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Jolene’s Story (Endometriosis)

Jolene's Story Endometriosisl would love to share my story for Endometriosis Awareness Month! I myself started my menstrual period at the age of nine. My story is a little different than most, as I had never had any horrible period pain till I got older. I always used to give my twin sister a hard time for missing school all the time due to severe cramping. I always thought she complained for attention. Little did I know…

My twin had a laparoscopy done at the age of eighteen and was diagnosed with PCOS and stage 3 endometriosis. I felt so bad for her, as the doctors told her that her chances of conceiving are slim to none!

I started experiencing this constant pressure pain in my left abdominal and pelvic area to the point where I could no longer stand the pain! I went into the emergency room to find out that I had a miscarriage and that I had a 6.2 cm cyst on my left ovary, which they decided was too big and needed to be removed! They considered it a hemorrhagic ovarian cyst (This had all happened at the age of 23.).

I would be lucky enough to conceive my daughter in April of 2004. I had to have a C-section when I found out that I was diagnosed with endometriosis! Unfortunately, they didn’t remove any endometriosis which they had found.

I can honestly say that I didn’t feel a thing or have any problems until shortly before my 32nd b-day in July 2013! The pain started, and it was severe!!! I started off with the same abdominal pain on left side, even when I wasn’t menstruating. I slowly started to feel pain the week before and the week of my period. Symptoms I had were low grade fever, nausea, lack of sleep, headaches, pain going down my left leg/pelvic area, etc.

I moved to Colorado and had to find a new doctor, who diagnosed me with IBS. I tried telling him about my sister and me being diagnosed after my C-section, with no luck. Six months later, the pain was getting worse. I knew something was wrong, so I switched providers. I found a doctor that listened to me, thank goodness. I am lucky enough to finally have had the laparoscopy procedure done on 02/23/2015 at the age of 33. They diagnosed me with stage 3 endometriosis which they said has been removed. My left ovary was rather large compared to my right ovary and was no longer functional. It had a 7.5 cm hemorrhagic cyst with an endometrial “blood cyst” inside the hemorrhagic cysts.

It has been two weeks since the procedure, and I am so far feeling awesome! For women out there who are led to believe that you have to have bad menstrual periods to have endo, that information is false! I hope that my story helps. Thanks for reading.

P.S. My OBGYN says that being an identical twin, like me, triples the chances of having endo. 🙁

Jolene
Colorado
Submitted 03/10/2015

The informational content of this article is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.

This story is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.

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One comment

  1. crystal

    Hi. I read your story and wanted to see how you are doing? Did you have a quick recovery? Thank you for sharing your story

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