Endometriosis affects 1/10 women that we know of.  My journey started at a young age with biweekly periods, later turning into pain so excruciating that I couldn't get off of the floor.  The pain was unpredictable and worse than anything I had ever felt.  It made sex painful, sitting painful, exercising painful, having a full bladder painful, made me constipated, and made every day a guessing game of if I was going to hurt or not, and if so how much.  Thankfully I was able to have an excision procedure 11/2/2019 that helped with a lot of the pain.  This procedure removed a baseball sized cyst (endometrioma) off of my left ovary, as well as cut lesions off of my uterus, diaphragm, bladder, bowel, and other areas in my abdominal cavity.  Endo is not curable, and can only currently be diagnosed by surgery.  It affects quality of life, relationships, fertility, and day to day living.  It is something not talked about often, as it is often not taken seriously or believed, or people are ashamed to talk about that part of their lives.  BUT, I'm not shy, so I'm here to tell you that endo is a pain in the ass and people deserve better than waiting years to be diagnosed with a disease, and then only by surgery, just to be told there is no definitive treatment.  I hope that we can educate further on endo so that people who are suffering may be able to find some peace at least knowing what they are dealing with.  I also hope that research will help us find better ways to diagnose and treat endometriosis.  :)

Individuals with endometriosis need your help now to adapt endometriosis education to online learning, fund cutting-edge research on endometriosis treatment and diagnosis, advocate for endometriosis education on the state and national level, and promote disease recognition in our broader communities.