PERSONAL STORY: MARIA CATALINII am 30 years old. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in 1995 when I moved from New Jersey to Utah. The pain didn't start until a year after the birth of my son in 1989. I went to see a doctor and told him I had sharp shooting pains, in my vagina and buttocks that traveled down the back of my legs. It hurt so bad it would make me cry. The first laparoscopy was done in 1995. Accompanied with the endometriosis pain was a sore I would get with my cycles, without fail every month, so it was cyclic and that was enough to know that it had something to do with my periods, although endometriosis was evident it was unknown to the doctor what the sore was and most of my pain was neuralgia (nerve pain). I was tested for herpes time and time again, and all test results came back negative. I was frustrated to no end. The relief didn't last long. I lived that whole year still experiencing discomfort. Every month I was in pain, and continuously went to the doctor. He was a regular ob/gyn who I believed could help me so I trusted everything he told me. I got married in 1996 and thought maybe I should try to have a baby. Since the doctor gave me the options of going on birth control pills continuously or getting pregnant, I chose the birth control pills, which was what I did for 5 years to suppress my periods. While trying to conceive, I was taking fertility pills, and not only was I not getting pregnant, but I was hurting in the meantime. I finally gave up. I couldn't stand it anymore and just decided it wasn't meant to be. Two years passed and I was still searching for someone to help me. I was tremendously depressed, on anti-depressants, and still going to my regular ob/gyn about developing other things: constant yeast infections and an irritated vagina, pain after intercourse that would last days. I couldn't even ride a bike or wear clothes too close to my vagina without having pain. Finally in 1999, I demanded my doctor either give me a hysterectomy or another laparoscopy. He told me I wasn't mentally stable. My reply was, I'm not mentally stable, because you are failing to help me be free of pain. He agreed to do the laparoscopy and again, I was without relief. Life went on and I felt like I was going to live the rest of my life suffering. Besides seeing my ob/gyn I tried other avenues. I consulted with chiropracters, a pelvic pain control center, and even a specialist at the University of Utah, who performed a venogram and said my results were normal. Besides these doctors, there were several others. For 11 years, I was in agony, depressed, emotional and angry. It wasn't until July 2000 that my husband found a website on an amazing doctor named doctor Andrew Cook. It was all about endometriosis and pelvic pain. I was never so informed about the disease until I read his website. There were things I had never been told. This only made me more angry because I wasn't informed by my doctor, but I was hopeful. I thought I would try again. I followed the instructions on the website on how to have surgery with Dr. Cook and was scheduled. The entire staff at Helena Women's Health were wonderful to me. They treated me, the entire me, with respect and compassion. Not once was it said that my pain was in my head. I found out that there were so many other things wrong with me besides endometriosis. It was like a domino effect. It seems common for women who have endometriosis to have other problems and unfortunately I was one of the lucky ones, my surgery lasted 3 1/2 hours. I was diagnosed with vulvadynia, (chronic vulvar pain) pelvic congestion, a femoral hernia, an inguinal hernia and of course there was endometriosis, adhesions inside as well as on my clitoris, and last but not least, the "mystery sore" was yeast! I am only 6 weeks out from surgery and still recovering, but confident that I will be o.k. and thankful to have been able to find Dr. Cook. He is now in a practice with another wonderful doctor named Dr. Deborah Metzger. They together are helping women everywhere. I wouldn't trust anyone else. Their primary goal is to give women who suffer with endometriosis and pelvic pain a better quality of life, without the pain. Dr. Cook and Dr. Metzger have given me hope for a normal life. If you have these problems and are interested in seeing these wonderful doctors, they are located at:
Helena Women's Health Maria Catalini |