Endometriosis and Me

I've shared a lot on this blog. I've done posts on holidays, family losses, weddings, graduation and everything in between. So it would be remiss of me not to mention a key part of my life at the moment and one of the reasons that's led me back to cross stitching.

One of my bunches of beautiful Get Well Soon Flowers - I love lilies!

I started getting pains in my hips and tummy in June 2017. In the following few weeks, I went to the nurse and then I went to the doctor and then I had one evening where I was in too much pain to walk. The next day, I had an urgent visit to the GP and left in an ambulance to go to the hospital. I have never been more frightened, I didn't know what they were going to find. After hours in the hospital, many tests and a scan, a consultant came to speak to me. She thought I had endometriosis. She told me to keep a pain diary, keep up with my medication and she'll see me in a couple of months time. 

My necessities during a flare up

I'm sure many of you know about endometriosis and may even unfortunately suffer from it yourself. For those unsure, let me tell you, it's hideous. It's not just period pain, like some naive doctors would have you believe. The endometrial tissues grows outside of where it's supposed to which causes very intense pain around your pelvic area and stomach. You get cramps, headaches, tummy ache, dizziness, drowsiness and you want to cry all the time. This happens for a whole week out of every month. Endo can also effect fertility rates and can have an impact on other organs.

As much as I try to stay positive, having investigations for this lifelong condition really threw me and I'm still struggling with it now. One thing that's really helped me on my bad days is cross stitching. Although I have to keep the lower half of my body still, I'm free to use my hands and arms as I please, so I can at least cross stitch! I'm working more on aida than ever before, because my concentration suffers as a side effect from taking medication. Still, it means I can stitch for longer because I'm not squinting at linen!It's incredibly relaxing, as it always has been for me, but now it has an additional benefit. I'm normally so active and busy that I hate being made to stay still by the pain. It makes me feel a bit useless and a burden. But at least with my cross stitch, I feel like I'm doing something productive and I've got something to show for my days on the sofa. I can't just laze about, feeling sorry for myself, not when there are stitches to be crossed! It's really helping to calm me during this uncertain point in my life. 

I hope I haven't overshared in this post, but I thought it was important to be open and honest about what's going on in my life lately. I know cross stitching has been healing for so many people, so I'm hoping it will have the same magic effect on me :)

Best wishes,

Bekca

xxx