Fear, Pain, Despair: “Hell” Breaking the Silence of Endometriosis

Paris: Lorena Garcia was in her twenties and suddenly suffered from the inconvenient pain associated with her menstrual cycle.
Was diagnosed four years ago. EndometriosisIs a chronic, incurable disease that affects 1 in 10 women worldwide.
Before she was diagnosed, she felt frightened and helpless when she sought help from more than 12 doctors.
“It was hell,” a woman in her 30s, now living in Barcelona, ​​told AFP.
“Doctors who look down on you, say you’re crazy, or even hysterical … I felt very lonely.”
Endometriosis usually occurs in other parts of the body, mainly in the pelvic organs such as the vagina, cervix, and uterus, as well as in the intestines and bladder, as the cells that line the uterus move.
Cells respond to hormonal changes, and their movements and growth often coincide with the menstrual cycle. Endometriosis can sometimes cause painful lesions and cysts, which can lead to infertility.
Laparoscopy is the only reliable way to diagnose endometriosis. In this method, a small camera is inserted into the patient’s abdomen under general anesthesia.
Even with diagnosis and the best care available, it usually takes trial and error to find the right treatment that combines painkillers, oral contraceptives, and surgery.
Despite the fact that it affects nearly 200 million women worldwide, the disease is largely unknown to the general public. Lack of research means that there is no established treatment protocol or cure.
“For centuries, women have been told that their pain during menstruation is normal,” Lone Hummelshozi, president of the World Endometriosis Association, told AFP.
“That’s the problem, and that’s why we are today. It takes time to change popular beliefs. That’s why women need to speak up.”
In recent years, celebrities such as model Chrissy have Teigen And actress Lena Dunham Have promoted a general conversation about endometriosis by sharing their diagnosis using social media.
Teigen posted about surgery to remove endometrial tissue in February.
May American tennis star Daniel Collins She told reporters that she needed surgery to remove a tennis ball-sized ovarian cyst, and said the diagnosis of endometriosis was “shocking.”
“As most women in the world with a menstrual cycle, I think we can learn to accept these painful moments when we deal with them,” he said in the French Open quarterfinals last year. 27-year-old Collins said …
Institutional support is slowly being established around the world, often through expert advocacy.
Hummelshoj founded the Danish Endometriosis Association in 1997, and five years later, Denmark began taking steps to raise public awareness and establish medical guidelines for dealing with the disease.
Over the last decade, specialized centers have emerged in the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2013, the United Kingdom National Health Service established a policy that patients with endometriosis should be seen in a clinic with specialized nurses.
In France, gynecologist Chrisura Zacharopul launched an awareness campaign in 2016 and is currently responsible for the national strategy announced in 2019.
“It was a tough job because I started from nothing,” Zakaropourou told AFP, “I had to do everything.”
Caroline Law, a researcher at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom who studies the social effects of endometriosis, said that the women she talked about about the disease were catastrophic to their mental state in addition to physical trauma. It is reported that it will have a significant impact.
“Many people felt that this condition deprived them of their ability to work, socialize and have children, and had a major impact on their daily lives,” she said in an interview with AFP.
“Some of the women we talked to said they were very desperate because there was no definitive cure or cure … and they felt suicide because they really deprived them of their quality of life. Some people
Ann (not her real name), who suffers from severe endometriosis, admits that she is thinking of killing herself.
After eight surgeries for the growth of endometriosis, including removal of the uterus, a 43-year-old French woman has not yet gone out of the forest and suffers from migraine, fatigue, and pelvic pain. You have to walk with a cane.
She says her symptoms prevented her from continuing her studies and “killed” her social life.
“Endometriosis has devastated me,” she told AFP.