Holy pressure batman!

   I wish I could say the pressure I'm having relates to selling the house, finding a new one, school, or a job in Indy, but nope.  The pressure I'm talking about is in my pelvis and it HURTS.  I had big plans today and so far I'm on the couch with my animals and still in my PJs.  I'm sure it's related to the wonderful ice cream I sinfully ate (dairy still isn't a friend of mine) but hey it was a triple chocolate melt down moment after a crappy person attempted to ruin my evening.  Sometimes you have to eat your feelings and as long as it's not a daily occurrence I say have at it. Now today I haven't ate but a few bites because my pelvis feels like it could explode.

   When I first started "getting sick" (what I refer to as my GI issues from 2009) I would describe intense pressure and pain in my abdomen constantly.  All the doctors and GI specialists would simply tell me it was IBS and it was probably flatulence (aka a kinder term meaning you have to fart).  I would flat out tell them I work in the medical field and if I felt the need to fart I would as it was much cheaper than constantly needing a shot to release the muscles in my stomach or co-pays for coming in because it was so bad I was in the fetal position constantly.  Not to mention the fact i had blood where it didn't need to be and on a regular occurring basis.  I felt so alone and so constantly blown off.  A doctor at the quick care (my family physician at the time just stopped seeing me for stomach issues even though I was far from cured and refused pain medications because I wanted fixed and diagnosed not just treated for a 4-8 hour fix) had the nerve to tell me after I lost 35 lbs in the first month from my inability to eat that the lumps I said I could feel around my stomach area were simply fat pockets and my abdominal pain would cease if I stopped constantly touching it.  In fact it was probably all in my head and being created by my mind.  I called my mom crying and upset in the parking lot because she had said it so matter of a fact and walked out and left that I had to question if she was right.  Then I was pissed.  3 years later I still hate Dr. Rebecca Cohen for that day and probably always will.  She's lucky and quite frankly I'm lucky I didn't listen to her and stop persisting for someone, anyone really to listen to me and try and solve it.  Thank god I chose a different urgent care in town to find my now new family physician as he took the time to look through my labs and realized if someone didn't do something soon I'd be going into liver failure any moment.  Everyone dismissed my low potassium as normal from reoccurring diarrhea and it is, but at this point it'd been dropping and dropping for over 3 months to critical levels.  No one even though they had access to all the previous sets looked beyond the most current.  I can't imagine what other problems I'd have today if it wouldn't have been for him.  We still would have never guessed it'd be Endometriosis on that day, but he did say he was concerned I was a high candidate for PCOS on the first time meeting me. 

Here's an article link I found by a lady who got her diagnosis by noticing her symptoms in her digestive system same as I did.  Don't get me wrong it's not just in the GI as only 1 in 27 endo sufferers actually have it in their GI's so we're an even more special breed if you will.  If you have any weird body issues at all that are persistent I will always encourage second and third opinions until a cause is found.  After my surgery in May a long term friend who had been told she might have fibromalgia or rheumatoid arthritis went to an urgent care after still persistent symptoms and they found out she actually had breast cancer.  This prompted me to write a note on Facebook revealing my own story and another friend (who had emailed me to ask me to describe my girl times in depth to her) went for another opinion on some issues and was also found to have Endometriosis already at stage IV with no children of her own at 26.  She's just a few months behind me on Lupron treatment.  I had said then if I saved one person than I accomplished something but with this beast causing so many issues for so many women I cannot preach it enough.  If sharing embarrassing moments in my life and details that others feel should be mute saves more than so be it.  I can talk pee, puke, poop, and periods with the best of them thanks to a career in healthcare it simply doesn't phase me a bit.