I'm not sure how much I've posted about endo on my blog. Probably, it's been quite often because it's just a part of who I am. I was used to being in pain ALL day long 24/7. This isn't, "Ouch, I stubbed my toe," pain. It's the kind of pain that can only be relieved with prescription pain killers. It's a sad thing really. One, you feel guilty when you need to ask your doctor for pain killers, at least I do. I feel like I just need to suck it up. Plus, I HATE calling the doctor's office to ask because I always talk to one of the nurses who makes me feel like a drug addict. So, this results in me waiting WAY too long to call and living with pain that isn't even close to normal.
After my surgery last August and being put on continuous bc pills, I was in ZERO pain! It was amazing. However, after my IVF failure and not having our follow-up with our RE for a few weeks, the pain is back. It's so horrible. Often, I wonder if this is how bad it really was all the time before surgery. In my head, I know it was or I wouldn't have ended up on the operating table. But, it's just hard to believe that I actually lived like this day in and day out. No wonder I missed so much work, which I also HATED to do. Last year, I missed NO days of work for endo pain for the first time ever. It was amazing!
I'm just trying to get through, day by day, until our WTF appointment in two weeks to see if our RE will put me back on bc pills or something because I can absolutely not keep living like this, not after living pain-free for almost a year. I wake up in the morning at a 7 on a pain scale of 1-10 and it only goes downhill from there, with me ending up on the couch by the end of the evening. Seriously, how the hell did I do this for all of those years?? It really should be a crime that there isn't more research going into curing this awful disease. It truly is a life ruining disease.
As I was trying to get around this morning, I remembered that the hubs had borrowed a TENS unit from a friend for some back issues he was having a couple of months ago. If you don't know, a TENS unit is a little battery powered device with 2-4 pads that you stick on your skin over areas that hurt. The travel ones like this are made to help with chronic pain. Then, you turn the buttons until the electric pulses feel "good"?? The buttons range from a scale of 1-10. I figured it couldn't hurt to try, so I attached the little pads over my ovaries...
Honestly, the only thing I could think about is that I just put these pads over my ovaries and how I know the hubs friend would probably FREAK out if he knew these were even anywhere near some one's lady parts...it made me laugh!
Then, I turned the knobs...At about a 6, it felt like someone kept snapping my skin with a rubber band...but, it felt therapeutic. I'm not really sure how to explain it. After the first 30 minutes, the device turned off and OH MY GOODNESS! My lower back pain was gone. I'm not sure I can explain how exactly electrocuting my ovaries made my back stop hurting, other than I know it's all connected in there and when my endo is flaring up, my lower back kills me. Even though I know it's only supposed to run for 30 minutes, I looked on Dr. Goo.gle and he said that for chronic pain, it can be run for hours at a time. Since my ovaries were still hurting, I turned it up for another round of rubber band snapping. I promise, I have no idea how it works, nor do I really care, but I went from a 7 on the pain scale to a 1 after the second 30 minutes. Where has this thing been all my life???
While I was searching DR. Goo.gle, I did see that women with endo who are forced to use pain killers to manage their daily lives find a lot of help from these. So, I will definitely talk to my RE about getting a prescription for one when we go back in. For now, I'll just have to keep putting another man's TENS unit pads over my ovaries!
This is a game changer! The TENS unit has a little clip to clip on your pants or it can fit in your pocket. I can just put it on and wear it around work. Sweet heavens! My liver will be soooo very happy!!
So, endo ladies, I highly suggest that you get your hands on one of these little buggers! I read that you can rent them, but I'm not sure where you'd do this. I really love it enough to just buy one. They are pricy and you need a prescription from you doctor, but it's so very worth it!
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