This was not what I’d been expecting.
Where was I? And why was it so dark?
The surgeon emerged at the foot of my bed. I asked him tentatively, “Did you find anything?”
“We certainly did,” he said. “We found endometriosis [growth of tissue outside the uterus] and it was everywhere, and I’d say it’s been there since puberty. We couldn’t get it all I’m sorry. It took us four hours to get what we did.”
A 40-minute exploratory laparoscopy [surgical examination of the abdomen and pelvis] had taken them four hours. I cried. Not with despair but with relief. Finally an answer.
I was 11 when I got my first period. I was in my first year of high school and the Year 12 girls made a huge fuss over me.
The period products and painkillers I needed were something we could hardly afford.Allannah Law
The next morning I awoke to blood-soaked sheets and a tremendous pain I’d never experienced. My mother grimaced. The period products and painkillers I needed were something we could hardly afford.
Allannah was dismissed by GP's who told her painful periods were a part of life.
When I was 16, I saw a doctor who suggested the pill. My mother was horrified, but as the GP explained, it was just to regulate the cycle. I then had a 28-day cycle, which was much more manageable but it didn’t change the flow or the pain.
I realised if I ate very little on the first three days of my period, I could effectively drink my way through the pain.Allannah Law
When I was at university, I’d been dismissed by three female GP’s who told me painful periods are a part of life. That urinary tract infections are just what happens when you have sex, they said and tried to empathise by saying “isn’t it awful being a woman?”
As there was no solution, I discovered an effective treatment – alcohol. I realised if I ate very little on the first three days of my period, I could effectively drink my way through the pain. I managed my periods this way throughout my late teens and right through my 20s. It suited my lifestyle and every attempt to get medical help resulted in the same dismissive rhetoric.
By 30, I decided I wanted to have children and I couldn’t do that while maintaining my current lifestyle.Allannah Law
By the time I was 28, I was not a healthy woman. Years of partying and pain had left me vulnerable to illness. I picked up every virus. By 30, I decided I wanted to have children and I couldn’t do that while maintaining my current lifestyle. My father was an alcoholic. I wouldn’t subject my children to the same circumstances.
Allannah later turned to Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat her period pain.
When I fell pregnant the GP who did my blood test commented saying mine was the healthiest blood workup he’d seen. I credit Yoga and TCM.
I was diagnosed with severe, deeply infiltrating stage four endometriosis and adhesions.Allannah Law
I then became a qualified yoga teacher and therapist myself. The pain hadn’t completely subsided, but I could manage with Panadol. However, after the birth of my second child, when my period returned, I developed constant nausea, diarrhoea, and vomiting. I could no longer stomach the herbs. I went to a GP, who diagnosed me with a three month stomach virus. But after three months I continued to get sicker.
Over 18 months I lost 20 kilos – I was buying my clothing in the children’s section. I was now a size six Australian. My GP referred me to a gastroenterologist, who was convinced it was coeliac disease.
At a loss, I googled a laparoscopic surgeon. I thought if they could open me up, they were sure to find something. My GP said they weren’t just going to do surgery for nothing. But the moment I walked in, the surgeon looked me over and declared not only was I too thin, but I was the wrong colour.
I was diagnosed with severe, deeply infiltrating stage four endometriosis and adhesions. Even after a second surgery, they still couldn’t get all of it. I was left with a series of undesirable options. A hysterectomy, which is no cure for endometriosis, medication, where the side effects of which can be worse than the disease or continued multiple surgeries.
I decided on none of it. Western medicine had granted me a diagnosis, but it wasn’t going to hand me a cure or even an adequate maintenance plan. I went with what had worked in the past. A yoga routine I developed specifically for endometriosis and acupuncture.
That is all anyone with a chronic illness really asks. To have the same quality of life as anyone else.Allannah Law
Yoga and acupuncture are based on similar principles of removing blockages from the meridians. They’ve maintained my lifestyle – running my own business; being the main carer for two children and now pursuing a double major university degree, for the last 10 years. My last surgery was in November 2013.
I am not living pain-free. I still suffer from chronic urinary issues, and I must be very careful about what I eat. I cannot walk into a restaurant and order whatever I like. Likewise, I have to be very diligent about not getting physically cold, which intensifies my adhesions – from endometriosis and surgeries - and can leave me with weeks of pain. But I have quality of life without medication and am currently one of the healthiest amongst my peers. That is all anyone with a chronic illness really asks. To have the same quality of life as anyone else.
