Ok so right now I want to rip all the organs that are currently inside my body out of my body and stomp on them so let me explain why!!!

I have something called #endometriosis

It's a complicated and little-understood chronic disease that's mainly caused by these little frickers: cells that grow on your uterine wall

Now normally these cells line your uterus to make it a BABY FRIENDLY PLACE but if you decide not to INSERT BABY into your uterus, the cells slough off and bam! Period time!

But SOMETIMES these cells decide they're not gonna just hang around the uterus. They become little frickin gentrifiers, deciding to move into other neighborhoods and completely mess them up by building pricey hipster coffee houses & destroying local businesses

They start growing on organs like your LARGE INTESTINE or your LIVER or even, and I'm serious, YOUR LUNGS.

Now even though they're growing on different organs, these cells still act like they're in the uterus. Which means every month when the hormone levels in your body go into NO BABY ALERT, they respond

The response?

Sloughing. Sloughing and bleeding.

Now when this happens in the uterus, you get a period. Normal!! But when this happens on your large intestine you get....a mess. You get cells that slough and bleed on an organ that's not meant to go through that. And you know what the consequences are?

Symptoms include!

-intense pain
-crushing fatigue
-extreme bowel disorders
-debilitating nausea
-lightheadedness/dizzyness
-migraines
-skin issues
-hot flashes
-SO MANY MORE

It's a full-body disorder, one that impacts all systems on which the cells grow. And they can grow on nerves too, which causes MORE PAIN! Basically your entire body malfunctions because your entire body isn't meant to have a period once a month

NOW! You'd think a disease where cells grow in places they shouldn't would be taken kiiiiinda seriously! But #endometriosis is very rarely taken seriously because it's a disease associated with """"menstruation"""" and thus ignored!!

First of all the only way to get diagnosed is surgically. Which is super inconvenient to say the least. Secondly, the only treatment is generally birth control! Which doesn't always work and some people (like me) can't even TAKE birth control so sucks to be me!!

Not even a hysterectomy can necessarily cure #endometriosis because the cells are already there on the other organs and removing the uterus doesn't make those cells go away.

Some people can have endometriosis and not even know it. Some people can have endometriosis and it can destroy their lives. They can experience symptoms all the time, not just when menstruating. They can require invasive surgeries and dangerous treatments.

BUT GUESS WHAT NO ONE CARES

I wasn't diagnosed until I was in my mid-twenties, & only then because the doctors were convinced I was dying from an ectopic pregnancy. I wasn't, I was just full of adhesions, lesions, scar tissue, & cysts.

The doctors were like "eh, birth control"

Now I spend a good portion of each month in pain, unable to eat or move or function. And generally I get told to stop complaining, everyone has bad periods, I'm just not tough enough, I should exercise more, blah blah blah

Even people who suffer from other chronic illnesses tend to disregard endometriosis as not serious enough when really, it's...pretty serious!!! And debilitating!!!

So I do my best to talk about what I go through and how difficult it makes my life. It's part of the reason I was unable to go for my PhD, it's why I've been unable to have a second child, it's why I struggle to just do basic things sometimes

Anyway #endometriosis sucks and ruins lives and right now I feel like death incarnate and I'm doing my best to be a mother and take care of my cats and not die and it's very hard and frustrating and upsetting and if you're also suffering know you're not alone <3

help me help cats https://twitter.com/ellle_em/status/1285705136514490370?s=20

BY THE WAY

please refrain from offering "advice" because 1. I've probably already tried it 2. I'm not asking for advice and unasked for advice is condescending and rude