55 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com When I was in my late teens into my early 20s, I faced a journey unbeknownst to me that 1 in 10 women will be faced with. That statistic is only growing and increasing. I faced a plague of cramping — severe leg and abdominal pains that would sporadically show up and shoot across my limbs. It started like this and then went away every so often throughout the years only for me to be hit by what felt like a severe invisible illness. In 2018, when I was 25, my world turned upside down. I had these severe aches and pains in my lower abdomen that would come on and in a matter of an hour, I would be fleeing my marketing agency office on my lunch break to visit the nearest hospital in Mount Pleasant, only to find out I had a severe UTI that had now struck my kidneys. This continued into my 25th year without any further insight from the medical team I had been seeing. I hopped across Charleston to see various doctors to learn what was happening and understand why these monthly UTIs were coming on. It was when I left a doctor's appointment at MUSC, where I was told by a PA that “I drink too much water,” that my family and I had enough. We had known me to be a solid water drinker and a mostly healthy eater, so this just fueled the fire inside me to find out the cause of my misery. I remember looking over at my boyfriend (now husband, Zach) and telling him I feel like I am dying and have something seriously wrong inside of me going on. He just reassured me that we would seek the proper help and keep pushing for answers. There are an array of various cruel events in life that occur to some of us and not being able to figure out what is wrong with you is at the very top. To be so ill, feeling like a burden, confused and perplexed about symptoms, missing out on events with friends because I must be whisked away to the ER, is something I would never wish on anyone. I remember vividly an occasion when I was at Saltwater Cowboys on Shem Creek with girlfriends and Zach and I had one drink and immediately knew I had to leave. My kidneys were suddenly killing me and that UTI feeling began and increased within half an hour. We got in the car and Zach drove me to the ER in Mount Pleasant. To say this wasn’t one of the most difficult chapters of my life would be a lie. It also served as a reminder of who stood by my side, understood who I am and that me leaving an event or cancelling to rush myself to the ER was never in my wildest dreams something I wanted to do. Among the agony of IVs, painkillers and the physical pain, my soul felt sad. I missed being social, running around town like every other 25-year-old, enjoying the small things in life and trying to keep my career afloat. I visited a handful of doctors, but it was my fifth doctor who would be my saving grace. He was a real testament to the definition of diagnosing patients, an honest doctor who was questioning the possibilities, listening and actively asking questions to further understand why I was such a unicorn in a sea of zebras. I had recently just completed a few weeks of check-ins and a few vaginal ultrasounds. Nothing showed abnormal on the ultrasounds. My ovaries were great, fallopian tubes were clear and good and my pelvic region didn’t suffer any present signs of nasty tissue. When Will It Endo? My journey with endometriosis BY JEANNE EVERETT GIROUX health & wellness Jeanne Everett Giroux attends The Endometriosis Summit annually every March in Orlando, Florida.
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