Why Should I help other Endo Sufferers?

I often think "How on earth can I possibly keep up with all the awareness and helping others on Twitter, Facebook and Medhelp" There is no real response I just do.

People in my own life that are in my family or inner circle have no clue what I have been through in the last 23 years. If I asked them how many doctors I have seen in the last 23 years they would probably say 10. Most people who walk among you daily don't even have a clue to what you have been through, how many doctors you have see or how many tests have been done.

I started seeing doctors at the age of 14 on my own. I found that my regular GP wasn't all there however she was the first to say the word "Endometriosis" after a TVUS when I was 13 but only gave me Anaprox and Naproxen to treat it.

Unfortunately by the time I was 17 I had full blown Fibromyalgia which to this day I feel was brought on by undiagnosed Endometriosis and had seen 40+ doctors and specialists by the time I was 32 years old.

Every doctor made me feel like I was making this pain up. My second GP I was with for a couple of years and he did try by sending me to all of these specialists and put me on various drugs but by the time I was 17 he said "I can no longer see you because you cry too much"

So here I am at 17 years old. I have Fibromylagia and no one knows what the hell it is and I start to get even more depressed. The pain is unreal and its all over, no wonder Endo took so long to diagnose because I could not specifically tell them where the pain was because it was EVERYWHERE.

I have had 3 colonoscopies, 2 MRI's on my head, 5 CT scans on my head, nose, and abdomen, 2 upper and lower GI Series done, ANA testing, Celiac testing, a Cystoscopy, 2 colposcopies, 1 leep, a sleep test, about 20 or more PAPS, I can't even count the amount of X-rays, Ultrasounds, TVUS and blood tests from head to toe. I have had nerve testing, multiple ECG testing, instruments stuck up my nose, in my ears, etc. I could really go on but I think you get the point. All of this and nothing really substantial came up. I was told I had Chronic Sinusitis and I was missing a frontal sinus, I had a deviated septum, tinnitus (Tubes put in my ears prior in my teenage years which did nothing), Possible MS, Possible Lymes, Possible Elhers Danlos Syndrome, Restless leg, Major Depression, Generalized Anxiety, Chronic Yeast infections, Thoracic Outlet syndrome, Sciatic Nerve compression, SI joint was seized, Osgood Schlatters Disease, TMJ (surgery), Intolerance to Wheat, Spelt, and Dairy.

That is just part of the testing that I can remember but next is the medications they put me on. First one I can remember is Naproxen, Anaprox, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin XL, Marvelon, Lupron, Visanne, Amitriptyline, Gabapentin, Oxycodone, Percocet, Flexeril and enough Advil and Aleve to really kill a liver.

After doing this all alone and I mean alone. I know my mother cares now but I don't really think at the time she believed me. So I battled Chronic Headaches, to migraines, to Massive pelvic cramping and rectal pain at the time I was 10-15 yrs old, I would say around that time is when 100% I did the rest on my own.

So when I look back on what I went through the amount of times I contemplated suicide, the side effects of all the medications and the Endo pain that wasn't even diagnosed with until I was 27 years old and what I had to go through I had no choice but to speak for those who couldn't. There was and is no way I was going to keep silent. I will never let my daughter who possibly could end up having Endo go through this or any other person. I was alone, I was depressed and even my family would call me a Hypochondriac. You as Endosisters know what I am talking about and I am sure you have all been through so many of the same situations and/or different.

How can I keep quiet? Why do they not want to help us?

Anyways because of all that I went through I could not imagine for a second someone else going through the torture that I went through. So this is why I help others and not even just Endosisters but my Fibro friends, and anyone with Chronic illnesses because I know what it is like and I would never want someone to go through this alone like I did.