Since being diagnosed with endometriosis I seem to blame the disease for every health problems I have ever experienced. This ranges from the obviously related stuff (e.g. stomach pains, fatigue, and heavy bleeding etc) to the more exotic complaints (e.g. every sniffle, joint pains, breathing difficulties, shoulder pain, migraines etc).
On a positive note, it is so encouraging to have a ‘label’ that enables me to make sense of all the weird things that have been going on inside my body. When I recently started getting severe sciatic pain in my leg for instance, I could look at my fiance and say ”damn endo”, take some ibuprofen, and then carry on with my life without worrying that I have leg cancer or something like pre-diagnosis me would have.
However, it occurred to me a little while ago that some of my symptoms may not be endometriosis related, but I am making no effort to investigate them as I just presume that they are. It’s like I never learn from life lessons; one reason that my endometriosis took ages to diagnose was told that I had IBS, so I attributed almost every twinge, pain or ache I experienced to that without ever questioning it.
I have this vision of having a heart attack or something when I am older, and when people try to call me an ambulance being like ”oh no, don’t worry, stop making a fuss, it’s just my endometriosis. Make me a hot water bottle and I will be OK.” :-D.
In the back of my mind, I sometimes worry that if I developed something serious that all my crazy endometriosis symptoms would drown out the warning signs. For now, I am just going to carry on blocking these thoughts out until my specialist hospital appointment in March. I can reassess from there I think.
So, I’m interested to know about the range of symptoms/ experiences that you attribute to your endometriosis, without being certain that it is the actual cause. Also, have you ever been ignored or misdiagnosed by doctors who attributed your concerns to your endometriosis without adequate investigation?
Love, as always,
Claire
xxx
The Endo The World? 
Hi,
Endo is a bitch right?? I was diagnosed 4 years ago when I was 19 after severe pain. Been on all the treatments to no avail so have to have laps every couple of years! Just wanted to say that endometriosis is related to autoimmune disease and I myself along with endo have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and pernicious anaemia (autoimmune diseases) as well as migraine, essential tremor, vulvodynia and IBS so do make sure you have some blood tests to rule out autoimmune conditions. It’s one of those things unfortunately…once you’ve got one you’re bound to get more!! Good luck!
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Hey!
Yes it absolutely is! Hate being stuck with it.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with me, you’ve inspired me to bring up testing for other autoimmune conditions with my doctor. Do keep in touch!
Claire
xx
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