Let's talk about it more

Today I would like to share this personal story about Endo that was expressed with such understanding and accuracy. As someone who suffers with Endo, it got my attention. I guarantee it will also get your attention even if you know nothing about Endo, or if you know someone who has it.
This is what awareness is all about. Read on.

Ed Keates

‪#‎Endometriosis‬!

Chances are, you’ve heard of it. You may even know someone that has or had it. I could explain medically, what it is, or how it gets there, but you would stop reading. Instead, I have some home truths about Endo and it’s affects.
The most common reaction to it being mentioned by most people, mainly women, is, “Oh, I have a friend that’s had that. She’s alright now though.”
My wife has suffered with Endometriosis for over 10 years and I’m afraid she’s not “Alright now.”
“Oh, can’t they do something for her, something to control the pain?”
No it’s incurable.
“There’s really nothing they can do?”
No.

Endometriosis affects millions of women around the world, and if it makes you feel better or easier to relate, it has affected and affects famous people.

Here’s a list of some of the people it has affected:
Anna Friel, Whoopi Goldberg, Anthea Turner, Dolly Parton, Hilary Clinton, Emma Bunton, Susan Sarandon, Louise Redknapp, Myleene Klass, Cyndi Lauper, Tori Amos, Pamela Anderson, Marilyn Monroe and even Queen Victoria.

So now you can pick a face you like out of that list, maybe someone you admire and/or are inspired by. Now I will tell you that for each and every woman that Endo affects, it hurts them all differently.
No two women are affected the same way. Some women only get pain around the time of their period, maybe for a few days. And no, I am not talking about period pain.
A woman with Endo pain is severely different. Take your worst period pain and multiply it by 100 and then you’re approaching the ball park of pain that these women have to suffer.

In extreme cases of Endo, which unfortunately includes my wife, the pain is constant, it is every day and it is debilitating in every way possible, as well as soul destroying.
My wife hasn’t worked for 2 years due to Endometriosis, I remind you once again, there is no cure for it.
It is a vicious disease, it spreads around the body, it has no boundaries and it can’t be stopped.
It’s known as the invisible disease, and this is the way in which women that suffer, are treated by those that cannot relate to it.

That woman who tells you, oh it’s ok, “it only affects me so often,” is really protecting you. They don’t want you to know that it took them an hour to get out of bed this morning, because they had to wait for medication, that doesn’t really help them, to kick in. They don’t want to tell you that they can spend up to an hour on the toilet because it is so painful to urinate. They don’t want you to know that a short walk can be so exhausting, and the ability to carry things becomes harder and harder. They don’t want you to know about waking up in such a deep and dark depression as they feel their life slowly being torn away from their hands. They don’t want you to know that they have to take so much medication to control the pain, that all it does is numb their emotions.
That woman that puts on the brave face at work, who’s always happy, is the same woman hiding in the toilet holding her sides, crying on all fours because she’s unsure how she’ll be able to relate this issue to her boss, whom regardless of what sex they are just won’t understand.

Broken arms heal, and people empathise with injuries they see.

My wife has had two operations, other women have had many more, and it is still lingering. It’s so difficult to answer questions, even from family members who feel that after an operation “Everything should be ok.”
The amount of guilt a woman suffering with Endo feels on a daily basis because they aren’t like everyone else is immensely huge. Guilt because maybe they might not be able to work again, and because maybe they might not be able to have children. It’s hard for them to sit there and watch everyone’s life continue as they remain in pain on a daily basis.

The above is just a small insight into how Endo affects women, but it’s also a disease easily dismissed by people and unfortunately, western medicine. How is it we live in a world where money can be ploughed into a project to keep a man erect for hours, but women with Endo have to put up with the suffering?

March is ‪#‎EndoAwarenessMonth‬ – please share this for awareness in the hope that people can help in donations/fundraising to further research to rid all that suffer of this terrible disease.

If you would like to help in anyway please contact http://www.endometriosis-uk.org/
But the main things is, let’s talk about it more!

I love you Louise, here’s to you getting better xxx