bodies.
Donate to the Endometriosis Foundation of America:
Click HERE to safely and securely donate through paypal.
And a big thank you to Diane of Snapshot Fashion! Thank you for organizing this fundraiser, Diane and sharing your story with us!
MWAH! i love the asian cajuns for posting this and joining me with this fundraiser! i appreciate more than anything in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yippee! Thanks again so much for organizing this, Diane! I’m so very inspired by the way you have confronted your diagnosis!
xoxox,
Lar
p.s. read the email i sent you about the donation button/link.
Love your signage, Larbar!!! What a great post. Props to Snapshop Fashion for organizing this!
On a more superficial note, that jacket looks great on you. Where did you get it?
xoxo, cath
Hiii Kitcath!
Oh I should have totally mentioned that in the post — I’m so out of practice with outfit posting.
Still trying to be eco-friendly and more ethically aware, that’s a thrifted jacket I got for £8! Not too shabby, eh? It’s the perfect weight for spring and fall (and if I get more Scottish, winter ;).
Hope you are staying warm in Minneapolis today!
xoxoxox,
Lar
Wow, Lauren– thank you for being so bold and brave to write this! It is so important to spread awareness and information about these “invisible” diseases like fibromyalgia, endometriosis, etc. Great post and thanks again!
Oh thanks so much, Maggie! That means the world to me. And thank YOU for reading this post!
xoxox,
Lar
Kudos to you for being brave enough to talk about such a serious and personal matter, and for bringing awareness to endometriosis. So many women have it, and the diagnosis can be devastating (especially if a woman has been planning to have children all her life).
Thanks for taking the time and having the courage to share this.
Thanks, Cary! It makes it easier thinking about how this could help other women not feel so alone with their pain. Thank you for reading 😉
xoxox,
Lar
I LOVE this post 🙂 xx
Lar! You are my hero. So awesome and courageous of you to post on this. I actually didn’t know very much about endo before I read this post. The limit of my knowledge was, ahem, I heard the name before. It’s crazy that even in this day and age, there are so many mysteries for humanity to uncover. But it’s definitely important to further our knowledge on treating endo so we can extend some happiness to those who suffer from it, especially those who would want to have children of their own.
Passing this post on so the whole world will know!
hugs, laura
Ten percent? I had no idea. Thank you for raising my consciousness.
Thanks so much for reading, PC 🙂
You go, Lar. Way to spread the word!
Aw, man. 3 generations of women on my mother’s side have all had hysterectomies at the age of 36 (likely) due to endometriosis. I remember watching my mom suffer until she was finally diagnosed. There needs to be more awareness and research done; thanks for sharing your story and doing your part to educate your readers!
What an amazing way to spread awareness! I had heard of endo, but it’s incredible to witness your bravery, speaking out about it in such a public place! I wish you all the best in your day to day dealing with this disease. Thank you for posting about it; I have always thoroughly enjoyed this blog because of your honesty and for the “realness” the blog portrays. You two are amazing, and I know you’ll make this endometriosis your b*&$h! Lol but in all seriousnessstay strong; you will prevail! 🙂
xo
Dabay
I have never heard of this, so it’s extremely brave of you to talk about this publicly. Thank you for bringing it to my attention and way to spread the awareness and support of the fundraiser!
I have been “stalking” your blog for over a year now and never commented; until now! 😉 Wow, I never imagined that a fashion blog would ever talk about endo! I appreciate your fabulous blog even more now! Hello fellow endo sister! Wishing you all the best and for pain-free days! Thank you for making me smile today!:)
Hi Cheryl!
Thank you so much for “stalking” us and commenting on this post! I’m wishing you the best and pain-free days too. Comments like yours means so much to me.
Thank you again, endo sister!
xoxox,
Lar
Here is an organization that works to treat infertility, but it also has experience with helping individuals with endometriosis. Here is their website and here are some other links with comments from people who have used their services. Might be worth looking into?
http://www.fertilitycare.org/
community.babycenter.com/post/a23684179/has_anyone_heard_of_naprotechnology
http://survivingendometriosis.blogspot.com/2009/11/awesome-new-video-for-naprotechnology.html
http://hailmaryfullofgrace-mt.blogspot.com/2008/08/our-1st-visit-with-napro-technology.html
http://www.naprotechnology.com/surgical.htm (this one has some graphic images of surgery)
Thanks so much, Heather! I’ll check out the links now!
I want Lar’s boots, but I digress! Glad that this blog post was shared. I didn’t know anything about endometriosis & it shows that you never know what someone is fighting!! Thanks for the deets.