Hi everyone,

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I've had nothing to talk about and figured that it would be pointless to post if there's nothing endo related. From now on I will only post if there is something endo related to talk about.

So, today I had some great news. It's a bit short notice but on Monday my new endo specialist is going to see me. I am really nervous though as before I see him, I have to have a TVS (transvaginal scan/internal ultrasound) I've had one before and it hurts like a bitch. It's not even the fact that it's uncomfortable, it's the fact that when someone is pushing and shoving around an area that is sensitive, its going to hurt. I hope my appointment with the specialist is long as I have A LOT to talk about. I feel like I shouldn't tell him everything as that might get on his nerves or it might confuse him. I'll write about how that goes on Monday possibly Tuesday.

I've also experienced a fairly new symptom today. I went to the toilet and I had a wee, as I came to the end, I felt a sharp pain go up my tummy where my belly button is. It came from below and shot up to my belly button. I don't know what it is but I've had it a few times now. I'm on at the moment and don't know whether that could be a factor or not. Also I've had chest pains that came on about a week ago and haven't gone yet. It's in my ribs, just below my boobs. I think I mentioned it before but I wanted to just say it again as I think it may be hormonal as well seeing as my period came today.

Sorry if that's TMI but I did warn that I will be brutally honest and speak about anything and everything here.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment if you have anything to say or ask.

Leya xo

Hey, girls!

Hope everyone is feeling good today. I am wondering about some symptoms I've been having. I'm not too sure whether its endo related or not but it seems as though it is. I keep getting pain in my ribs, just under my boobs and its starting to get on my nerves now because its there almost all the time. I've almost got my pelvic pains sorted as I only get the burning feeling now, whereas before I'd get excruciating pains that sent me to hospital. I've heard that women with endo can sometimes have endo on the diaphragm. I'm not saying for definite that this is what it is but it could be. I don't know what other symptoms there are for diaphragmatic endo but I know some are feeling full quickly, feeling short of breath and the rib/chest pain. If any of you have it or know of anything to do with it please comment. I have changed the comment system so anyone can comment, silly me didn't realise it was on members only.

Hopefully now I'll get to talk to some of you. Let me know if you think there is anything I could add on here. Now I'm going to go look after my poorly guinea pig :( The black one is Lexi and the white one is Lily, Lexi is the poorly one.

Leya xo

Sorry I didn't write last night, I've had an awful migraine since yesterday and I can't seem to shake it off. It's probably due to the stress recently but I'm not as stressed as usual. I went to college today and managed to work through it but probably would have been better at home. I thought that with the migraine there, I wouldn't feel the endo pain as much but it proved me wrong again. I came  home and had to sit down straight away. It was like a burning sensation in the left side and it was really painful. Just thinking about pain actually, earlier, about half an hour before my class finished, I had a slight pain in my tummy and then felt a sudden urge to go to the toilet. I can usually hold it for as long as I wish and I had gone to the toilet about 2 hours before that but it felt like I'd not gone for weeks and I needed to go or I'd have an accident. I've never experienced that before and it was quite a shock. I don't know if that's a symptom that will stay or whether its a one off.

I'm also feeling very bloated today and it is the worst thing because when I sit down I look about 6 months pregnant which is embarrassing. It's not as bad when I stand up because I can hold my tummy in but when I sit down and relax it looks awful. I feel fat and horrible and I don't like anyone near me or to look at me and I wear really baggy clothes or put something over my tummy to hide it. I'm not fat my any means but I feel it when this happens.

Thanks to everyone who came to my blog 2 days ago, I had 84 views, the most I've ever had. I really want people to read this and fell like they're learning something from this.

Hope all of you are well,

Leya :) xo

P.s I am putting up another page soon called Endo dictionary. It will include all the fancy terms that doctors and professionals use that we don't understand to well. Hopefully that will give some of you an upper hand when speaking about your endo and the things that are happening.

To put it bluntly, today has been shit!

I don't even know where to start, everything that could go wrong today, has! I woke up and I wasn't in too much pain, as the day has progressed, I have experienced a burning pain in my left ovary though. Which partly brings me to the first part of today's shitness! (I know it's not a word but who cares?) In July last year, I had an MRI, to see if my endo was extensive or not. It wasn't but I was told at the time that I had a retroflexed womb that was 3.5cm, 2cm smaller than it should be, I had an ovarian cyst and fluid in the POD. I was a bit shocked but I got over it fast, I understood that my chances of fertility were uncertain until I tried and that I am prone to ovarian cysts. That was fine until today.

Today I had a letter that said I have possible adenomyosis, PCOS and endo. I had an ovarian cyst which was conclusive with PCOS and that I would need an ultrasound to confirm the PCOS. It said that I had an anteverted, retroflexed uterus which means my womb tilts forwards as normal but folds back onto itself in a very tight "C" shape. I have rectovaginal endometriosis which I had told them from day 1 that I had but they denied it and also that the whole uterine corpus (womb, cervix, vagina) is smaller. To top it all off, my gynae was all bitchy with the letter saying that I was wrong in what I said when actually the proper results have shown I was right all along. I can't even explain how upset and angry I was this morning. I asked for her to write to my GP stating she had discharged me so I could see a specialist because she was just a pain specialist and she puts at the beginning of the letter something about she has done this letter on my request so I can be refered to someone else which she wasn't aware of that system and she didn't see why she had to do it.

I just can't believe still how she's being just because I want to see a specialist. Then about 2 hours later my fiance gets a call from this random woman telling him that he's lost his job because they're cutting down on staff because there aren't as many orders as there were and they don't need him. We'd planned so many things and were about to plan our wedding and pay for things. It's a good job I didn't do anything as that would have ended so badly.

There were a few other things like dropping things, stuff not working but that is all little so not relevant. I can't wait to see my specialist now, I've heard so many great things about him and I know that I'll get all the help I need when I'm there, well at least I hope I will. Even sadder was that we were saving up to survive with a baby when the time comes and now we have nothing. I suppose everything happens for a reason but why? Why does it have to be this heartbreaking and frustrating?

I hope all of you have had better days and just so you know, the lady I saw was at Oxford University Hospital, Miss Jane Moore. If you are refered to her or anyone for endo at that hospital, steer clear. I've heard a lot of bad stuff about her. For your safety and sanity, I'd not bother. If any of you are interested in the specialist I'm going to see then go to kendoc.org .

Thanks for reading and again, staying throughout my rant and ramble.

Night, night, sleep tight girls!

Leya :) xo

Hey everyone,

So today I've done well, I went out to town and did quite a bit of walking and I managed really well until the last half an hour or so. It helped that whilst I was out I saw a friend who's coming round in a bit to cheer me up. She's amazing and completely understands me and my endo. She is the only friend I have as there's never any time that I go out to socialise and I'd guess that most of you are the same. I always feel tired and I feel like I just want to snuggle up in bed and stay there all day. It wears me out being in pain all the time and it doesn't help that my fiance wakes up at 5am for work. I still haven't figured out how to stay awake till 9-10 pm but I'll get there I guess.

I also spoke to one of my fiance's mates and he has gone for acupuncture today for a torn ligament in his knee. I have occasionally heard of this for endo girls but its not spoke about that often. I'm absolutely terrified of needles and the thought of having lots put in my body at once freaks me out but I think I might be willing to give it a go. I don't know if any of you girls reading this have had it done but it would be great to hear off any of you that have and maybe give me a brief rundown of how it feels, what happens and if it works. I'm considering it but I will have to really think about it.

Again today, I've got home and not moved. The pain is incredibly strong but bearable. I am having cramps like a period but there's no show yet which is always worse than actually bleeding because I always get caught out and then I'm in a mess. (Sorry if that's TMI but someone has to talk about it! And if you're a guy then I really do apologise for that, but now you understand a little more why girls get grouchy because sh*t like that happens) Anyway, I'm hoping that nothing happens as I hate being on as I'm in so much pain. I am currently using contraceptive patches, Evra, which did work and made it less painful and lighter but now I've started getting heavier and there's more pain. Not as bad as before but it's there. I don't know what to do about it, whether to wait for my gynae appointment or to just do something via my GP.

So again, that's about it for today, sorry for the TMI but no one talks about periods, its very taboo but why should it be? Men are used to us having babies and being there for the birth so why can't we talk about periods in front of them?! They're not stupid, they know every woman gets them yet we never mention it in front of them and I personally think that they should be involved in things like this, they can give us more support if they understand a bit more about it. Don't get me wrong I'm not gonna go all "free bleed" on you all (google it with great caution!!!!) but I definitely think that men should know more about it. And know more about endo, my fiance could be a specialist I tell him so much about it all.

That was supposed to be the end of this, I'll try again. So, that's about it now. Please do contact me or leave a comment if you want to share a story about acupuncture for endo. Thanks for reading through my rambling.

Leya :) xo

Hey everyone,

Today started off well and I thought that I would be pain free but oh no, endo couldn't give me just one day off could it? NO!! I have had for the last 6-8 hours, non stop sharp pain either side of my pelvis, almost where I imagine my ovaries would be. Now, although I have endo, no one has bothered to tell me exactly where it is. Partly because they don't bleeding well know! I know that I get cysts and am awaiting tests for PCOS. Could this possibly be what I'm experiencing at the moment? I don't know. All I know is, I need to get this referral through as fast as I can so I can have another lap and get myself sorted.

I feel like I'm always badgering on about pain and endo and fertility but it's because its never off my mind. It's hard not to think about when it's there every second of the day reminding you that it's still there, still hurting, still causing problems. Often, I feel like my family get sick of me talking about how much pain I'm in, new information about endo and how much I want babies but often, it's the only thing I want to talk about. Some of you may be the more quiet type about it, not really wanting to talk to anyone about it but I like my family to know what I've found out about endo or to just be a shoulder to cry on when I'm in pain.

I guess there's not really much more to say than that. I hope that many of you are having a better day than I am. Leave a comment below if there are any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading,

Leya :) xo

So, where to start. Hi, my name is Leya. I'm 18 and I live in Staffordshire, England. I am currently studying to become a midwife. I got diagnosed with Endometriosis in August 2012. I have done a lot of research on Endo and hope that through this blog, I can help a lot of you lovely ladies out there. I will be posting a lot of different things on here. Mostly about myself and my experiences with endo but I will also be posting things like the endo diet and alternative therapies, things that have helped me and also some of your stories too if you'd like. I am hoping that we can all interact and help each other and I will do a question and answer session once a month for anyone who needs to know anything. If there is anything personal then I have put my e-mail in the description about me and I hope to hear from you all soon.

In regards to your own stories, I will have you voluntarily write to me with your full story and I will copy that to my blog to present to others. I will need your full permission to do so and if you just want to tell me your story to give me hope or faith to carry on then I will NOT post to my blog. I am currently studying in an industry where there are laws about data protection and confidentiality and that will comply with everything that is told to me.

If you are reading this then I am very grateful and I hope you will bare with me whilst I get used to working with this system. If you know anyone or you are someone with endo then please contact me, leave a comment, e-mail me. I will try to post something everyday depending on how busy I am.

I hope to hear from some of you soon.

Leya :) xo