My diagnosis took 6 years

by Bobbie
(California)

My diagnosis took 6 years. From a year after I started my period to my freshman year of college, I had no idea what was wrong with me.


I have a pretty bad immune system, so I was always trying to treat something else. The event that caused me to look into it more was when I had to leave a class to spend 25 minutes cleaning off all the blood that soaked through the maxi, on top of the extreme pain in night, horrible cramps, raging hormones and fatigue.


It took a year after that day to get diagnosed with endometriosis. The best advice I could give someone is to give your doctor all of the details. If you feel like he/she isn't listening, then find someone else.


For so long I did not mention some symptoms (the embarrassing ones like bowel issues, or seemingly irrelevant ones like always getting sick). I think I would have been diagnosed a lot faster if I would have mentioned everything I was experiencing.


Do I think one of my doctors should have figured it out sooner, a bit, ya. But I think I could have helped myself more by taking charge of my own diagnosis. Just to put this out there, one symptom that some of the doctors I went to didn't recognize, was pelvic pain at night.


It got to the point where I had to sleep sitting up 2-3 weeks out of the month. If anyone is experiencing that, please don't just adapt, speak to your doctor and push until you get an answer and treatment.


I've been on the pill now for 3 years, and it has changed my life. Finding the right doctor and the right treatment makes all the difference.