The other thing I did want to mention here while I have the chance or mind to is for women, I cannot stress enough to also pay attention to what is taking place with yourself hormonally too.

I suffered for several years with endometriosis, and it continued to get worse and PMS for me was as though I had several uteruses instead of just one. Women do have mood changes as they go through their menstrual cycles anyway, so it is important to pay attention to your cycles as some women do experience highs and lows, that is not depression or anything other than hormonal. I got so bad that I began to have strange attacks about 4 days after my period. These attacks were very painful to where I was on all fours on the floor throwing up, until after about an hour they would subside leaving me exhausted. I would only get about a 3 minute warning with a twinge of pain to where I knew I had to get someplace where I could be sick in private. I did complain to my gynecologist and she kept telling me there was nothing she could do and that I was just developing cysts that were breaking and creating all this pain. It kept getting worse, I would complain again, and again my gyno would say the same thing and even be snippy about it.

Finally, I was talking to some other women and they told me that was not right and gave me the name of their gynecologist and told me to get another opinion. I went for an exam and a pap test and was told I looked fine. Then I had an attack that would not end, I was in excruciating pain all night and my husband called this new gyno who told me to wait until morning and come right in to see him because I would only have to wait if I went to an emergency room. When I did that I was still in a great deal of pain, was examined and they could see nothing, had an ultra sound, nothing, so they sent me to a hospital where there was a more powerful ultrasound, still nothing and that nurse was actually rude to me telling me I should not be in pain because she could not see anything.

Finally, it was so bad the gyno performed orthoscopic surgery where he could go in through my belly button and into my uterus and look around with the orthoscopic and that is when he was able to see all the endometriosis, which cannot be seen in an exam or by an ultrasound. They also could show it on a screen so my husband could see it too, because he was also having a hard time believing me. What it looks like is all these red blotches on what looks like nice pink raw skinless chicken meat. It was on my right side and was going down my right leg too. Endometriosis is serious and can travel in the blood stream and get into the lungs and other areas of the body so it is important to pay attention. They lazar it out so it doesn't spread or continue to also have periods like the uterus does, yes they all have periods and send out hormones just like they are uteruses themselves. There are women that have this but don't experience the pain I did too. However, they will definitely have hormonal problems and health problems.

After my surgery I was given an "implant" of a drug called Lupron that totally stopped my period. Unfortunately, that drug also completely depleted me of estrogen which resulted in extreme debilitating depression which was later revealed as a known side effect of Lupron. I was given Zoloft and estrogen medication until I slowly, and I mean slowly came out of the extreme depression where I could do nothing. I slowly became myself again. However, what happened is that I only had a few periods and went into early menopause. So much for having more than one child, I was actually lucky to be able to have one. Menopause is no picnic either but at least I didn't have debilitating depression.

So, as a woman, it is very important to pay attention to your hormone levels, you can have them checked with a blood test. It is also important to pay attention to any pain you may have too, because it could be more than just menstrual cramps. I suffered for "years" and was dismissed when I didn't have to suffer so long or have the endometriosis keep spreading and getting worse.

It is also important to understand that if you take birth control medications, that will change your hormones too, and could also affect your moods too. Just because we can stop a woman from having cycles where she can get pregnant, doesn't mean there are no side effects or dangers to doing that. Actually several of these birth control pills have even been taken off the market as they did cause life threatening side effects.

OE