What was the beginning of your endometriosis journey like before you knew what was happening?

That was tough.

I was actually in my first semester of college. I’m going to school majoring in chemistry and biology for veterinary surgery. So, having to get ripped out of school because I’m not able to stand, or drive, or walk was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

It was in October of 2025. I had a ruptured ovarian cyst while I was at the mall. I thought I had ruptured my appendix, and I was rushed to the emergency room. I had a giant cyst that had ruptured. They thought I was going into ovarian torsion.

For two months after that, I was in intense pain, and everyone was just saying that I was fine. It was residual fluid, or just like my head was making up the pain.

Then I finally had an ER doctor tell me to look into endometriosis.

When were you diagnosed, and what was your journey to getting diagnosed like?

It was a long journey. It took about four or five months of looking into endometriosis before I found an excision specialist. I had gone to him. He was amazing. I went to Dr. Klebanoff in Main Line Health in Philly. He was absolutely amazing. He understood everything I was saying.

I had surgery in February of 2025, and I was correct. I did have endometriosis growing in seven different areas of my body. I also have really bad adenomyosis.

So that was great, to know what it was. 

What did it feel like to finally have a name for what you were experiencing?

It’s great to have the name for it because when I’m telling my professors why I can’t be in school, or when I told the job that I almost got fired from for calling out that I have a disease and I actually have the name for it, it sounds more legit and it sounds like you’re not making it up, and it’s not an excuse.

So at least I know what’s going on with me, and I can research it rather than just sitting and not knowing.

How does endometriosis show up in your body and daily life?

I would say that my endometriosis, even after surgery, has still greatly affected my life.

Before surgery, I was not able to stand for more than five to ten minutes without needing to sit down or almost passing out and ending up in the ER. I remember Thanksgiving dinner. I was cooking, and I almost went to the ER. I just was sitting on the floor of my kitchen because I was in so much pain.

So I had my surgery, and I had about a month of no pain, like no pain at all. And then it came back worse than ever.

I had four cysts grow since my surgery. Two or three of those have ruptured, which put me in the ER.

I’m still in daily pain, but it’s much more manageable. I am on excessive amounts of hormones. 

I keep having to double up my hormones because my endometriosis hormones are fighting my body and trying to produce more endo.

I believe I actually already have a spot of endo growing back. I am also concerned about my diaphragm because I had endo close to my diaphragm, but now I’m having some chest pain after surgery.

The one thing I can say is that endometriosis is never really gone. You can get the surgery, you can have some relief, but endo is never really gone. Depending on your body, it can grow back in four months, it can grow back in 10 years, you never know.

Unfortunately for me, it’s been five months since my surgery, and I’m already having some growth. But I’m actually able to live my life. I’m not able to work yet, but I have been shadowing at hospitals and doing a lot more than I was able to before.

How has endometriosis affected your education, work, routines, or ability to make plans?

Like I mentioned before, endo has greatly affected my education, my work, and my plans. I had to take the semester off of school last semester, so now I’m a semester behind, and that’s very disheartening to me. So now I have to take summer classes to get caught back up.

I had to quit my job that I absolutely loved. And now that I’m getting into veterinary, which is what I want to do after college, I’m not able to actually work at any vet clinics yet because my body can’t handle that yet.

It has impacted my finances also because I’m not able to work, so I’m just making money through things at home. I’m also a certified makeup artist, so trying to get a client here and there is kind of how I’ve been living.

But it’s been very day-to-day, which it was not like that before. So it’s a surprise.

What has your experience been with treatments, surgeries, medications, lifestyle changes, or other approaches?

I have a lot of people around me that are into holistic healthcare, that don’t really love the healthcare system, that prefer holistic approaches.

Now, I’ve tried everything under the sun. Everything you can think of, I’ve tried. I have family members that are into all of that stuff.

Now, I will tell you, I was eating clean. I was not taking any medications. I was doing everything my family wanted me to do. And at the end of that month, I was in the ER.

So I went back to my normal ways of eating whatever I want, whenever I want, and taking my medications that I was prescribed, and just living my life.

And yeah, I’m still in pain, but at least I’m not living in this bubble just for endo to still come back. So I don’t believe that you should be putting yourself in that bubble.

What has the emotional or mental side of living with endometriosis been like for you?

Endo and adeno is very challenging on mental health. Thankfully, I’m very strong-minded, so I don’t think so much of, “I feel bad for myself,” or, “I hate my body.” I don’t think that way. I kind of just wish that I was able to do more.

How has endometriosis affected your family relationships, friendships, or dating life?

It definitely has affected my relationship because a lot of things that we used to do or places we want to go, I’m scared to do now because I’m not sure if I’m going to make it through that activity, or if after we go somewhere, I might end up in the ER. So it definitely has affected that.

And then also after surgery, my boyfriend had to do everything for me — make me food, wash me in the shower, make my bed, sit me up because I couldn’t sit up on my own.

So it’s taking a lot of work out of him as well.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I think endo just needs to be understood more as a society. And I’m not even just saying that because it’s a woman’s health disease. Even if it was for men, I think this disease just needs to be talked about because it’s so debilitating.
I have an extremely high pain tolerance, and I’m glad this happened to me and no one else in my family, but at the same time, I’m barely hanging on. So I can’t imagine some of these other girls that are going through it.
I got my surgery at 18 years old. I already have endo growing back. I’m most likely going to need a surgery every year or every other year. So it stinks, especially having a career that’s going to be so demanding on me.
It’s really hard, and the pain aspect of it is just so bad. So I wish people knew more about it and were able to get diagnosed.