Caoimhe - Endometriosis - 13.2.24

Every month I had to endure the cramps, the nausea, the bleeding that never seemed to stop. I thought it was normal and I pretended everything was fine, even when I had to cancel plans, miss work, or lie in bed with a heating pad. I think I was in a state of denial and accepted that it's women's fate to be constantly enduring pain and not to complain about it to not look flawed and weak.
Not so long ago I was diagnosed with endometriosis and suddenly it all made sense. It's a condition where the tissue that lines the uterus grows outside of it, causing inflammation and scarring. I learned that there were millions of women like me and that it's quite a wide spread issue, but most of women never get diagnosed.