Endometriosis and weight ...... a story of battling weight gain

Those who have come to know me, know how much I have struggled with my weight and how it took me a while to love myself and be comfortable in my own body.

My journey begins in 2018 when I started experiencing heavy cramps. For 10 months I was ignored by gynecologists who would tell me that the pain i was feeling was in my head. But I knew there was something wrong. My gut was telling me that I had to keep fighting. One of the first symptoms I started was my time of the month, how I went from 28 days to 16 days. The next symptom was weight gain. Before being officially diagnosed, I started gaining weight. I went to a total of 7 gynecologist. All of them ignored me. It went as far as me missing my college major, so I can go see the doctor. When I got there, she told me she wasn't going to perform a surgery and that the pain I was having was in my head. The pain was so bad, my blood pressure was high and was limping due to the endo pain. When the doctor told me the pain was normal and in my head, I went to my car and started crying. I asked God why this was happening to me. Why was I being ignored? Why were these gynecologist ignoring me? It wasn't until I filed several grievances with my insurance that I chose to advocate for myself. One day while on my Facebook page, I started seeing posts on Endometriosis. The moment I read weight gain, I knew that's what it was. I switched to a new primary who, the minute he met me and told him of my symptoms, he immediately said Endometriosis. But he wasn't a gynecologist, so he chose to send me to another one. By that time I was a second in college and I had, had enough. I refused to attend courses due to my pain. That day, I went to the gynecologist. I recall calling my mom and telling her that I didn't want to go, because I had a fear that she was going to ignore me. My mom told me in turn, that maybe this doctor was going to be the one who believed me. I called to schedule the appointment and they had me scheduled until August 2018, I chose to wait, because I had already waited months, a few weeks more was not going to hurt.

So I headed to the hospital, got the report and went to the clinic to fill out some paperwork as I was in the area. When I handed the paperwork to the front office receptionist, she asked if wanted to see the doctor that day as she had a cancelation. It was like God answered my prayers.

Before they roomed me, the medical assistant was asking me why I was there and I told her how I had been ignored for many months about the pain I was experiencing. She then put me in a room and I met the gynecologist, who would eventually save my life in a way. She asked me to tell her of my symptoms and the moment I told her she said what I had been suspecting since April: Endometriosis. A chronic and painful condition that destroys, slowly and painfully. She informed me that the only way to fully diagnose it, was by having a laporoscopic surgery.

About a month passed and I got a call from her office to tell me that my surgery was scheduled for October 5 2018.

The day before my surgery, I didn't want to go to my criminal justice class. I was depressed, I was worried. My mom had picked me up after my class to take me to eat. She noticed I wasn't eating. I told her that I was scared. And she told me "you have two choices... you can turn back on the surgery, or you can have the surgery and confirm your suspicions".

That day I went to the store and I had heard a song in the p.a system. It was This Town from Niall Horan. I started crying when I heard the song. I was fearful of not waking up after the surgery.

The day of the surgery was finally here. They had me scheduled for 730am at St Francis medical center in Lynwood, CA. I was so nervous. I wanted to cry so bad. When I saw that Dr De Los Reyes had arrived, I knew that it was time to go in for surgery. The one person I couldn't say goodbye to was my mom. The one person who witnessed everything I had been through for 10 months. The surgery was a success and I was diagnosed with stage 2 Endometriosis. After that everything was fine for a couple of years, life was great........until it wasn't.

Many years after my endo surgery. I once again started experiencing the same symptoms I experienced in 2018, weight gain, painful cramps.. My pain came back in 2021 and since then I have been to multiple gynecologists who are once again ignoring me. The last one I went to...... I left the clinic crying.

How have I managed to control my weight? Not only did i gain the weight from the endo, but it was also how much I was binge eating. I didn't love myself. I looked in the mirror and I hated myself. I hated the way I looked. And then after getting the stomach flu, I started to work out. Although my weight is getting controlled and I feel good about my body, the pain of the Endometriosis is there.

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month and it is something I am passionate about. I am passionate about raising awareness. 1 in 10 women are ignored. 1 in 10 women suffer from weight gain and have body image issues. My name is Kimmy and I am 1 in 10. I suffer from a chronic and painful condition. A condition that I have been getting ignored for the last 4 years.