Nothing worked. This blazing pain seemed only to be getting worse.

Even the littlest things were now a challenge, one I didn’t understand.

What if…the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong? What if I was over-exaggerating the pain, weakness, and weird sensations?

It’s a difficult journey and very much misunderstood by our friends and family – I hope this book can help to change that.

Fatigue had started to set in…and now my eyes showed it as I struggled to keep them open.

Behind every stressful thought is the desire for things to be other than they are.

I wondered if there was anything [the doctor] could do to to make the pain disappear and my arms work again. I wondered if I was going to get any worse than I already was....

You spend a lot of time thinking about how awful the prison is rather than envisioning your future.

Before I knew it, I was once again being whisked down the hallways at the new hospital into an even bigger room, one that, unbeknownst to me, would be my home for what would feel...

All parents set out with expectations, hopes and dreams for their child. When a child is diagnosed with a health problem, these aspirations are altered. While one parent is hoping to see their child graduate...

As I sat up I turned my head to the side, but immediately straightened it again when I felt a sharp pain shoot through my neck.

My handbag turned into a diaper bag for the chronically ill.

That’s the point. This healthy-feeling time now just feels like a tease. Like I’m in this holding pattern, flying in smooth circles within sight of the airport, in super-comfortable first class. But I can’t enjoy...

no man, you have never heard of it?” No she said. I do not know what it is, and it occurred to me that my 30-year-old daughter who I told about endometriosis and it didn’t...

Listen, I wanted to say, I don’t need your judgment, okay? I have enough to deal with without you contributing, so can we just get on with this so I can get out of here?But...

We have a duty tonight. Everybody, and guys this for you as well because I know you know women. You have a duty tonight. You only have to tell one other person what you heard....

Armed with my positive attitude and inherent stubborn nature, I keep my mind focused and my life moving forward. I stop to rest, pout and even cry sometimes, but always, I get back up. Life...

Ache my bones, flame my muscles, tingle my nerves, but you will never taint my beautiful mind & I will overcome this condition with the belief that I already have.

It’s not easy to diagnose because depending where the endometrial deposits are, the symptoms can be quite different. It’s an unrecognized problem among teenage girls, and it’s something that every young woman who has painful...

Depression affects almost 80% of migraine sufferers at one time or another. People with migraine, especially chronic migraine, also are more likely to experience intense anxiety and to have suicidal tendencies. If we want to...

Mental illness People assume you aren’t sick unless they see the sickness on your skin like scars forming a map of all the ways you’re hurting. My heart is a prison of Have you tried?s...

No one knows our bodies or our subjective experiences like we do. This means we can rest secure in our knowledge of ourselves and what we’re going through, even when the medical profession doesn’t understand...