Advent calendars!

So the countdown to Christmas has begun! I tend to do most of my shopping online as I find hours of shopping exhaust me and as I'm sure many endo sisters know you can't plan anything!
This year I've been little obsessed with all the advent calendars around, so many amazing ones!
I treated myself to the lookfantastic one and it's huge!
I've had to leave it wrapped up just so I won't be tempted to start early.
Anyways after buying that I then saw a deal for the m&s calendar that was £280 on it's own but if you spent £35 on clothing or beauty you could get the calendar for £35! Amazing deal! And easy enough to spend £35. I have ended up with some really cute fluffy PJs for Christmas eve along with my beloved Pixi retinol tonic and the calendar!
I decided I'm going to open 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening.
Literally cannot wait so will be opening and posting each day through December.
Anyone else bought advent calendars this year????

Interesting week

I've had a rough week to say the least. The lead up to this period has been awful. I've had pain every day with a couple of spotting days. When it finally started it was a relief, not that the pain went away but that the lead up was over! I have listened to my body and rested whenever possible but yesterday was so heavy and the worst possible day for it to happen because I had an interview for a promotion! 

I got myself ready and gritted my teeth throughout. Sorry endo but you're not ruining this for me I've worked too hard! So interview over and I find out next week!

Today is a better day! I'm seeing my best friend! Haven't seen her for a few weeks so we're going to have lunch and if endo allows a few cocktails 😁

The sun is shining and although I'm in pain I'm feeling better than I have all week. 

I've also decided to add a couple more topics to my blog although my main aim is to increase awareness of endo I also want to share my other interests mainly food and my addiction to beauty boxes! No I'm not turning this into a beauty blog but thought I'd share what's in my boxes each month. It's always a little exciting when they arrive. For now I'm off to get ready for a nice day out! Xxx

Sunday nofunday!

I haven't been around for a while, I kinda lost my mojo to do this but recently I've been thinking about my blog and wanted to get back in to it so here goes. 

The last surgery I had in October the surgeon was able to remove a lot of endometriosis but he also told me he found fibroids and cysts too. The endo has spread to my bowels which I thought explained the pains I have when needing the toilet. Anyways he didn't remove all the fibroids and cysts as he said he wasn't sure they were causing me any problems and as I don't yet have children he wants to avoid as much scar tissue as possible (for which I'm grateful). My recovery was slightly longer after this one which I put down to the amount of endo removed but now I'm not so sure. Sure the pain lessened but 9 months on its back with a vengeance. I can't go a day without some kind of pain hitting me whether it's my bowels or ovaries etc etc you get the picture.

What I have learnt is to listen to my body. Anyone that knows me knows I push myself. I go to work looking like hell and I'm often told off and to go home which I ignore. I always work in excess of my hours but I love my job! Recently tho I'm not doing so many hours over what I'm meant to. I know when my body needs rest and I've learnt the hard way that if I keep pushing i will make myself very ill. I've also learnt that the less I push myself the more time I have to look after myself in terms of healthy cooking. We all know how easy it is to eat crap after a long day at work. 

My thoughts now are how I can improve this even more. I would love to hear from anyone about recipes that don't take an age to make! Afterall I am usually still exhausted after work so please hit me up if you are a whizz in the kitchen or just found some recipes that work for you! 

🎗💛🎗

Chocolate

So I decided I would try and give up chocolate for a week and see if it had any affect on my body at all......

That was over 3 weeks ago! I must confess I did eat a cookie with chocolate chips but other than that I have not touched chocolate since!

Has it helped?

To be totally honest I don' feel any different. I thought the lack of sugar etc would either make me tired or grumpy (I'm used to having chocolate every day!)

Will I keep it up?

Well I'm not going to say yes to that. I don' think I'll go back to eating chocolate as much as I did but if I get a craving a little chocolatey goodness is very much on the menu!

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Happy New Year!

Wishing all my endo sisters a very happy new year! My new years resolution is to be more active with my blog. The last 6 months have been awful. I had another surgery after suffering daily for months. The surgery found more endo but also cysts and fibroids. I'll discuss more in a further post but I'm now on the road to recovery and in the process of changing my diet to try and help. I've said it so many times and always end up back eating rubbish but I'm determined this time!

That's all for now I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a healthy new year 💛💛💛

Hormonal skin

Well I'm sure I am amongst lots of ladies who feel like a teenager on certain days. By that I mean the breakouts on my face! I have tried so many products but nothing ever worked. Well until now.......

I am in love with the new Garnier Skin Active range in RoseWater. It smells sooooo good and seems to have had a big calming effect on my skin. I've been using it for around a month now and have to say so far so good! I won't lie I've still had a couple of breakouts leading up to my period but nothing like I used to have.

I've never named a product on here before but I am truly thankful to this range so thought I'd share! If anyone is like me a face full of breakouts can make your day even worse, it's a knock to my confidence that endo has already taken a sledgehammer to. I am thinking of trying the other variations but I'm a bit wary as the rose water is working so well for me at the moment. If anyone has tried the others could you let me know how you got on? I'm thinking honey next!

Apologies for the upcoming rant

I need to vent so I'm going to do it here. It's not really for anyone other than me to get this off my chest.

I'm tired so so tired, I don't remember the last time I slept for more than 5 hours. Pain waking me up during the night has become a common theme in my life for the last 3 weeks. Everyday at the moment is a struggle to get up in the morning and get myself to work. The lack of sleep has left me with pounding headaches as if i wasn't in enough pain already and almost zero energy. Not sure what I would do without my best friend who listens to me complaining everyday. I complain enough to her so here i am to vent instead.

The change in diet hasn't really gone to plan as I'm so tired when I get home I'm happy to eat anything and that's if I feel physically ok to eat. Today I've managed some popcorn😂. The thought of anything more makes me feel nauseous.

Well venting over I can only hope for a better day tomorrow or at least to not be woken up tonight but as I only have 6 hours before I'm due up it's not looking good!

Wish everyone a nice (And if you're an endo sufferer a symptom free) weekend! 😚

Time for a change

So I've been trying to change my diet in an effort to help relieve symptoms. I've been so bloated recently I look like a pregnant elephant! Not exactly what I'm aiming for with summer coming!

Anyways I have to say I had been slacking when it came to green vegetables. I do tend to have fruit and some veg but I'm not sure why I haven't eaten much leafy greens recently, I love broccoli and cabbage so I really have no excuse. I guess they just weren't a priority on my shopping list!

The one I know I'll struggle with is caffeine and red meat, I'm a sucker for my morning coffee and a nice steak for dinner 😢

I've gone ahead and bought some red bush tea (caffeine free) and done a whole shop of all kinds of vegetable and fruit. I have ordered a load of frozen fruit too as I find this a lot more cost effective for using in my morning smoothie or adding to my overnight oats for breakfast.
I've replaced the steak on my shopping list with additional fish (good thing I actually like fish) to try and increase my omega 3 consumption.

Soooo tomorrow marks the beginning of the full attempt at this change. Couldn't possibly start on a Sunday when there's so many naughty snacks left at home 😉

Yay for awareness

Spotted this article whilst on the way home. Interesting read!

http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/endometriosis-fibroid-treatment-study-nhs-ignored-respect-symptoms-period-pain

The article identifies a huge problem I had. Basically being told for years it was just period pain and was normal. It took me years to get a diagnosis so this article brings me hope that things may finally move in the right direction. It's not fair to be ignored, you start thinking it's all in your head and you must be overreacting!

I hope this article reaches many ladies and gives them the reassurance that it's ok to keep going back to doctors, insist on seeing a gynae, deep down it's your body you know there's something wrong!

Endo Awareness

Well I haven't been around much recently but one of my favourite bloggers has inspired me to keep at this. The link to her new blog is in the comments of the below post so thank you Caro!

I think sometimes we just need a helping hand to get us back on our feet and Caro has offered me countless support I'd definitely recommend giving her blog a read.

Anyone doing anything fun for March awareness? I've been chatting with a couple of ladies who also suffer and it's interesting to see the difference how people are treated at work even in the same workplace! I've been quite lucky but have heard some real horror stories of treatment in the workplace. I'd be interested in hearing other people's experiences.

In the mean time have a great weekend all! X

Finally the weekend!

Ugh so tired this week, feel like a toddler needing a nap and early bed time! If only that were a possibility!
Now at the end of my first month in a new job and I love it but gosh I'm tired!
Thankful I have a great boss who has actually read about endo! Haven't come across many who have looked in to it without being a sufferer themselves.
They've been great so far with home working on bad days being considered it would be a great relief to avoid rush hour commutes when I'm in pain.

All in all it hasn't been too bad a week! Hope all are well and have a great weekend! 😙

Been a long time.......

It's been a while since I've done a post. It's been a bumpy ride last few months.
Gynae has said he's reluctant to do surgery again at the moment so for now it's manage my symptoms as best I can. It is getting harder and harder tho. Most days I have to take painkillers just to leave the house and no idea how I get through work each day. I guess I'm thankful to have good friends around me there who know when I'm having a bad day.

I am finding I am catching bugs and colds more frequently so have been looking around to see if this affects others. Seems to be pretty common. Yet another hurdle for us endo girls!
I'm already on iron and b12 for anaemia but I'm hoping to hear back from anyone with any tips how we can help ourselves to avoid getting sick with rubbish bugs and colds! Whether it's diet tips etc please leave a comment! Or if you are a blogger yourself leave the link to your blog so I can have a read please.
Thank you in advance, hope you all had a merry Christmas and I wish you all a happy new year and hope it's a pain and symptom free year for all! 😘

Food!

Been looking into my diet recently and even tried to go caffeine free. In all honesty I didn't notice any affects regarding my endo! The need for coffee won in the end!

I did find the below picture tho. None of the items on it really surprised me other than red meat. As I have anaemia I have always tried to eat red meat for the iron so will have to work on decreasing that I guess.

I'd be very interested to hear anyone's experience on dietary changes affecting their endo. If you dont want to comment here please feel free to contact me separately!

Endo Awareness Month

I've seen alot the last few days in social media about endo. It's great seeing the increased awareness.

Also seen alot of yummy cupcakes with yellow frosting, such a good idea, hard to ignore a cupcake! Well it is for me!

Would love to hear if anyone is doing anything special during March?

The pill

It's been a while..... and it's been a rough couple of months.
Following my last appointment I decided to go back on the pill to try and regulate my cycle. So as told I started the pill on the first day of my period. I was actually feeling pretty optimistic.
Except it's now day 15 and I'm still on my period, which if anything has been worse than normal.
I've been on pain relief almost every day and am so exhausted I won't need a costume at Halloween I already look like a zombie!
With only 6 days left of my pill before my break I can honestly say I am dreading it more than anything.
Will I even get a break in between?  Who knows but I have my fingers crossed.

Has anyone else had any problems with going on the pill?
I am hoping it's just because it's the first month.

Anyway rant over!

On the positive side I have seen alot more media coverage about endometriosis recently especially in the newspapers. Seems alot more are now willing to talk about it and the recognition is increasing. It's great seeing articles about others experiences especially those who have suffered in work due to it as I have myself. I really hope the increased awareness keeps going!

I must apologise I haven't been on my blog much recently as I don't have much to tell. I'm have my appointment next week so will hopefully have more to update by then.

I did have a bit of success with the wheat bag. The marks on my stomach from using a hot water bottle are starting to fade although I must admit I do still give in and use  it. I find the wheat bag doesn't hold the heat as long as my good old hot water bottle.

I would like to ask those of you who have had multiple surgeries for endo the time span on them. I'm now over a year since my second surgery and wondering what my options will be next week. Last time I was told they were reluctant to do surgery again so soon and to be honest I'm not sure I want to go through that again but ask me on a bad day and I will definitely take the surgery option!

Anyways back to watching nonsense tv hope everyone has a lovely and pain free weekend ☺

Just a short post to say I have finally received my next appointment letter!
Will be going back to see my gynaecologist at the end of August.  Still not sure what to expect this time, hoping there's now a miracle cure I haven't heard about yet!

I am trying a wheat bag tonight after a suggestion from the lovely Caro, so I am hoping to avoid making the skin on my belly worse! Thank you Caro! <3

Summer

well it's been a pretty busy summer so far, went away for ten days and was given norethisterone so I wouldn't have a period whilst away. Have to say it was great, admittedly I had a couple of days of pain but nothing compared to normal. Wish I'd been warned how bad it would be when I got home though. My period started 3 days after I returned as Id been told it would. The pain was horrendous though, made me feel so sick I barely ate for days. Not sure if this is normal after taking this drug but thought I'd share my experience. Saying that, I'd rather have that pain than have a period ruin another holiday.

In other news I am still waiting for my 6 week review appointment which should have been due at the end of May, but not expecting much as last one I was told just manage my symptoms as much as possible. Hopefully will hear soon though.

In my earlier posts I asked if anyone knows where the yellow ribbons can be bought, I am still looking if anyone has found anywhere?

Mid week

Well today seems an ok day other than tiredness not much pain which is a relief! 

Looking forward to a 3 day weekend this week and fingers crossed a pain free one, although should have had another appointment letter by now but no sign yet!

Just had a quick look at the petition I posted about yesterday, so far almost 8.5k supporters which is awesome but I'm still hoping for more!  Maybe other bloggers can post it too? 

On another note anyone have any alternative ideas for a hot water bottle? I already use a TENs machine but love my hot water bottle but have noticed im starting to burn my skin so trying and failing to use it so often, any help appreciated 😃