When I was diagnosed with endometriosis as a teenager, I had no idea what it meant for my future fertility journey. To me all it represented at that time in my life was pain. I didn't just have monthly cramps like most teenage girls. I had daily pain. Daily cramping, daily fatigue, on and off nausea, and the list goes on.
As a teen you don't really know what's normal as you are trying to navigate the world around you, but I had a gut feeling that something just wasn't right. This couldn't be how all women live. Everyday was a struggle but I just had to learn how to manage my pain both physically and emotionally. Most days the only way I knew how was to just ignore it. I lived on pain meds just to make it through the day some weeks, but I knew there had to be a better way.
I met with multiple doctors and tried to learn more about this disease or what I could do to help my pain because at the time that’s all I cared about. I used pain meds and heating pads and constantly had a sick bag in my car for those just in case moments. Doctors tried different types of birth control and finally found that one method would allow me to have my monthly visitor only 4 times a year. There were lots of other side effects though and not much testing done which always posed a risk for my future. Would this give me cervical cancer in the future just so I can have less pain now? Would I be able to have children or is this just a quick fix to help me get through daily life right now? At that time in my life kids weren’t even something I worried about. It crossed my mind, but my focus was to manage my pain. I knew it would never go away but if I could at least get a handle on it or decrease the pain to some extent then that was a win in my book. There were days that were so bad that I couldn’t even get out of bed. I would try to go about my day, but my body just couldn’t keep up with what my mind wanted to accomplish or do that day. For many years I continued on this path just managing my endometriosis with birth control. I tried to reduce the endo from spreading as much as I could and that was my main focus. It never went away though and I knew I was in this for the long haul so I just tried to track my cycles and pain and figure it out as best as I could. I would plan events, outings, and vacations around when I predicted my cycle would hit or the days my pain was it’s worst each month. Sometimes I was successful but other times it would hit me like a ton of bricks. No one ever truly knew the pain I was feeling daily. Cramping which caused back pain, fatigue which caused exhaustion, nausea which caused me to never want to eat. It was a vicious unhealthy cycle for many years.
After many years I had an invasive laparoscopy in my 20’s where I was told that the entire left side of my reproductive organs were destroyed and basically not functional. I don’t think my mind truly understood what the doctor was saying especially after having just woken from the anesthesia. I tried to comprehend everything, but it was a lot to take in. What will this mean for my future? Can I still have kids with possibly only one functioning ovary?
After I got married, my husband and I met with a fertility clinic immediately. He was with me during my laparoscopy surgery and knew all of the details from an early stage. He was in it for the long haul and ready to try to navigate what that meant for our future of having kids. I’ll never forget the day months before my surgery when my husband rushed me to the hospital because I thought my abdomen was going to burst from the amount of pain I was in. I literally couldn’t bear it anymore and have never been in so much pain as I was on that day. It’s one of the hardest things to swallow though when even the hospital can’t do anything for you but give you stronger pain meds. They ran all kinds of tests, but everything was "fine". Nothing explained my pain, but I knew. I knew that my flare ups were getting worse after being diagnosed with endometriosis 10 years prior. Yes, you read that right. For 10 years I struggled with this pain and had so many unanswered questions. The hospital released me early the next morning after having none of my questions answered but leaving with some stronger pain meds. That was always the answer....pain meds....nothing could resolve the root issue though.
After meeting with our new fertility clinic, we began to have hope. Were there actually other people like me out there? After 10 years of dealing with this disease were there finally other women that I could relate to? Would they understand all of my pain and fear and worry? For years and years, I never talked to anyone about it. My family knew I had it, but they never really knew my true struggles. I tried to be strong and just go about my normal life but who am I kidding....my life was never normal. It was painful and a true struggle, but this is what life handed me and I tried to just do my best with the life I had.
As I began to talk to more doctors who understood me and started to unravel my history, a lot of it started to make more sense and the puzzle pieces felt like they were starting to fit together as I felt like we had a path forward toward a happier future.
My husband and I started this next phase in our life. Infertility was a hard pill to swallow, but we have never felt so hopeful as we did at that time. We were going to be parents. One way or another. I was determined to never give up regardless of how hard it might get. The following year I took my health into my own hands and started researching all of the ways that could help us on this journey. After over 10 years of struggling with endometriosis, I was sick of just surviving daily life. I wanted to thrive, I wanted to live, and I would do anything to get my life back. I wanted energy, I wanted motivation, I wanted to be pain free. I came across some natural, plant-based supplements but to be honest they sounded too good to be true. After 3 months of giving them a shot, I was already feeling better. My hormones were starting to balance out, my cycles were starting to regulate, my headaches were decreasing by the day, my endo pain started to fade more and more as the months passed, and my energy levels were through the rough. I was finally starting to get my life back, thank you to my Plexus supplements. As we began our fertility journey, my doctor approved my supplements and multivitamin as my prenatal and we forged ahead. We were ready to be parents!
More on our journey to becoming parents through our adventures with IVF in the next post! :-)
xoxo
Celina
Interested in learning more about my Nutrition journey and how Plexus helped me? Message me for more information!
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