So many Surgeons, yet no one listened

 Overall, I would say my symptoms showed up around grade 10-11. But I ignored them. It was my period. 

When I turned 22-23 I had enough and knew something was wrong. That’s when I started speaking up for myself. I wasn’t accepting what the ER doctors said. They barely spent any time with me or performed any tests.

In total, I met with 4 gynaecologist who were amazing. Sadly it is not visible to them. So they were unable to help me. Not their fault. It’s the disease. But they did order test, offer pain management ideas, birth control ideas. I tried an IUD to see if it would help thanks to them. IUD managed my period but not the endometriosis symptoms, so it did help a little. Thankful to them still! 

I met with at least 9-12 general doctors who just passed me off. It was beyond their skill level, expertise or whatever else they said. 

I then met with 8 surgeons. Throughout the next 8 years. I came in with diaries documenting my pain, my period, pain levels, how much work I’ve missed, cancelling personal events etc. All the tests performed over the last few years. I came armed and loaded.

Each doctor would bring me into their office. Flip through my paperwork, make a comment about how nothing showed up here or there. First question asked was always, when was your last period?(seriously? I could be in the ER with a bullet wound and the first question a male doctor would ask is “when was your last period?”) They all took my blood pressure and pressed my stomach. The longest appointment was 30 minutes the shortest being less than 15 minutes. I waited months to see these doctors. One specialist, worked on my father for his rare form of stomach cancer. He was familiar with my family. We were sure he would take me seriously. We waited a year and a half for that appointment. He barely opened my file, and told me to take a laxative.

In total, from all these doctors I was told; “it’s my period, I’ll be fine”, “I’m constipated and to try a laxative”, “it’s all in my head”, “I was attention seeking”, “I have IBS and laxatives will fix it”.

All of these were from male surgeons. 

After my last male surgeon, I called my family doctor in tears. He sent me away with no help and barely looked at my file. I told her I was done and would only see a female surgeon. She agreed and sent out the requisition to a female doctor from a unit that specializes with female health. 

3 months. 3 more months I had to wait. But I wasn’t giving up. I wanted my life back. I had cut back to a less physically demanding job, left a job I loved to do. I was constantly missing birthdays and dinners. I missed concerts and parties. I was missing life! I wasn’t stopping until I had an answer.