Convenience Foods

Why is it as soon as you start getting in the mindset to eat healthy your thoughts start wandering to the worst things possible for your body? I decided to have one last fast food meal before I start my soy and dairy free challenge. My poison of choice....Taco Bueno. Don't judge me. It's icy in Wichita Falls and Bueno is the closest thing to my boyfriend. I don't want to put his life in danger, I mean he did get "most reckless driver" in high school. I feel pretty guilty eating stuff that's bad for me, especially after watching Forks over Knives on Netflix. If you are trying to eat healthy and need some motivation I highly recommend watching it. The last couple years have really opened my eyes to how uneducated most of us are about what we put into our body and what actually is healthy for us. What you eat can cause disease, but it can also heal you for the better. Growing up I never even realized that what I was eating was bad for me because everyone around me was eating the same things. Changing my lifestyle has been a very difficult process. It's sad that so many people view eating healthy as "dieting". I would be looked at strangely when ordering a salad followed by comments like, "You're so skinny why are you ordering a salad?" or "Ew, you don't need to lose weight, order a burger." Now that my eating habits could possibly make or break my health when controlling my endometriosis people take me seriously, but it still bothers me how many negative reactions I received when I was simply trying to be healthy. In a dream world, I would hope there would be as many quick and healthy options as there are McDonald's and Taco Bells. I want to see all natural smoothie and juice bars on every corner and have "fast food" locations with a drive through that has a menu filled with nothing but delicious, healthy options. I'm not just talking about chicken and veggies or a kale salad but, those mouth watering recipes you see on Pinterest that look amazing and are still really great for you, for example: Cauliflower pizza, spaghetti squash lasagna, gluten free cookies and pies, vegan mac n cheese... You get my point. It seems the world is slowly changing in the right direction. I'm seeing more whole foods grocery stores built and better options available in regular stores, but I hope to one day see as many healthy fast food places like I explained above as there are unhealthy ones. Until then, I'll make sure and stock up at the grocery store, prepare my snacks, cook my meals, and have them available for my own convenience! 

Where do I go from here?

The point of the surgery was to remove all lesions/cysts in hope they wouldn't grow back. My pain was was greatly reduced for a few months and I am so thankful for that! Recovering from surgery was a different story. My doctor told me that the endometriosis was so bad she had to cut some of it off before she could begin to use the laser. I began crying happy tears after they told me because I was ecstatic they found the answer to my pain! My biggest fear was coming out of that operating room with no answer. The next week brought me the worst pain I've ever felt. No amount of pain killers helped and I had happened to start my cycle the day after surgery. Since my body was trying to heal at the same time it caused endless pain. The 4 months after that things were actually bearable! But now I'm back where I started. There are only a few options I have read that have left women with a somewhat pain free life. 

1. They had children and miraculously the pain went away 

2. They had children followed by a hysterectomy 

3. They began seeing holistic practitioners who used Chinese medicine combined with the "endo diet" and it decreased their pain tremendously. 

First off, I'm not exactly in the place to have a child. I've been dating my amazing boyfriend for almost 2 years but we aren't in the right place for that. Though we are trying to get on it, especially since my fertility is at risk. Second, I desperately want to have children so a hysterectomy is way out of the question. For the last option, I am so exhausted from the pain and fatigue I am open to any option. The main part of the endo diet is eliminating soy, gluten, and dairy. After surgery I began slowly eliminating those foods and hope to eventually eliminate them completely. It has been extremely hard, especially when you are in a rush. I have been communicating with a woman with a lot of knowledge on endometriosis who has written a book (Alone in the Crowd) about the disease and what has helped her ease the pain and symptoms. My next steps are to make an appointment with an endometriosis specialist, a pain management doctor, and a naturopathic physician to hopefully help in some way. I am determined to stay positive and remember there are 176 million women going through this with me. 💛💛💛

Endometriosis Pain

First Blog!

I decided to start a blog because I have been dealing with a lot lately and I think my poor boyfriend could use a break. I could talk to my friends and family but it's hard for anyone to understand what you are going through unless you have this debilitating disease. I was diagnosed September 2014 with stage IV endometriosis through a laparascopic surgery. I had been dealing with excruciating pain and chronic fatigue since I was 14. I always felt something was wrong but didn't know what to do about it. I tried telling my family and doctors and their solution was putting me on the pill. Fast forward 9 years later the pain became so bad I was begging to have surgery. They found cysts and lesions on my uterus, ovaries, ureter, and more. It has been five months since I had the surgery and not only is the endometriosis growing back but this week has been one of the most painful experiences of my life. After many calls to every doctor I know, I ended up going to the ER at 3:30 in the morning where they gave me morphine, zofran, promethazine, and 800 mg ibuprofen. Finally  I had some relief, although it wasn't long until the pain became unbearable again. Pain killers helped for maybe an hour. I was terrified wondering where I was going to go from here and if I was going to have to go through this terrible agony the rest of my life. No one knows what causes this horrible disease and there is no cure. I have spent hours and hours on google and every social media site searching for women who have endometriosis and hoping some of them have found solutions. This has been one of the main reasons I wanted to begin writing. If one woman who is suffering can stumble upon this blog and it make her feel like she isn't alone, I have done my job. You can have the most supportive and caring people around you, but when doctors are looking at you and know how bad your disease is but can't give you an answer to help besides send you to a different doctor, you feel alone and helpless. The quote "let your faith be bigger than your fear" has stuck with me throughout my life. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, let your faith in whatever you do believe motivate you to find the positivity in life and make the best of every situation. If not, what's the point? I will be blogging about my journey to find answers, solutions, to promote awareness, and my everyday life. My heart goes out to you all!