Endometriosis anyone?

[808veggie]

I've had this condition off and on for almost 10 years now and had 3 surgeries....they told me once I got pregnant it would go away for good, well my daughter is 20 months old and I know it's back. I follow a vegan diet now ( for 6 months) and honestly don't exercise, but I wonder if there's anything else I can do. Any suggestions? Also I'm not on BC because I would like to become pregnant again :)

[MsRuthieB]

I've had it for 20+ years and as far as I know there is really nothing you can do to hinder the spread or stop it from reoccurring (most cases post surgery return within a few years). Sorry to hear you are going through this. I totally can relate and feel for you.

Here's a couple of sites I found educational:

The National Endometriosis Society (http://www.endo.org.uk/)
and
The Endometriosis Association (http://www.endometriosisassn.org/)
and
Endometriosis.Org (http://www.endometriosis.org/)

All three are great sources.

[808veggie]

Thanks. There was some wonderful info on those sites! Ecsp. some herbal treatments. :vebo:

[DannyKass]

I guess I'm a newbie.. I've only have it for urm.. 3 years.
I'm going to a natropath/herbalist lady on Thursday (I think it's Thursday.. hrm..) I hope that can help a little.

[MsRuthieB]

Good Luck Danny.

Not to scare you both, but the worst was years ago when it had grown so much that it had wrapped around a part of my colon making it very painful to poop. I learned my lesson about letting things go. No more. Almost had serious complications because of it.

Endo hits more women than any other disease, including cancer. You are not alone.

[Skylark]

*gets wide eyes*

Ok, that settles it. I'm not taking my mother's "We let our bodies fix their own problems" crap any more. It's been a year and a half since I first heard about endo, and I'm not going to wait any longer to get myself checked out. Painful pooping? Even if this isn't endo that I have, I don't think it's going to get better by not doing anything. My mother seems to think that since I've noticed I do better pain-wise when I get lots of sleep before my period comes, that getting plenty of sleep should make the problem go away.

I'm not going to live like this anymore. *tosses head* I'm tired of not knowing.

[MsRuthieB]

Good for you Skylark. Yeah, my case may be the exception rather than the norm but I do know that colon problems are serious enough to kill. And a preforated colon is deadly. So a person really doesn't want anything obstructing the flow, expecially not something that was acting like a knotted string (which is what was happening in my case).

[808veggie]

Well I was also diagnosed as havind IBS, but since going Vegan-no more problems, but I think it was more related to the endo than anything else. Now the only time my stomach freaks out is when I eat fried foods.

[k@rm@_girl]

I wonder if this could be what is going on with me? I just posted about painful periods, I should have read this first! I have had so much pain and the symptoms fit to a tea. Maybe I should go back to the doc and discuss the possibility.

[pavlovskitty]

I had surgery in '99 for endo. I felt a lot better for quite a while, and after losing a lot of weight concieved my son. I'm slowly getting back to where I was then. I have a tipped uterus, and one of the theorys is the a possible flow back into my body instead of out. As far as I know, I'm the only one in my family diagnosed, though my mother, aunt and grandmother had hysterectomys due to fibroids.

Getting pregnant did make it better for a while, but I have no proof to offer for that. And the better my diet is, the less my pain.

[MsRuthieB]

My therory? Tampons.......not proven in any way shape or form. Just an opinion of a 20 year sufferer.

[k@rm@_girl]

Are you saying that tampons make the pain worse?