By Stacey M Constante RN BSN MSCN WHHP
Modern medicine lets women believe being diagnosed with endometriosis is a condition to simply live with. Women walk away feeling they have been delt a shitty hand and there is no other alternative but to play this game of life with those cards. Well, at least that’s what we are told by someone wearing a white coat and fancy credentials by their name.
I get it, because that’s how I felt at the age of twenty-four when I had been delt those shitty cards in the form of severe endometriosis.
As women we are told this is a new condition that has not been intensely studied, being referred to various specialists who see you for fifteen minutes, run more exams, and prescribe medications, only adding side effects to the excruciating symptoms already being experienced with endometriosis. Feeling anxious, depressed, and only handed another prescription to numb the pain. Then, offered hormonal birth control only to cause more imbalances in our hormones.
There was no information provided regarding imbalances in hormones leading to depletion of neurotransmitters in our brains. To go with that, a dysfunction in the reproductive system has been linked to suppressed emotions or trauma. Let’s not forget the highly processed food everywhere we turn and xenoestrogens hidden in fragrances and beauty products causing women’s bodies to scream in the form of unpleasant symptoms. How is it not worth mentioning that the entire body and mind are connected, when there is a dysfunction at a cellular level the imbalance will continue into the tissues, and eventually each body system will follow like a domino effect.
What is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis is the presence of uterine tissue (endometrial tissue) outside the uterus and where these patches of endometrial tissue grow in other organs (e.g. pelvis, ovaries, bowel, bladder, etc). The endometrial tissue sheds blood in response to hormonal changes during menstruation, even those that are misplaced on other organs. The blood shed causes the neighboring tissue to become irritated causing a series of symptoms (e.g. severe pain, irregular bleeding, heavy bleeding, infertility, bowel problems, etc). There are a handful of theories of what causes this condition but still not fully understood in modern medicine. According to conventional medicine, endometriosis is considered a chronic recurrent condition requiring multiple surgeries and many years of treatment and follow-up.
My Story
I was twenty-three years old when I felt something was wrong. I had excruciating pain about one week before my period. I would feel this pulsating pressure on my lower back becoming more intense with each pulsation. It was as if my uterus was about to drop to the floor. I could see my reflection in the mirror; ghost-like appearance and profusely sweating. I took four extra strength ibuprofens as I laid in a fetal position on the floor until the pain medication took the edge off.
I shared this with my gynecologist, and she ordered an ultrasound and a pelvic exam. I walked out the door with “normal” exam results and a prescription for hormonal birth control. She told me to take ibuprofen one week before my periods to help ease the pain and cautioned me of my pain potentially worsening as I age.
I had become used to tolerating severe pain right before my blood cycle. However, these painful attacks became debilitating with each cycle.
I asked for another ultrasound a year later where they found a 4mm sized mass in my left ovary. She prescribed birth control as an attempt to shrink what she suspected to be a liquid cyst. I returned a month later with the mass doubling in size. She scheduled an emergency surgery, according to her I was at an increased risk of losing my left ovary.
At the age of twenty-four I was being rolled into surgery. I had woken up to a diagnoses of stage IV endometriosis (severe endometriosis). My gynecologist said, “Your uterus appeared to have aged ten years, I wasn’t able to burn off all the adhesions, and if you want to have kids I would start now because you won’t be able to in a couple of years”. The mass on my ovary was an endometrioma (cysts filled with menstrual blood). Stage IV endometriosis signifies the presence of a vast amount of uterine tissue deeply embedded outside the uterus including large endometrioma(s) on the ovaries.
How could this be? I thought to myself. I was a nurse, I was eating what I had been taught was healthy, working out 4-5 times a week, I did everything I would tell my patients to do to stay healthy.
I felt angry, hurt, confused.
I began researching endometriosis and read the unfortunate statistics and how this is a chronic condition with no cure. There was not enough research or evidence, not many practitioners had much understanding of this condition. I sunk deeper into my hopelessness.
I was prescribed a Lupron injection for three months to place my body in temporary menopause. I was told this would help the adhesions left behind to heal. I began to feel the side effects and when I researched the medication I read it was primarily used as a chemical castration for prostate cancer and for sex offenders. At that time Lupron was barely being researched for endometriosis.
I was livid with myself to be so naïve to allow this to be placed in my body, to not have the appropriate information to advocate for myself.
This was my turning point; I no longer trusted the given treatments modern medicine had to offer. I refused to continue being their experiment.
I turned towards acupuncture, reiki, and herbal medicine. I had learned how these healing modalities help move stagnant energy within the body, especially the womb.
I began to shift my way of nourishing myself by limiting processed foods/fake food and eating in a more traditional way that is eating foods as if they were prepared by my abuelita and my ancestors before her (fermented foods, animal fats, bone stocks, organ meats, raw dairy products, etc.).
I embarked on many journeys to South America to re-connect with my roots and with the knowledge of the indigenous keepers where I would be able to rewire my entire being. I truly began to peel away the layers of trauma, pain, ingrained stories, suppressed emotions that had been stored in my womb for years and generations.
Healing with Ancient Medicines
I had already been working with ancient medicines prior to my diagnosis but not with the intention of healing my womb. I participated in purgas with healing plants, traditional sweatlodges, and worked with varies ancient medicines (such as ayahuasca, huachuma, peyote, kambo, etc). I sat with trusted mestizo and indigenous wisdom keepers who taught me ways to move out stagnant energy stored within my womb and heart space.
In one ceremony specifically I had a vision of each woman within my lineage handing me her wounded womb as I would purge out the embedded sorrow and hand it back a new as each one would smile with gratitude.
Here I had understood I had been carrying the pain of my lineage within my womb. I learned on my maternal side all the women suffered from either reproductive conditions or uterine cancer. In addition, every one of them suffered some type of trauma, abuse, or experienced suppressed emotions.
I had a choice, either I end this painful cycle, healing myself and the generation after me or I continue to live with this never-ending painful battle with my body. I understood that meant returning to medicines of the earth. Returning to listening to my body, mind, and spirit.
I had a lot of work to do but this was not only for myself, it was for all the women who I would be able to help along the way including my daughter. This was bigger than me.
Fast-forward to today, seven years later, I experience pain-free periods and have not needed another surgery. I no longer experience abnormal anxiety or depression. I do not take any prescription medications and I can’t remember the last time I took an ibuprofen. I had a healthy, low-risk pregnancy and home birth.
Endometriosis was my Wake-up Call to Re-Connect with My Body
I no longer believe being diagnosed with endometriosis was an unlucky hand. I believe it to be a wake-up call. I understand it as the only way I would begin to listen to the cries of my body.
Being diagnosed with endometrioses in a world where the majority had forgotten what it means to listen to their body was an invitation to walk away from modern medicine, to heal deeper layers of myself, to look where most avoid, to face my fears, heal emotions, and suppressed trauma.
Battling endometriosis as a registered nurse in a world where modern medicine does not acknowledge the importance of traditional nutrition, mindful movement, being present, accessing trauma within a safe space, the power of ancestral plant medicines, communing in nature, etc. Where they truly believe synthetic chemicals and surgery are the gurus of medicine. I feel passionate about breaking the illusion of the medical system and reveal the deeper healings of ancient medicines.
The beauty in it all is that as this system crumbles, traditional medicines and simple ways of living will still be here as they always have.
As women continue to rise and heal their body, mind, and spirit, the world too will begin to heal.
This is the vision I hold, and I could only thank all those who have guided me and held my hand along the way.
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