You graduate college and you're excited to figure out adult life. You hope for that dream job, you hope to move to a new city, or you're eagerly counting down the days 'til you get married. Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. Right?
But it's inevitable. It's inevitable that at some point in the months after your biggest accomplishment in life yet, things crumble. Expectations aren't met. Hardship arrives. The dreams you were once so determined to accomplish seem to slip further and further away as reality sets in and adult life doesn't seem as exciting anymore.
And it's in these moments that you create your future. It's not your circumstances, but the way you approach them that will define the quality of your life. So what's your vice? What are the circumstances that caught you off guard and tried to crush your dreams?
For me, it's this evil little disease called endometriosis.
Let's be real. I had never heard of endo before until I decided something was wrong and self diagnosed myself after spending a lot of time with my bff google.
So what is endometriosis?
To keep it simple, it's a condition that occurs in women where tissue that lines the inside of the uterus is found growing in other areas outside of the uterus. Basically it results in a form of internal bleeding and creates scar tissue. If you would like all of the boring details, click here.
For me, that meant throwing up before starting my period, overwhelming exhaustion, and the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. Every. Single. Month. (& often during the month as well)
Although these symptoms have been happening on and off since I was 16, they became significantly worse my senior year of college and finally got to the point where I would just lie in bed and cry for hours. After visiting several doctors, I finally found one that agreed my symptoms weren't normal. I had laparoscopic surgery this past October to confirm my endo diagnosis.
There is no known cause or cure for endometriosis. After my surgery, my doctor highly recommended I get this shot called Lupron and undergo treatment for the next 6 months. She seems to think that it will get rid of whatever endo she missed in the surgery. Lupron is a very controversial drug with some pretty negative side effects. I spent hours researching it, got a second opinion from a different gynecologist, and even tried a month of eating a gluten free, caffeine free, soy free, red meat free, and dairy free diet. Many women swear this diet helps with the pain, but life without coffee is true pain!
On January 2nd, I started my 6 month treatment. For the next 6 months I am essentially in medically induced menopause. Ew.
While I will have all of the symptoms of an older women going through menopause, the symptoms are known to be significantly worse because my 23 year old body is not ready and has not created the hormones for this experience. There are also many other side common side effects of Lupron. From my research, most women have described these 6 months as a very horrible and necessary evil. After 6 months, my body will naturally come off of it and and I will (theoretically) be mostly endo free. However, endo does come back for most people. There are no guarantees.
I've never really had to think about my health before this year. The idea of living with chronic pain or having to go through menopause twice in my life has obviously never crossed my mind. Life is crazy and hard and will try to make your dreams unattainable. Hold fast to hope, don't give up, and always always remember that Jesus is better.
If you would answer this for me real quick I would appreciate it. (:
But it's inevitable. It's inevitable that at some point in the months after your biggest accomplishment in life yet, things crumble. Expectations aren't met. Hardship arrives. The dreams you were once so determined to accomplish seem to slip further and further away as reality sets in and adult life doesn't seem as exciting anymore.
And it's in these moments that you create your future. It's not your circumstances, but the way you approach them that will define the quality of your life. So what's your vice? What are the circumstances that caught you off guard and tried to crush your dreams?
For me, it's this evil little disease called endometriosis.
Let's be real. I had never heard of endo before until I decided something was wrong and self diagnosed myself after spending a lot of time with my bff google.
So what is endometriosis?
To keep it simple, it's a condition that occurs in women where tissue that lines the inside of the uterus is found growing in other areas outside of the uterus. Basically it results in a form of internal bleeding and creates scar tissue. If you would like all of the boring details, click here.
For me, that meant throwing up before starting my period, overwhelming exhaustion, and the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. Every. Single. Month. (& often during the month as well)
Although these symptoms have been happening on and off since I was 16, they became significantly worse my senior year of college and finally got to the point where I would just lie in bed and cry for hours. After visiting several doctors, I finally found one that agreed my symptoms weren't normal. I had laparoscopic surgery this past October to confirm my endo diagnosis.
There is no known cause or cure for endometriosis. After my surgery, my doctor highly recommended I get this shot called Lupron and undergo treatment for the next 6 months. She seems to think that it will get rid of whatever endo she missed in the surgery. Lupron is a very controversial drug with some pretty negative side effects. I spent hours researching it, got a second opinion from a different gynecologist, and even tried a month of eating a gluten free, caffeine free, soy free, red meat free, and dairy free diet. Many women swear this diet helps with the pain, but life without coffee is true pain!
On January 2nd, I started my 6 month treatment. For the next 6 months I am essentially in medically induced menopause. Ew.
While I will have all of the symptoms of an older women going through menopause, the symptoms are known to be significantly worse because my 23 year old body is not ready and has not created the hormones for this experience. There are also many other side common side effects of Lupron. From my research, most women have described these 6 months as a very horrible and necessary evil. After 6 months, my body will naturally come off of it and and I will (theoretically) be mostly endo free. However, endo does come back for most people. There are no guarantees.
I've never really had to think about my health before this year. The idea of living with chronic pain or having to go through menopause twice in my life has obviously never crossed my mind. Life is crazy and hard and will try to make your dreams unattainable. Hold fast to hope, don't give up, and always always remember that Jesus is better.
If you would answer this for me real quick I would appreciate it. (:
Comments
Post a Comment