Endometriosis in College

As some of you know, I began college at the beginning of August and it has probably been the biggest change in my life. Although I love my college and all the friends I have made here, I have been really struggling with my endo pain. It has been as lot worse than it has been in probably over a year now, maybe even close to two years. Going into college, I knew this was a possibility; new food, new environment, new living sitution, etc. However, I didn't think it would be this bad. For about the first month, everything was great. I was acclemating well and really enjoying my time at college. Over the past two weeks, my pain has skyrocketed for some unknown reason and has completely drained me. While trying to navigate my first semester in college, I am also involved in my school's church choir and their all female a cappella group. While I love doing all those things, it means that during my "down time" I am always doing homework and don't get a lot of time to relax, even on the weekends. I have never let endo interfere with my school work (thanks to my parents), so I just have to keep pushing through one day at a time. Even though I have amazing family and friends that always support me, it is still so isolating because I have never met someone my age with endo. Which is especially hard not being in the comfort of my own home. Some things I've been doing to help cope with my pain are using my heating pad a lot, trying to eat as healthy as possible, getting up and moving around as much as I can, getting to bed at a  reasonable time, and knowing my limits. Sometimes I do feel like I'm missing out on fun things my friends are doing, but right now my focus is getting "better" (meaning getting back to where I was before college pain-wise) and listening to what my body is telling me. Luckily, I already had an appointment scheduled with my doctor at Boston Children's for last Thursday, and he said it is likely that I'm just ovulating and my pain should go away soon. If not, I'm going back in two weeks for an ultrasound and another appointment. Hopefully he's right and the pain will go away soon, but for right now it really is agonizing, so I keep trying to remind myself, endo is not the end.

Also if anyone has any tips about coping with chronic pain in college, please let me know!

Happy Endometriosis Awareness Month!

Hey everyone! Wow, it's been a while.  I've been super busy with school and figuring all the college stuff out.  Well, it's that time of year again- Endometriosis Awareness Month! Over the past six months or so, I've seen so many new commercials and celebrities advocating for Endo! It gives me a lot of hope that a cure is coming soon.

As for my pain, it's been on and off depending on my environment and stress level.  This week for example, I'm in my school show that opens Friday, so I know it's going to be a stressful week.  Since I know my stress level and pain are related, I'm going to try my best to stay as calm as possible.  If my pain gets worked up, it will make me even more stressed out, so I'm doing everything I can to keep that from happening.

A new thing with me is that I started getting back to the gym.  Exercise is something that doesn't make pelvic feel great, but I know it's necessary so I don't have other health issues in the future.  I've gone to the gym a lot over the past two months, so I'm really proud of myself.  I normally go for two or three weeks, then my pain gets really bad so I stop going, but this time I'm determined to not let that happen.  Now, I've gone enough that I'm committed to keeping myself healthy and I know my limits, so I can tone it down on a bad day if I have to.

I'm going to try my best to post on here on a regular basis from now on because my schedule is becoming less busy.  Keep on the look out for more Endo related things in the media because that is really helping our community! Thank you for reading and happy Endometriosis Awareness Month and remember, Endo is not the End!