ADENOMYOSIS

I had not even heard of Adenomyosis until I was diagnosed last year September.

I stopped taking the contraception injections 3 years previous and my periods had steadily become  worse during that time. Each month my body and I were in a full-scale war with each other.

I have to be honest and say I have always had troublesome periods, puking, stomach cramps, heaviness, backache diarrhoea, sharp pains in my abdomen, you name it I suffered it.  I had my first period at 10 years of age and they have been troublesome ever since.

I have controlled my periods over the years with the contraceptive pill or injection, my GP could give me no other solution. I was told it was normal and I was just one of those unlucky women who have painful periods. I took that shit with glee and enthusiasm, as contraception allowed me to live my life like a tampon advert, running, jumping, cartwheeling, smiling and being a happy female.  Sporadically I would come off contraception just to ensure all my bits were working and then go back on again.

Over three years ago I decided it was time to come off the contraception injection for good, being of an age where fertility was a concern, I knew it could not be good for me to continue to rely on contraception on a long-term basis. The contraception injection is a very strong form of contraception, in fact it is so strong it can take up to 18 months for periods to return once a woman stops taking it.

My periods returned after a few months but became more and more painful and problematic each month. Just over a year ago things became so bad I finally admitted defeat and walked down to A&E department  ( which luckily just down the road from my house). Every month, either the pain was so excruciating I needed stronger pain killers or I was also puking so much I would become dehydrated and needed to be put on a drip and an given anti-sickness jab to stop the puking.

If it was a particularly bad month it would be the only think that worked, I could vomit until I was vomiting nothing but air, stomach muscles heaving and painful, so I had no choice but to go to the hospital if I wanted the vomiting to end. One other problem was I could never hold any pain killers down due to the vomiting so would have to suffer the excruciating stomach cramps as well.

The pain was becoming so bad I would bang my head against a wall and be up during the night crying and prowling the house in complete distress,unable to sleep. I was also continuing to suffer with diarrhoea and backache and stomach cramps and sharp pains which lasted at least 3 days and heaviness that lasted over a week, it was f**king ridiculous the sufferance I was going under just for a damn period. There were times I would just break down and cry, cause there was nothing else I could do. It was a cousin of mine who encouraged me to go to A&E, I thought they would think I was wasting their time, but she was right they didn't think that and I was always taken seriously and treated sympathetically, even if I did turn up half crazed.

When other women would tell me they did not suffer I would want to strangle them and their perfect menstrual cycles. I mean for goodness sake it was just a period so why was I turning into an animalistic mess each month whilst others sailed through like happy little princesses, skipping through a field of bright bluebells, surrounded by cute bunnies and warm sunshine.

Lets not talk about the psychological effect, who the hell can be happy when they are puking up their guts, weak and in pain, I was extremely miserable whenever I was on. I am a very optimistic, happy go lucky person, but this situation was really testing my happy reserves.

I was even losing weight, which is unheard of for me, shit I don’t lose weight easy! The vomiting was so intense and relentless and would last approx 3 days, during which time I could not eat and any nourishment I might've had in my body was expelled with vigour from projectile vomiting,hence the weight loss.  I would be so exhausted after 3 days of vomiting it would take a few more days to recover from the ordeal. That meant I was in a mess one week out of every four.

Below is how I look whenever I am on, just make this girl brown and this is me a bent up, scrunched up feminine ball of pain.

Being self employed this was also a major problem because if I do not work I do not get paid, I have been to work whilst nauseous and had to run out half way through teaching to be sick, or been standing outside buildings puking up into a plastic bag before I went in, it was getting stupid.

One particularly bad month I ended up in A&E yet again begging for the strongest pain killers they could give me, I believe I asked for morphine, not that I have ever had morphine, but I've heard  that stuff is good, I didn't get it, but I was given something strong and put on a drip due to dehydration as I had been sick up to 12 times that day,  whooo, hooo, ain't I a lucky girl. I was ready to flog anyone man, child, woman or beast who was not willing to help me, how much pain could one woman be expected to take!

That day I was lucky and was seen by a consultant who was determined to get to the bottom of my problems. He took his time finding out what was wrong and due to his intervention I had an ultrasound scan and was diagnosed with Adenomyosis. Ade who, Ade what, Ade when, Ade where? I had never hear of it, but was told it was like endometriosis but was inside of the womb rather than outside and it is thought that it is caused by an overproduction of oestrogen.

Finally I had an answer for the extreme pain that had me up during the night, crying, moaning, smashing my head against walls, and puking like no ones business, diarrhoea not knowing which end to put above the toilet my batty or my mouth, it was a relief, if I could do something about it.

Wrong, no known cure, only contraception or the removal of the womb or hormones was known to alleviate symptoms, well not an option for me, hopefully I still may be able to use my womb, I may not be a spring chicken but I am holding out that motherhood has not by-passed me yet, and secondly I did not want to keep pumping my body full of hormones since hormones seemed to be the problem. I had to find a way to deal with this once and for all.

I won't go into all the details about Adenomysis but if your interested,  click on the link below.

http://www.adenomyosisadviceassociation.org/

How was I going to deal with this condition then?

A friend had told me about a homoeopath that had helped herself and a few friends sort out their troublesome periods and gynaecological issues, I had been meaning to call him and get the ball rolling for a while, so I finally got in touch.

It wasn’t cheap it cost me £100 quid to see him, but he does charge less than that if your circumstances are challenging and to be honest for what I was going through I would pay whatever it took to ease my symptoms. I was sceptical at first, what the hell could he do that years of visits to the Dr's couldn't?

Well the first thing he did was talk to me about the history of my periods and my eating habits and then proceeded to tell me I had a hormone imbalance and I needed to realign my body and the first port of call was giving up sugar. "Excuse me MOFO, did you say give up sugar?" Ok I didn’t say that out loud, but I wanted to,  I wanted to ring his neck, I wanted to slap him across his face and dig out his eyes. I love sugar, sugar is my best friend, I have sugar on my cereal, in hot chocolate, cakes, not so much sweets and chocolate but I got a sweet tooth and I have a missing tooth to prove it and countless fillings.

He says, "By the way you have just looked at me you are obviously not ready to change your lifestyle."  I did look at him bad, I can’t lie, like he just told me my man was cheating on me! Really who the hell is ever ready to give up sugar, he might as well have asked me to move to Timbuktu, give up poetry or tell me I needed a dog in my life. He didn’t stop there. "No sugar of any kind, sweetners or honey, no more than two fruit's a day and no yeast." 

This MOFO was a joker, he was playing some big fat joke on me and was going to turn around any minute and go "Ha, ha only joking. He didn't, he was deadly serious.” Go away and read up on sugar, make your own choice, but I promise you if you give it up, your periods will become better." I didn't get it, what the hell did sugar have to do with my painful periods, I was convinced I had wasted my money on a complete quack!

He also gave me supplements, selenium, sepia and magnesium phosphate to take. He advised me stop eating soya to try and eat a diet closer to what my mother/grandmother would've eaten and to cut back or eliminate diary, but told me to keep eating fish as fish was the only meat I eat and he reckoned being a pescatarian was actually a good thing. To be honest I would've preferred if he said to give up fish rather than sugar, a no meat diet more than feasible, it is something I had thought about on numerous occasions, but no sugar, I really could not see me embracing a no sugar lifestyle!

I went home and cried because I knew I had to make a change I was not ready for and I was overwhelmed, no more doughnuts, cake, ice-cream, yogurt, no more almond croissants, no more sugar in my hot chocolate or my cereal, how was I going to eat porridge or cornmeal without sugar or honey! I cried hard like my man had just dashed me, yes that kind of hard.

I still did not change straight away, Sugar is addictive, it’s like asking a smoker or alcoholic to go cold turkey, sorry no can do, but I did read, read and read, and found out he was right, the condition was an immune condition and sugar inhibits the immune system, meaning my ability to fight adenomyosis was compromised, well I never, shocked is not the word, who knew my daily pastry was adding to my monthly troubles.

The next appointment a few weeks later, we spoke about mental health and the need to de-clutter my life and take care of anything that was stressing me as gynaecological conditions can also be linked to psychological issues, never knew that. Great reasons to get rid of things that might be stressing you in your lives ladies!

A lot to think about, but finally I was ready, shit I am not willing to throw money down the drain, if I was going to pay for advice I was going to take the advice.

I read a lot, found out that gluten, caffeine, soya and diary can make the condition worse, I learnt that oestrogen attaches itself to fat cells and the more fat cells there are in the body, the more oestrogen is produced, not what you need with adenomyosis! A good reason to start losing weight.

Seven months later and last month I had a period that was vomit free and almost pain free. My periods are lighter, (I am no longer running to the toilet hourly)  they last for less days, I also no longer suffer from diarrhoea or back pain or crazy sharp shooting pains.

"Yippee."

I can’t remember the last time I had a cake, doughnut or a spoonful of sugar. Month by month my periods were slowly becoming better... this was no overnight cure. it’s probably taken me this long to completely wean myself off and eliminate hidden sugars in things like juice. My main drink is now water,  I hardly eat bread, pasta or anything else with yeast. I have coconut milk instead of soya and try to eat soya and diary products very sparingly.

There are many reasons why someone with endometriosis and/or Adenomyosis and the general population in general should avoid soy, but not one to preach have a look at the link below, research on the internet, read some books and make up your own mind. Personally I am trying to stay away from the stuff.

http://thedeliciousrevolution.com/cleanse/why-avoid-soy/

I don’t feel deprived and I have been replacing this food with other good stuff, I bought a nutri-bullet and have daily green smoothies. I have been knocking back smoothies with spinach and kale and avocado like it’s apple juice. I try to cook from scratch more and am learning to cook gluten free versions of my favourite recipes.  This weekend I will attempt a quorn mince pie with gluten free pastry.

I've moved on from the supplements I was originally given, but daily take Aloe Vera juice, magnesium citrate capsules, flax seed powder and have been known to make flax seed bread, and have just started using powdered Maringa in my smoothies which has come highly recommended.

This change has been slow but good and it is something I feel I can keep up with and not a fad or a diet, it’s a lifestyle change. I ain’t perfect I do backslide from time to time, and even have a break for a few days and have a pizza or some bread, but funny enough not with the sugar it's been approximately about 3 months I think since I have had a cake or a donuts or a bit of chocolate. I do not use sweeteners or honey of any kind; it has been a brutal and final breakup but I have come to accept the sweetness in my life comes from having pain free periods.   This does not mean I will never, ever have something sweet to eat again, I just don't feel the need and if I do it will be a calculated choice not a mindless stuffing of my face.

I have to plan meals more carefully and cannot just run into a shop and pick something up without thinking about what it is I am putting into my body. I tend to bring dishes to family meals to ensure I am catered for. I might have a restricted diet, but I still love my food, ain't no one trying to starve themselves!

I miss bread and cheese more than I miss sugar, veggie cheese ain’t cutting it and well, bread is just well bread, nothing like eating a freshly baked loaf. I have found a great gluten free version which is very tasty, just add your milk of choice an egg and oil and your good to go. Please note the white bread version contains sugar but the brown version does not, happy baking and yamming.

http://foodbyhelen.com/

Asda has a great selection of Free from products, including breads, Yorkshire pudding mixture, wraps, and I even made a mac and cheese with gluten free pasta the other day that was delicious. I have rice noodles at hand and lasagna sheets, so life is still good I ain’t starving and in fact look better than I have in years.

I now also make sure to exercise at least 4 times a week, have signed up for a half marathon in September, and my waist is smaller than it has been in years, and I am slipping into clothes that I was about to give to charity because they were too small, but that’s for another post, right now I just wanted to pass on my good news in the hope it might help someone else. Losing weight has been great and it's wonderful to have a belly that is no longer trying to escape from my clothes, but more than that, I believe exercise has made me stronger and given my body the strength and ability to fight adenomyosis.

I want to make it clear it was not a quick fix, it has taken me a while to get my head around all of this, last month was the first month I did not puke up and had very limited pain, but it has been so worth it, not to feel like a beast each month. My periods have slowly improved month after month. In the first few months I struggled with no sugar and when my period came and was still giving me problems. I would be distressed and ready to give up. "Why the hell am I depriving myself of sugar, and pasta and pizza and ice-cream and all the other good things in the world, and my periods are still playing up."

Pain is a terrible thing, it can make you miserable and lose hope, but luckily I never did lose hope. They were getting better and I knew that because they were so bad  the change would be more gradual than dramatic, I had to be patient.


I only saw the homoeopath twice and called him once, a couple of months back, when the vomiting was continuing to be a major problem. There is a lot of information on the Internet so those of you who do not want to part with money, you  could probably find all you need to know, but personally he was worth every penny and more, and this is a stingy girl talking who doesn't like to part with cash unless I really have to.

Here is a link to a Facebook group for Adenomyosis.

https://www.facebook.com/ADENOMYOSISADVICEASSOCIATION?fref=ts

I have since found out there is a surgical procedure that can be used on this condition, whereby ultra sound waves are used to target the adenomyosis, leaving the surrounding tissue healthy. I shall be approaching my GP about this.

Here is a link to a great site dedicated to Adenomyosis, started by a woman who suffered from the condition, it has proved to be a great resource.

http://www.adenomyosisadviceassociation.org/Treatments---Pain-Relief.html

I don’t want to preach or sound evangelical but my life has been turned around from being sick for at least 3 days of each month, to now being able to work and function. 

What worked for me may not work for you, there are things that our bodies are sensitive to which might not have an effect on someone else, also not everyone is in a position to turn their eating habits around or even wants to.

My advice, read, read and read and make up your own mind, don't let me or anyone else tell you what will work for you. There is a lot we eat and drink which may be contributing to health problems. Sugar is poison to my body so even though we were great loves in the past, I do not mourn our breakup, in fact I celebrate it like getting rid of a no good boyfriend, I gladly turn my back on sugar!

I am not perfect, this is my own personal journey I am sharing, a journey that will be life long because I am not going back to how I was before. I have embraced this change and if it means sugar and I are done forever then so be it. I am human and I am learning more about clean eating and will continue to make positive changes in my life one bite at a time as challenging as it's been the rewards have been worth it.

I want to say thanks to my friend Kehinde who shared her own health journey with me  and passed on the  number of the homoeopath and set me off on this incredible journey.

Thanks to my other half Rob who has kept me sane through months and months of pain and distress and now through the lifestyle changes especially those first few months after I gave up sugar, when I'm sure I was not the greatest person to live with!

My main advice is if there is a nutritional answer to health problems you are having it would be silly not to give it a try. I have no regrets, how can I, I’ve turned into a new woman, and tampon adverts no longer piss me the hell off and best of all I have my womb back, we are no longer fighting each other but trying hard to work together.

There are times I thought the pain and vomiting was going to drive me mad, when I was so exhausted I would curl up and just sob, when I dreaded having to try to get out of bed and go to work, when Rob the other half would drag me out of the house for a walk to take my mind of the pain and I would be sick in the roadside or in a bush, there are times he has had to pick me up from work and stop the car so I could vomit.

It was not that long ago, mere months but I shudder at the thought of it, no woman should have to suffer with such painful and distressing periods.  I know some other women have far worse stories than mine, all I can do is tell you what worked for me and encourage you to research your condition whatever it may be and find and healthy and natural way to help yourself.  I am proof, you can take control of your health through food, you don't have to put up with up it , this is the 21st century, if they can send man into outerspace, build drones, map the human DNA, there has to be some kind of cure for painful periods and I think the cure may well be diet. just don't expect your Gp to tell you that.

My name is Kat and I am a sugar addict no more.


x

Relevant links.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/06/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sugar/

http://endsugaraddiction.com/expert-tips/

http://authoritynutrition.com/4-ways-sugar-makes-you-fat/

http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/food_and_drink/1336766/top_10alternatives_to_sugar.html
http://diettogo.com/blog/5-reasons-sugar-is-bad-for-you

http://byebyedoctor.com/adenomyosis/

http://homeremediesandnaturalcure.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/home-remedies-for-uterine-adenomyosis.html?m=1


Disclaimer none of the pictures used are mine.