Nooo, it's not just CRAMPS, people.

Why doesn't anyone seem to know about endometriosis? And why, when someone DOES actually know, do they think it's simply bad cramps??? Makes me wanna put my GRRRR face on!!!

My own mother called the disorder "bad cramps". No mom, it's quite a lot more than that. I explained Endometriosis to her in length.

My husband, poor guy, has been here with me every step of the way. I should get him a trophy for The Man Who Can Tolerate The Most TMI and Stick Around. Though he knows every last gorey detail, he's referred to Endometriosis as "cramps" every now and then (only to be called on it).

I'm a personal trainer at a fancy schmancy health club. My personal training manager, who graduated from Stanford with a degree in Exercise Physiology, told everyone I went home early the other day because of a bad migraine. He didn't want anyone to know my personal business unless I was okay with it. He's a very supportive guy. Before I explained Endometriosis to him, he thought of it as, you guessed it. CRAMPS.

It is reported that 10-15 percent of women have endometriosis*, a whopping 1-2 in 10. So, why doesn't anyone know about it? Why, when we tell people about Endometriosis, do they think we just can't handle our cramps?? Why does the world think we should just put our big-girl panties on and deal with it?! I don't want to have to pull out my feminist card, but...

You're all familiar with erectile dysfunction, right? We've all seen the commercials with the eery smile on the middle-aged man's face that simply won't go away. In fact, there are a number of companies that make a good living manufacturing and marketing drugs to help middle-aged men keep Mr. Happy at attention.

Care to take a stab at guessing the percentage of middle-aged men affected by this disorder? Judging by the television, magazine, billboard, newspaper, radio, and blimp (probably) publicity the disorder has received over the last decade, you'd think it were just about every middle-aged man you meet. You'd be wrong. 5-10 percent of men at age 40 suffer (SUFFER) from erectile dysfunction.

That's right, ladies. While we're calling in sick, balled up in the fetal position in the bathroom so we can stay close to the toilet, going through boxes of pads and tampons, taking ibuprofen and refilling our hot water bottles, feeling anemic and lightheaded on top of the incessant throbbing of our abdomens, half-expecting the monster from the Alien movies to come bursting from our guts at any moment....no one knows what we're going through. "Woman troubles," my first doctor called it. "Cramps," says the general population.

And yet....teenagers, women, adolescents, nuns, grandmothers, and even our cats all know about erectile dysfunction.

W. T. F.

* http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/living_with_endometriosis.htm

Why is the pain so much WORSE this month?

It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I've been eating right, sleeping well, exercising, and keeping positive. Last year, I decided to use exercise and diet to ease my endometriosis symptoms and increase my chances of pregnancy. The past year has been a little easier because of that decision. For the most part.

I exercise 5-7 times per week, assuming it's not a red week. I ran my first 10K a couple weeks ago. I take spin class, swim, lift weights, and do circuit training. I'm a certified personal trainer and I kick my butt day after day in the hopes that the endometriosis that so mysteriously came into my life will one day simply disappear without so much as a good riddance. So far, no such luck.

There isn't a way for me to predict how painful and heavy my period will be from month to month. Some months are worse than others. This month has been the worst in maybe an entire year.

Auntie Flo came to visit on Sunday. She's still here, of course, but so are the cramps, the blood clots, and the embarassing gushes. I'm currently wearing a therma care wrap on my lower abdomen and I still feel pain. I think I'll take some ibuprofen in a minute. Why do I have such terrible cramping on Day 4? Ugh.

I feel like taking a nap. Time for some Vitamin I and some shut eye. Hopefully when I wake up I'll feel a lot better.

What is endometriosis?

Endometriosis (from endo, meaning "inside", and metra, meaning "womb") is a medical condition in which endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus. The uterus is lined with endometrial cells, which are affected by female hormones. In women with endometriosis, these cells may grow on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, rectum, bowel, pelvic lining, and other areas of the body.

Endometrial tissue, no matter where in the body it grows, responds to hormones in the same way. Each month, the tissue thickens, breaks down, and bleeds. Since the blood does not have an exit from the body the way that uterine endometrial tissue does, the blood becomes trapped in the body and irritates surrounding tissue. This can lead to scars, adhesions, and cysts.

Click here to see a video on endometriosis from the Mayo Clinic

There are some common symptoms of Endometriosis and by and large the most common is pelvic pain, especially associated with menstruation (dysmenorrhea). The pain can be debilitating and ranges from woman to woman. The severity of pain is not a reliable indicator of the severity of the disorder. Some women with mild endometriosis experience severe pain, while the opposite can be true as well. The pain can also vary from month to month. Some women experience pelvic pain at other times during the month and some women experience some level of pain all the time.

Other common symptoms of Endometriosis include excessive bleeding (hypermenorrhea), bleeding between periods (menometrorrhagia), infertility, irritable bowel syndrome, back pain, chronic fatigue, mood swings, pain during intercourse, and anxiety.

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I am a 30-year-old woman and I've been coping with Endometriosis since May of 2007. It is frustrating, painful, embarassing, and gross. I've had two ruptured cysts, discharged a 3x4-inch sheet of clearish tissue, woken up in the middle of the night many times to find my pelvic area soaked in blood, and dealt with pain every month in various ways.

I'm not sure if my husband and I will be able to have a child from my womb. I'm honestly not sure if I'm fertile any longer or how serious the damage is that this disorder has caused. I've been without health insurance for the last two years and now that I'm married, I'm on my husband's insurance. I'm not sure if this will be considered a pre-existing condition. It's never actually been diagnosed by a doctor. The last doctor I saw, back in 2008, didn't agree that I have endometriosis, despite the fact that I have every symptom known to man (or woman). The second time I had a ruptured cyst (immediately caused by having sexual intercourse), my husband rushed me to the emergency room where I was diagnosed as having had a cyst that had burst.

Each month during my period, I experience moderate to severe pelvic pain. I feel that I must have endometrium growing on my ovaries, since I get pretty pronounced pain on either side of my pelvis. I take ibuprofen when the pain is intolerable, use a hot water bottle, stay in bed, and sometimes my husband will go out to the drugstore and get me those self-heating therma-wraps that I stick onto my lower abdomen. Those really help. Sometimes I send my husband for a bottle of wine and something chocolate. That helps alleviate the pain, but then I have to deal with digestive issues. Ugh.

I'm starting this blog because I have trouble finding information on Endometriosis. I know I'm not the only person dealing with this disorder. When I discharged that clearish tissue, I couldn't find a single thing on the internet. I didn't know what to search, what it's called...nothing. I still don't.

I'm going to make doctor's appointments to determine if I can have a baby, how severe the disorder is for me, whether or not I have ovarian cancer, and what on earth that thing was that I discharged.

If you can't tell yet, this blog is going to be chalk full of TMI. Because right now there is a serious LACK of information regarding Endo. I'm coping with it and you'll hear from me again soon.

Oh. Today I'm on my period (day 2) and the pain is pretty bad. I have been on the couch all day. I took 800 mg ibuprofen at 6:30am and haven't taken anything since. I want to go for a walk to the store but I'm afraid it may bring back the pain. So, I'll stay in for now.