About Michelle Clark In 2000 I was working a high-pressure job in an ad agency. I was getting 4-5 hours sleep a night, eating on the run and drinking coffee enough to drown a small animal - if the caffeine didn’t kill it first. I gained twenty pounds in three months. Period cramps had always been a distraction. They became so painful that I found myself taking days off work. I began to argue with my friends and to cry more often. One day I found myself at a very important presentation with very important people - and I could not stop the tears - in front of everyone! Mom always said, “God first, then family, the work.” So I tried to rebalance my life - focusing more on love and family - but the pain just increased. Within a few months, I was in tears every day. Still, I had no diagnosis and no idea that I was actually sick. When I saw a doctor about it, she asked me if I was upset with my life - she did not even address my physical problem! I hurt so much that I was in tears quite a bit of the time. Even when I was happy - I still cried! It was bizarre. Looking back, I am infinitely thankful that my closest friends did not believe in drugs. Any psychiatrist would have put me on drugs. And I am sure that, to many, it looked as if I was losing my marbles. I quit my job and focused my attention on home-schooling my son. This was supposed to give me more time to relax. Except for one thing… have you ever noticed? Teenagers come in packs! His friends kept on coming over. I was in pain every day, some days a dull pain and others completely debilitating. I was in some degree of pain about 20-25 days of the month, often unable to work for more than a few hours a day. There I was: “the werewolf mom” - happily helping the kids until the full moon (or in my case the quarter moon, half moon, crescent moon, the three-quarter moon, an eclipse…) and then, Wham! I turned into a crazed maniac; ready to mangle you and then eat you for dinner. No one could hold a candle to me in my flame of violent anger. Over what? It almost didn’t matter; it could be that something was misplaced or misunderstood or that a small bill was not paid. It’s amazing that they all continued to love me - I was like an unpredictably erupting volcano! One day my period was so painful I just could not handle it any longer. I could not move (except to writhe), I could hardly see. I held onto the bedposts and cried. When my fever hit 102 my husband rushed me to the emergency room. I was put on a morphine drip and antibiotics. After several days they took me in for surgery - a laparoscopy (lap). The diagnosis? Endometriotic cysts had ruptured causing infection throughout the abdomen. Pretty serious stuff; if I had tried to “suffer through it” much longer, I may not have lived. More than a week went by before the pain was reduced enough that I could come off morphine. At last I was able to return home. Endometriosis (“Endo” for short) is the chronic and very painful disease in which there is an excessive and unnatural growth of tissue similar to the tissue that lines the uterus (endometrium). The fibrous material and cysts grow in the abdomen and elsewhere in the body, most commonly the pelvis, on the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, abdominal lining and the lower part of the large intestine.It is very painful because the misplaced tissue responds to the hormonal cues in the body just as if it were in the uterus - it builds up and swells with blood and breaks down and attempts to flow away. Unlike the normal endometrium in the uterus, the blood and tissue have no way to exit the body. Endometriosis implants (also called tumors, growths, lesions, or nodules) are dependent on estrogen to become active. The disease is only active during childbearing years unless the woman is receiving some form of hormone replacement. As I was being released from the hospital I asked the doctor what I should do to speed my recovery. He had no answer. Endometriosis “has no cure.” He gave me more pain-killers and more antibiotics. He told me that I would need lots of sleep - and that was it! The attending nurse said I could possibly feel better after menopause. I was only 39! Not only that but I received the “fabulous” news that I would probably get Candida (yeast infection) from the antibiotics (I did) and said that I was probably sterile (I am hoping to change that too.) He said that if it flared up again that I would have to get a hysterectomy. “What?! Hey - This is my life and I intend going to enjoy every instant of it! Help me recover!” But what I had to say about it, fell on deaf ears. I could see, if I was going to heal, I’d have to figure out how to do it on my own. About that time friend of mine who publishes a local health and lifestyle magazine offered me a job as her magazine Editor. I could work from home part-time. As a professional researcher and writer, it seemed the perfect job for me.Since the magazine needed lots of articles, I ended up doing a lot of the research and writing myself. As a result, I was fortunate enough to meet, interview and write for some of the best doctors in the country. These practitioners - whether they were MDs, Acupuncturists, Chiropractors, Naturopaths or Nutritionists - all had experience in working with patients who had endometriosis and other hormonal problems. I applied all that I had learned and I became well. I live today pain-free and I am working to become healthier than I have ever been. I have regained my happiness and my emotions are smooth and level - I am happy to enjoy each day as a blessed experience it truly is. In the course of my research, I read stories of thousands of women who were in terrible pain as I was. Endo effects nearly six million women in the USA alone and millions more all over the world. Its time to bring an end to this pain. Everywhere I looked on the Internet and in books, there was plenty of information about endometriosis, even detailed pictorials, but little hope of becoming well. I hoped desperately to find:
But it just wasn’t there to be found. This is what I hope to bring to you - hope and true help for becoming well and a brighter future for women everywhere.
Michelle Clark Author, Stop The Pain! And Get On With Your Life!
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