Coping With Endometriosis

Endometriosis the Silent Disease

Imagine yourself living with a disease very few people know much about. Talking to loved ones, your family and your spouse about how horrible you feel but being unable to explain the disease to them well enough for them to understand. Hearing how sorry people are that you’re suffering, having to cope with them not realizing that this isn’t just going to go away. Your friends, your family honestly care for you but wonder and question you. If you have a disease how do you cure it? When will you be better? Unless you are educated on Endometriosis and its effects you simply will not understand what someone is going through. Being the individual suffering from it and dealing with the psychological effects can be excruciating, emotionally draining and so frustrating that you nearly lose your mind.

Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial tissue (inner uterine lining) outside of the uterus. This disorder affects approximately 10% of women in their reproductive years, and may be found in up to 40% of women with infertility. Endometriosis often results in painful periods, pain at intercourse, pelvic scarring and/or decreased fertility. Although such symptoms may suggest its presence, the diagnosis can only be confirmed surgically. (Gallager, 2007)

Above is the text-book definition of the disease, but what many websites or clinical studies won’t tell you are that coping appears to be of major importance to the psychological consequences of Endometriosis. The psychological definition of coping is, the process of managing taxing circumstances, expending effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize, reduce or tolerate stress or conflict. (2006)

Researching the disease I have also found that many people have reported depression as a direct result of the disease. One article states “There is a direct connection between depression and endometriosis. As with any chronic pain condition, you can get worn down and this can lead to depression. Anxiety is often a factor as well. While some people may take medications to help with the depression, there are other ways to help give you some relief. The pain of endometriosis can debilitate you and cause you to withdraw from others, but depression can compound the isolation and even exacerbate the pain which can make it more difficult to obtain relief.” (2007)

Once a person is diagnosed, there are many treatments; however, side effects can be almost worse than the disease itself. One popular medication, but not widely used is Danazol, which is a form of hormone therapy and is used when other hormone therapies have not helped in the past. Hormone therapy is use to relieve pain, reduce the size of endometriosis implants and can help prevent internal scarring from surgery. Some of the side effects include abnormal vaginal bleeding, chronic liver, kidney, or heart disease and also could be harmful to a fetus if one were to get pregnant. (2007) Dealing with endometriosis and trying to control the symptoms is sometimes a choice between two evils and many get frustrated with having a whole other set of problems once they have gotten their endometriosis symptoms under control.

One way I have personally found to cope with my disease is to use one of the main coping strategies that people tend to use called “problem focused” strategies. (Carter 2008) By using this strategy you pull yourself away from the problem and educate and research it to help you figure out the best way to live with the disease. To know that you have done everything you can to live your life the best way you can; educate yourself as much as you can; help yourself, as well as, help others in your life also understand.

Although women tend to lean toward emotion focused response, which is when an individual copes by distracting themselves, meditating, and using other ways to release pent-up emotions, men tend to lean toward problem focused strategies. (Weiten, Margaret 2006) Problem focused strategies have helped me tremendously but on the flip-side when my spouse wants to “fix” the problem instead of just listening it causes more frustration. All I can do is try to communicate that I have researched the disease, I am doing everything I can to live with it and I have rearranged my life to move on to each new day knowing my way of coping allows me to be in control.

When I was diagnosed with Endometriosis, I immediately felt fear. When things are happening to you that are completely outside your normal experience, one tends to lean toward a future of uncertainty. You feel out of control and you get pushed into a closet full of insecurity.

I also went through a lot of guilt, shock and disbelief. It took a lot of time to process my diagnosis. I immediately thought I was being paid back for every cigarette I smoked, for every beer I drank and every lie I told. The shock of this is happening to me, and the “why me” feelings were very overwhelming. I didn’t know what the future held for me, I didn’t realize back then the countless surgeries I would have to endure and lastly, I had to make the decision to have a hysterectomy at age 34 to stop the growth of the disease.

After all this time, I understand that my crises is nearly over or least the coping stages are nearly over. I have dealt with all the stages and have seen them though to the conclusion. I am not afraid of my emotions any longer, I face them head on. I know I have the support of family and I have learned to communicate and I have taken steps to relieve my stress related to this disease.

References

Carter, Patrice (2008)When-Your-Endometriosis-Gets-You-Down-How-to-Pull-Yourself-Out-of-the-Doldrums Retrieved from Web Site http://ezinearticles.com/?When-Your-Endometriosis-Gets-You-Down-How-to-Pull-Yourself-Out-of-the-Doldrums&id=571510

Gallagher, Kathe (2007) Danazol for Endometriosis Retrieved from Web Site http://www.bchealthguide.org/kbase/topic/detail/drug/hw102719/detail.htm

Weiten, Wayne & Lloyd, Margaret A. (2006) Psychology Applied to Modern Life. Thomson Wadsworth; Belmont, California. Retreived from Web site: ISBN 0-534-60859-0

Yale Reproductive Endocrinology (2007) Treating Reproductive Conditions Retrieved from Web Site http://yalereproductivemedicine.org/patient.html#endometriosis