Most women can
remember when they were little girls and their mother’s told them about when
they would get their monthly visitors.
We member are mother’s telling us that: “ Known my dear when you get
your monthly visitor that it may hurt some but not much and it will only last
for a couple of weeks.” But what if this was not the case for you. What if your monthly cycle was plagued by
unbearable pain that it left you unable to move, speak, or even landed you in
the emergency room. What if this very rare disease has been affecting millions
of women for years, but little is known about and worst yet little is being
done to bring awareness about it.
While this is the
sad story for millions of women who deal on a daily bases with the disease called endometriosis. Endometriosis is a disease that affects
women’s menstrual cycle. The major of women this disease affects are Caucasian
women who are either tall or thin women with a low BMI index. It is usually
diagnosed in women between the ages of 25 -35, but has been found in women as
young as eleven years old. The exact causes of this disease are unknown. Some
of the symptoms are the following: pelvic
pain, infertility, pain during intercourse, cramping during intercourse, pain
in bowl movements, urination, lower abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, low
back pain, chronic fatigue, irregular or heavy menstrual bleeding and blood in
urine.
So has a disease
that affects the fertility of women gone unnoticed by the mainstream media and
society for so long? The answer is simple there is just not enough interested
in it. The reason why I say this is because the recent Women’s March that
happened on March 13, 2014 that was supposed to bring awareness to this female
disease only had one thousand participators. This is a shock because the
expected participations were to be one million women. This speaks volume to me
because it means that even us women don’t see it as important of a cause like Breast
Cancer. The reason for this is because
Breast Cancer can be fatal and it deals with one of the main parts of a women’s
body that identify her as a women. Whereas, endometriosis just deals with the
menstrual cycle and a woman’s infertility, but it’s not fatal like breast
cancer.
If this is going to be the continued viewed of
this disease then it is going to be a very uphill battle to get it to be taking
seriously among not only women, their male counterparts, but also the medical
community as well. This means the lack of research on the disease, the lack of
testing for it in young adolescence girls and more importantly the development
of new treatments and medicine will go undiscovered to year’s maybe decades to
comes, which is unfortunate for the many women who suffer from it now. However,
this will prove to be a great lesson, which is if you don’t care about a cause
as important as this one then no one else will.
Reported by
Nadia Johnson
Blogger/Reporter
March 21, 2014
Thank you so much for your Blog. I hope that more people read this and become inspired to join the cause of FIGHTING FOR ENDO AWARENESS. I am one of those who was there. The statistics on who has Endo and at what age it starts are not accurate due to lack of knowledge as you have expressed. I personally have joined the movement to propel AWARENESS of this disease at myendometriosisstory.org Thank you for talking to those who are unaware and motivating to support the cause!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle in reading my blog I have more blog stories on my own personal blog at loislane5496.simplesite.com and of course keep checking the WOW radio website for more stories from me.
DeleteTHOSE OF US WITHIN THE COMMUNITY AND STRIVING FOR AWARENESS ARE LAUNCHING AN AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON MARCH 31,2014. STANDING UP FOR OURSELVES OUR FELLOW SUFFERERS AND FUTURE SUFFERERS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myendometriosisstory.org/uncategorized/the-endometriosis-social-media-campaign-for-awareness-on-3312014/
THANKS AGAIN! WE WILL BE SHARING YOUR BLOG ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!!
Peace Ms. Walters, We r delighted that u enjoyed this post. It is important 2 help raise awareness about different things going on in our communities. W.O.W Radio is taking it a step further w/ our I AM Awareness Campaign. It would be a pleasure to connect w/ u especially on this particular topic. Please contact us: IAMAwareness@wowuradio.net Thank u 4 sharing our blog with others. We appreciate u! -- Caribgem, Program Director, W.O.W Radio
DeleteWorth mentioning, that while the turnout may not have been as good as expected at the main event, we had smaller events in locations all over the world. I went to the London march, and was pleasantly surprised so many people made it out. and similar events were happening everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is, that those of us suffering with endometriosis are often to unwell to travel. I know I struggled on the day, and was wiped out for a week afterwards.. and I know a few people who had to cancel at the last moment due to poor health. Another major problem is that many people with endometriosis struggle on reduced income, so a trip across the county just isn't feasible for a lot of people.
I think the strength of the endometriosis community online shows how strong we are, and how much we care, but when it comes to physical action, we need help and support from other people.