Wolf ♥ Cheetah: Endometriosis

In a previous post I casually mentioned a slew of weird health problems I've experienced over the years. One that I want to discuss today is endometriosis. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue from the uterus grows outside the uterus, in the abdominal cavity and on other organs. It is cancer-like in that cells from the uterus "metastasize" to other parts of the body, where they would otherwise normally never be, and set up shop as uterine tissue. These tissue growths respond to the normal hormonal cycles of the woman's body and bleed like a period. They can develop into what are called "chocolate cysts," which are actually just big chunks of bleeding tissue, so called chocolate because of all the old blood they contain. Gross, I know. Also, endometriosis is one of the leading causes of infertility and often women only find out they have it after they've been trying, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant for months.

Anyway, I suffered from endometriosis, likely for many many years, but it was only discovered and treated about 4 years ago. It certainly does not mean you will suffer any infertility issues, because look at me! I totally got knocked up! But I believe this is because I made a number of important lifestyle changes during the time I was suffering and after I was diagnosed and treated. I basically had severe abdominal and pelvic pain all the time. It took months for doctors to figure out what was wrong with me. I actually saw 16 doctors during that ~9 month period of time and got tens of thousands of dollars worth of diagnostic testing done. It honestly was probably over $100K worth of tests and procedures, but luckily I have great insurance and it was all mostly covered. Phew.

Here's how it went down for me. I saw a ton of doctors, was on prescription opioids every day for months and eventually a big shot fertility specialist was able to do an exploratory laparoscopy. He discovered extensive endometriosis all throughout my abdominal cavity and he laser-ablated everything he could find. At the time I was using the Nuvaring, a form of hormonal contraception. Hormonal contraception is supposed to prevent endometriosis and is frequently used to treat it, so it was a real mystery as to how I had such extensive disease inside of me when I had been using the Nuvaring for YEARS. At that time I had been using it for almost a decade. I never figured out that mystery, but I did go off the ring a few months after my laparoscopy.

That is when some more crazy shit happened. I gained about 30lb and didn't have a normal period for a year! WTF? Some doctors call this "post-birth control syndrome" and it basically means your body is super fucked up because you've been filling it with fake hormones for years. Hormonal contraception is great for millions of people, don't get me wrong, but I will never use it again. (Officially it's contraindicated for me now because I've had migraines with aura, but that's a tale for another day...) Basically, since my body had been receiving fake estrogen from an exogenous source (the ring) for years it had simply stopped making its own estrogen. This resulted in the weight gain and menstrual cycle issues, but also thinning hair and depression and osteopenia and all kinds of awesome things.

Happy ending - I got past that! Lost all the weight and got a normal cycle back. In trying to deal with all of that, and the endometriosis before that, I went into some deep forays into nutrition. I had been very physically active for years, mostly doing martial arts (Thai boxing, Brazilian jiu jitsu), running and weight lifting stuff, so I was in great shape, but despite working out all the time I still gained all that crazy water weight. I had not, however, been the healthiest eater. I thought I was, being a vegetarian for long stretches of time and eating lots of fruit and whole grains. Little did I know at the time that all these carbs were actually killing me, and possibly contributing to my endometriosis. I ended up changing my diet to a more paleo-esque low carb diet, which I mostly adhered to until I got pregnant. I also took a bunch of vitamins and supplements, many of them unnecessary, but some vital to my "recovery," namely vitamin D, vitamin K, vitamin B12, methyl-folate, coconut oil and omega 3.

I initially went off birth control because hubby and I wanted to have a kid, but that didn't happen for a long time. But 4 years later I can say that I am fertile and happy. It took a lot of patience, giving up a lot of delicious baked goods and engaging in regular exercise. But if you are suffering from endometriosis, or think you might be, definitely get checked out because there is no reason for you to suffer, and it is not a death sentence in terms of having children. Hysterectomies and oophorectomies are often recommended treatments for severe endometriosis, but before you commit to such a drastic course of action, I urge you to explore all your options. For me, laser-ablation and lifestyle changes helped immensely, but that doesn't mean it will never come back. Unfortunately, surgical interventions aren't cures either, and the endo can always come back.

For the record, every woman's experience is different and I am neither for nor against the use of hormonal contraception or surgical interventions when it comes to other women. I'm simply relating what my own experience was, and hopefully I am able to let another woman out there know that she isn't alone with these female struggles.