For the past week or so, I have been dealing with an endometriosis pain attack. The last time I had a severe pain attack was last November. So, I do not get a bad one like this every month.
I suspect the cause is my stress. Recently, I was extremely busy at work. I am also preparing for PMP (Project management professional exam) exam. As I tried to maintain a healthy lifestyle with adequate exercise, I thought I would not get endometriosis pain again. Although, I was aware that I was under a lot of stress. Despite exercise and meditation, I experienced some difficulty falling asleep the last few weeks.
The only thing I can do now is to ease the pain. I can take pain killers such as Naproxen Sodium or Ibuprofen since they suppress inflammation. I try not to use them as much as I can. The best treatment is to relax as much as possible.
It will not be a good idea to continue stressing myself since this pain can last two weeks. Besides, it is not productive. So, I decided to take it easy and take a break from studying. I requested to take two days off this week. Then, I spent my free time enjoying things I read and played the piano. I even managed to watch a movie. I drink herbal tea made from turmeric. Turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory agent for pain relief since it helps fight inflammatory effects (Maroon, J. & Maroon, A, 2015).
Many females have endometriosis. My doctor once told me that females in modern eras suffer because few females have children at a younger age. Despite research efforts, the cause is yet unknown. What I understand is there is no cure for this problem. Although, there are many ways to manage inflammation to mitigate the pain. Today, I decided to share how I deal with endometriosis pain.
Background
I have suffered from endometriosis since my teenage years. It was not uncommon for me to have bad menstrual cramps. When I was 19 years old, I could not get out of bed due to massive pain. After I went to the emergency room, I was diagnosed with ovarian endometriosis. So, I had an operation to remove cysts at Montreal Jewish Hospital year.
None of my doctors could tell me the root cause of endometriosis is. I read books and journals about them without any luck – all I found out was no one yet identified the causes due to its complexity. There are multiple stages in endometriosis – mine is in stage 3. Inflammation can, therefore, impact some of my pelvic organs. I have tried many medical treatments to get rid of endometriosis. I have had surgeries to remove cysts. I took pills to prevent growing more cysts.
Every month, I fear getting an endometriosis pain attack. In many months the pain is so mild that I do not mind it at all. Sometimes, I do not even feel it. Since I do not get it every month, I never knew when I would be getting it next. It seemed a very random event at first. Over the years, I started to notice patterns that triggered the pain.
The Pattern of The Occurrence of Endometriosis
After my first operation, I became more conscious of endometriosis. I noticed a pattern of triggers of the pain. In my case, I manage the pain with certain foods or by reducing stress.
Some foods such as pork, mushrooms, and onion can trigger endometriosis pain if I eat them during my period. Since I did not care for pork, I stopped eating pork altogether. I could not stop eating mushrooms or onions, so I tried not overeating them. I do not eat them at all during my period. I noticed that my endometriosis pains resemble irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) now.
My stress level has a strong correlation with my endometriosis pain. A high level of stress can make inflammation worse. Researchers found that stress makes inflammation severe due to cortisol, a stress hormone (Rosenkranz et al., 2016). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that stress is somewhat correlated to inflammation, thus, endometriosis.
Fifteen years ago, I stopped medical treatments. There are not many things doctors can do. So, I decided to treat my endometriosis differently. The critical thing is actively managing my stress. Yoga or Aerobics exercise can reduce inflammation. So, I try to manage my stress level by exercising, managing my time better, and breathing exercises. I even started logging my stress level so that I could monitor my stress. I noticed that actively reducing stress dropped the frequency of getting severe endometriosis attacks.
I also recognize the limitation to an alternative method. Stress management is to ease the pain or to reduce the frequency of endometriosis. Also, it is impossible to eliminate all my stress. A herbal option has limitations due to its minimal potency. I avoided severe endometriosis pain until 2015, when my husband became ill. The last severe endometriosis attack was in November 2020, when I was leading a big project at work. I got the pain again. Sometimes the pain is so intense that I need to take ibuprofen.
I noticed that my stress level increased last few weeks. My resting heart rate seems higher. Despite exercise and breathing exercises, I experience difficulties falling asleep some days. During the past five days, I thought about the possible causes. All I can do is find out the way to eliminate the root causes. I need to rearrange my other schedule items since it is impossible to delegate my work projects to others due to a lack of resources. We are getting another headcount for our department, so this busy schedule will not be permanent.
There is no point rushing and stressing out myself. I can relieve my stress level, so I do not repeat this cycle next month. During the past five days, I adjusted my studying schedule. I took two days off from my work this week. With the extra time, I did something I enjoyed doing. It has been almost a week, and my pain is mostly manageable.
Unfortunately, we cannot do anything to cure endometriosis; however, its symptoms are manageable. I am considering getting medical advice since I started to have symptoms of having bowel endometriosis. If I have bowel endometriosis, I must change my diet altogether to avoid IBS-like symptoms. I decided to share my experience with endometriosis – hoping it can help other females who suffer.
References
Maroon, J. C., Bost, J. W., & Maroon, A. (2010). Natural anti-inflammatory agents for pain relief. Surgical Neurology International, 1. https://doi.org/10.4103/2152-7806.73804
Rosenkranz, M. A., Lutz, A., Perlman, D. M., Bachhuber, D. R. W., Schuyler, B. S., MacCoon, D. G., & Davidson, R. J. (2016). Reduced stress and inflammatory responsiveness in experienced meditators compared to a matched healthy control group. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 68, 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.013