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Meghan’s Story (Endometriosis)

Meghans Story EndometriosisAt the age of 24, I never saw my life being like this. I would say my troubles truly started when I got pregnant in 2010. Only 4 weeks in, they thought my son was ectopic. So I had a laparoscopy which showed he wasn’t. Thank God for that miracle! I had a rough pregnancy and long, difficult labor. After 22 hours, they finally decided to do a c-section because my son was stuck in my hip, distressed. I contracted E. coli in my blood because the procedure was “sterile at best.”

Ever since delivery, I have had a pain in my lower left abdomen causing pain in my hip. My periods never stopped. If I was lucky, I had a few days without bleeding. I was given Depo as needed for breakthrough bleeding, but it would still come every 4 weeks. Cramps felt more like contractions, and I would spend all day in the bathroom with diarrhea.

Fast forward to February 2014, when things really turned for the worse. I became very ill, throwing up constantly with extremely painful diarrhea. After many tests and ER trips, nothing was found. Then it got to the point where I could not produce my bowel movements. I was to the point where I physically struggled to walk because my hip was so messed up I could not lift it, and putting weight down on it was painful. The pain made me dizzy. I had many episodes of passing out, either from the pain or vomiting, I still do not know. I saw many doctors. None had a clue what was going on and assumed it was all in my head.

Finally, I saw a general surgeon who suggested my obgyn go in to look for endometriosis. Well, to my shock, she refused!  She told me she knew for a fact that nothing was wrong with my female parts and that none of my symptoms matched up. Wow. Well I finally got my second obgyn opinion from the doctor that delivered my son. At that first appointment, he said he thought I had endometriosis and scheduled surgery for first thing Monday morning. I do not have my full results yet, other than that he did find adhesions and endometriosis. I’ll find out more in about 2 weeks. Surgery went well. I’m now 3 days in. I still have so much pain in my shoulders from the gas and haven’t had a bowel movement yet. But the pain in my left leg is only a fraction of the pain it was. I’m a little concerned with the lack of bathroom trips. I’ve been taking things, and I’m supposed to to try going. I feel movement, so I hope the surgery corrected whatever was preventing me from going and it’s just going to take a couple more days to get it moving. I was not prepared for the hell of a period you get after surgery. I knew I would bleed, but the cramps are insane.

My question for anyone who reads this is if their endometriosis got to the point of weight loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, extreme constipation, passing out, trouble walking, or anything close to those symptoms. I know women in my family that suffer from endometriosis but not to the extent I have experienced. I feel quite alone though all this. With how long I’ve been ill I feel like a burden to my loved ones. I don’t have much of a support system to help me though this. It’s all making me feel lost and scared at some points. But I am a fighter. I will overcome whatever is going on. I just have to keep strong. 🙂

Meghan

Oklahoma

Submitted 08/29/2014

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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2 comments

  1. Angie

    Hi Meghan,

    I’m sorry you are going through this. I know how painful it can be. I had similar symptoms….vomiting, diarrhea, awful hip pain, etc. I have had a total of 3 surgeries and there is no guarantee that my endometriosis won’t come back. I have had my ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus and cervix removed. The best advice I can give you is to listen to your body. You know when things aren’t right. I had to see Sooo many Doctors before I finally found one that really listened and made sure that no stone was left unturned. I had a CT scan of my abdomen, stomach and hips that showed a large mass of endometriosis in my abdominal wall. Before scheduling the surgery, I had a colonoscopy to make sure the endo wasn’t in my colon, a cystoscop(y) to ensure that the endo wasn’t in my bladder and a 2nd CT scan to see if it had spread. My ob-gyn and a plastic surgeon performed surgery on me for 6 hours. They removed a softball sized tumor from my abdominal wall. They also had to remove part of my pelvic bone because the endo was growing down in the bone. I had lesions all over the place. Since the surgery, I am no longer in pain, the vomiting and diarrhea have stopped and I can lead a normal life again. Due to the problems you are having with your bowels, I would strongly suggest that you get a colonoscopy. Endo can spread like wildfire…
    The reason I had endometriosis everywhere was due to cross contamination during my C-section. I have learned that this is very common, yet very rarely mentioned to the Mom having the C-section. I pray that you find out exactly what is causing the pain and are able to get it taken care of. If you have any questions or would like to talk, let me know.

    Angie

  2. cindy liliensiek

    Hi Meghan. I have had endometriosis since I was 13 and am now 56 and still suffer from the effects of endo. I also got to the point where I could not have a bowel movement no matter what fiber products/etc. I took. I had an upper GI, lower GI, pelvic ultrasound, etc. and everything showed up fine. But when my gynecologist and GI surgeon did surgery, they found my small intestine and colon were almost totally obstructed by endo. I have had mutliple surgeries over the years, removing endo, removing scar tissue, having a hysterectomy, etc. After all that, I still live in daily pain. I have tried being on birth control pills, lupron shots, etc. before the hysterctomy. Birth control pills helped for a few years when I was younger then became less and less affective. Lupron shots gave me daily migraines. Then I was in daily pain from endo and from migraines Horrible!!!! I get so sick when I read stories like yours, 40+ years after I was first diagnosed, who are still going through endo with doctors still not aware of the disease or how to identify it and treat it. Note, that endo doesn’t always show up on scans and is only identified through surgery. So sorry to hear that you are having problems with endo. Good luck. If you need to talk, let me know.

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