Seeing as I've named my Blog 'My Endo Diary' I've decided to start this project, 'A Day In The Life Of An Endo Girl' to portray just a snippet of a day with Endometriosis. Women with Endo are not lazy. Some, such as myself suffer daily pain. Chronic pain. Sometimes mild, sometimes exhausting, sometimes severe. Small things hurt massively. What some people take for granted doing, can take all of my energy. Even down to doing the dishes or making food. Endo is unpredictable. Tomorrow may be a better day. It may be worse. If I look or sound OK one day it doesn't mean I'm better. I'm either hiding the pain from you (I've become quite good at this), having an 'up and down day' (explained below) or on the rare chance having a good day. Every day with Endo for me, is different. However at the moment, they all contain some sort of pain. So here's my first entry.
16/04/13
5:45am Woken up by Endo pains, stabs in my hips. The need to go to the toilet, a nightly ritual. However, tonight this is the first time, it's normally the 2nd or 3rd time by now. I never have a full nights sleep without waking for some reason.
6:08am Lying in bed rubbing my legs and hips trying to alleviate pain and find a comfy way to lay. Not wanting to give into painkillers this early on in the day..
6:57am Awake again. This normally starts around 2-3am. Should I be grateful insomnia & Endo have given me a slight break?
9:30am Awake. Changed. Washed. Hair done. Ate breakfast. Now need a sit down! Smallest things zap ALL of my energy some days.
10:35am Taking my mother to the Hospital to have some stitches removed following her operation on her hand for Carpal Tunnel 2 weeks ago. Feeling achy.
11:25am Sitting in the Hospital waiting room. Massive Endo stabs in my left Ovary. Hoping people don't notice as I seem to be leaning further and further forward on the chair trying to hold my stomach & hide the pain. Embarrassing.
Tramadol taken.
11:45am Started to drive home. Didn't make it out of the car park before pulling over due to stabbing ovary pains. Also getting a lot of breast tenderness and shooting pains.
12:30pm Home, finally! Cramps. Pains in my stomach, left side, right side above belly button and ovary. Frustrated. Sitting on my bed trying to recompose myself.
1:10pm Painting my nails. Take my mind off things..Painted nails always makes me happy :)
3:37pm Made food. Cramps starting from standing too long. Stabbing pains down my legs. On the upside, just received email confirmation for a competition I won last week - to be in the audience of Loose Women next week, a live lunchtime chat show in the UK. Excited!
6:45pm Started feeling 'not quite with it around 5pm. Really drowsy. More of an unwell feeling. Pains in my back & stomach. 2nd Tramadol taken. Hot water bottle & blanket on the sofa. Not moving.
9:30pm So tired. Moody. Tried putting dishes away but got so frustrated 'cos I couldn't put things away properly due to pain. Gave up. Just sat back down, had a huge sharp pain in my leg, thought I had sat on a pin or something! Made me jump..no such luck tho - it's just Endo playing games.
11:10pm Time for bed. The sleepless, painful cycle will start again. It's been exhausting today but please note this has not been what I call one of 'my bad days'. This has been an 'up and down day'.
In my Mother's words on reflection at the end of the day...
"Today wasn't your best day; But it wasn't your worst either"
Much more awareness of what we Endo girls go through daily is needed.
Much more.
View my second entry by clicking here.
16/04/13
5:45am Woken up by Endo pains, stabs in my hips. The need to go to the toilet, a nightly ritual. However, tonight this is the first time, it's normally the 2nd or 3rd time by now. I never have a full nights sleep without waking for some reason.
6:08am Lying in bed rubbing my legs and hips trying to alleviate pain and find a comfy way to lay. Not wanting to give into painkillers this early on in the day..
6:57am Awake again. This normally starts around 2-3am. Should I be grateful insomnia & Endo have given me a slight break?
9:30am Awake. Changed. Washed. Hair done. Ate breakfast. Now need a sit down! Smallest things zap ALL of my energy some days.
10:35am Taking my mother to the Hospital to have some stitches removed following her operation on her hand for Carpal Tunnel 2 weeks ago. Feeling achy.
11:25am Sitting in the Hospital waiting room. Massive Endo stabs in my left Ovary. Hoping people don't notice as I seem to be leaning further and further forward on the chair trying to hold my stomach & hide the pain. Embarrassing.
Tramadol taken.
11:45am Started to drive home. Didn't make it out of the car park before pulling over due to stabbing ovary pains. Also getting a lot of breast tenderness and shooting pains.
12:30pm Home, finally! Cramps. Pains in my stomach, left side, right side above belly button and ovary. Frustrated. Sitting on my bed trying to recompose myself.
1:10pm Painting my nails. Take my mind off things..Painted nails always makes me happy :)
3:37pm Made food. Cramps starting from standing too long. Stabbing pains down my legs. On the upside, just received email confirmation for a competition I won last week - to be in the audience of Loose Women next week, a live lunchtime chat show in the UK. Excited!
6:45pm Started feeling 'not quite with it around 5pm. Really drowsy. More of an unwell feeling. Pains in my back & stomach. 2nd Tramadol taken. Hot water bottle & blanket on the sofa. Not moving.
9:30pm So tired. Moody. Tried putting dishes away but got so frustrated 'cos I couldn't put things away properly due to pain. Gave up. Just sat back down, had a huge sharp pain in my leg, thought I had sat on a pin or something! Made me jump..no such luck tho - it's just Endo playing games.
11:10pm Time for bed. The sleepless, painful cycle will start again. It's been exhausting today but please note this has not been what I call one of 'my bad days'. This has been an 'up and down day'.
In my Mother's words on reflection at the end of the day...
"Today wasn't your best day; But it wasn't your worst either"
Much more awareness of what we Endo girls go through daily is needed.
Much more.
View my second entry by clicking here.
#MyEndoDiary
This post sounds so much like me. It's amazing how we all go through similar struggles with this illness. I appreciate you posting this, and if you don't mind at some point may do the same on my blog :) I blog about my endo journey too at expiation.org.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading it! Of course I dont mind, only thought of doing it myself this week & thought it would be a good way to show how much pain we can get in one day. Will do another one soon. Thanks for leaving your blog address, I will add it to my reading list & have a look at yout posts too x
DeleteHi! I have stage 4 endo. It's wrapped around my bowel, and bladder. My doctor wanted me to start Lupron injections to stop the cells from dividing. My other option is to have a major surgery which would entail a three month recovery in addition to a follow up surgery to reverse a colostomy, and bladder stents ugh! I turned down both options. I get a lot of relief taking Evening Primerose Oil. You can buy it at any health food store. It really helps with swelling, and pain. It's also great for your skin. I have not followed an all orgainic hormone free diet like recommended. My doctor also suggested I never drink unfiltered tap water. He claims many studies have shown there is all kinds of stuff in tap water we do not need which can contribute to pelvic pain. In addition I should tell you I have 6 fibroids which are also wrapped with endo. Yea, I am a mess! After a failed attempt at a hysterectomy my doctor sent me to an Interventional radiologist. He performed a uterine imobilization. He stopped the blood flow into my uteris, and one of my overies. This has helped the major over production of hormones I have leading to my issues. I feel a little better, but my stomach still swells. I can barely paint my toe nails
DeleteHi Julie, thanks for reading & commenting. You definitely don't have it easy! Thanks for mentioning evening primrose oil, I havent tried that - my stomach is always swollen ao will be wortg a try! Glad to hear you feel a little better, hope it continues.
DeleteWow its amazing how much of that sounds like what I go through. I'm currently trying out the Endo diet.
ReplyDeleteXxx
Jazzabelled.blogspot.co.uk
Its mad how many people struggle daily like this! Not nice to know others suffer the same pains but comforting to know im not the only one! Good luck with the endo diet..let me know how it goes! xx
DeleteI am going to get serious, and try to follow the diet too. In addition to Evening Primerose Oil, Vitamin C with bioflavonoids also helps reduce swelling.I had a lot of trouble urinating, because of the pressure on my bladder. It really works for me.
ReplyDeleteI read about the Lupron injections. One shot is $1,300, and that is with my health insurance. Many women wrote about the horrible side effects. It is a very harsh drug that lasts for 3 months. Your hair falls out, horrible mood swings, suicidal, night sweats, nausea......the list goes on.....You don't get any relief from the shot. It just stops the endo from growing, and spreading. My doctor looked at me like I was crazy for turning it down.
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying Julie. Ive had injections before, same as Lupron but it was called Prostap. Had to have a 6 month course of it. Would never have it again, side effects were awful for me, I bled continuously on it when it should have stopped all periods. I will try the Evening primrose oil though & look into the vitamin c you mentioned. Thank you.
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