Chapter 32: Believe Science. Forget the Nonsense.

I wish all the mask conspiracy theorists would listen to the title of this blog post. The pandemic isn't over. Wear a mask. Keep practicing social distancing. Now, back to endometriosis stuff!

Endo seems to be having a bit of moment in the media recently.. A lot of celebrities have come forward about their struggles with endo. I think it's so important that they're doing this. People need to know more about this condition so they can educate themselves and know when something is wrong. Celebrities, just by the very nature of the platform they have through their careers, can bring awareness to important issues like women's health. With that power comes great responsibility to not spread misinformation.

Julianne Hough (of Dancing with the Stars fame) has been very open about her struggle with endo. She has talked about its effect on her sex life, which is a very brave thing to do (and something that I haven't built up the courage to address for all the internet to see yet). Pain with intercourse (or any type of penetration) is a common complaint in the endo community, so I am so grateful that she chose to speak about it. I hope that it helps people realize that there are different ways to explore your sexuality and that the ideas that penis in vagina sex are the only way to have a healthy sex life are very outdated and incorrect.

However, with that being said, she gave a very troubling interview recently that I've been stewing on for a few months. . Normally what a celebrity says in an interview has no impact on my life, but in this case it does. When she spreads bullshit theories like this around for people to consume, it hurts the whole endo community.

She says in part: "I will tell you through this transformation of really connecting back to my truth, I haven’t had symptoms of endometriosis because of the love and kindness I’m giving to my body. I believe there’s stress, shame, guilt, and suppression of female energy that’s associated with endometriosis, so de-layering that has really helped.”

Even just forgetting the stupidity of the content for a second, what she's saying invalidates the struggles of endo patients everywhere. If only we loved our bodies then we wouldn't be in pain, have infertility issues or heavy periods? What?!?! Loving your body and treating yourself with kindness are admirable goals that everyone should strive toward, but it isn't going to cure your endo. Only a laparoscopy with a trained excision specialist will.

Additionally, women's health issues are historically ignored by the medical research community, so having a well-known endo patient say this kind of stuff is not going to help us be taken seriously. There are an estimated 200 million people with endometriosis worldwide, and only 200 excision specialists. Clearly more needs to be done to give endo patients a chance at having a more normal life. Hough's statements threaten to wipe away all the hard fought progress that other vocal endo advocates have made. It's incredibly selfish and irresponsible.

With that all being said, there are "alternative" treatments (acupuncture, massage and chiropractic treatments) that can help with endo symptoms. Laparoscopic surgery is the gold standard treatment though. And while self love and practicing kindness are virtues to be applauded, more serious medical research needs to be done for the endo community. So let's all just focus on the research and science, please.