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Brittney here. I was recently diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis. I won’t know the extent of the damage to my body until my surgery later this year, but my symptoms are wide spread and often debilitating. Work is becoming harder and harder. Tasks as easy as sitting and sleeping are becoming impossible. And this could all have been avoided with earlier diagnosis.

Although I’ve just received a diagnosis, at age 28, I have struggled with the signs and symptoms of endo since my first period at age 12. I’ve always been brushed off and told that the pain I was experiencing was normal. I’ve gone to the ER and been sent home with Tylenol. 

8 years ago, I ended up at the ER after a night of excruciating abdominal pain and vomitting. When asked what my pain level was out of 10, I didn’t even hesitate to say 10/10. This was met with, “You know 10/10 would be the worst pain you could ever imagine experiencing right?” to which I responded saying, “I know…and it’s 10/10.” After barely assessing me, the doctor said he was going to send me home to take some Tylenol because it was likely menstrual pain. Luckily, he decided to take a quick ultrasound, “just to be safe.” The ultrasound revealed nothing, but my uncontrollable screams from lying down sure changed his attitude.

Turns out it was blood pressing up against my organs/diaphragm because I’d had an ovarian cyst rupture and was bleeding out internally. 10/10 pain. IV morphine and IV gravol did nothing to help the pain or stop the vomiting overnight. By the time they figured out what was going on, the next day, I had to be rushed into emergency surgery because I’d lost half my blood volume. 2 blood transfusions, a cystectomy, and strict 3 weeks of bed rest later and I was on the mend.

Too often, women’s pain isn’t taken seriously. We are brushed off and told to take pain medications. But we know our bodies best and know when something isn’t right. We shouldn’t have to advocate so hard for ourselves, but that’s the current ongoing reality. 1/10 women have endometriosis. 1/10 women have PCOS. 1/500 women have adenomyosis. There’s Allen masters syndrome and so many other causes of very REAL chronic pelvic pain. It’s time to start listening and supporting women when they insist something isn’t right.

These team is made up of some of my biggest supporters through this journey and I can’t thank them enough for being there on my worst days. 💛