Chapter 42: What Causes Endo?

What causes endometriosis is something I wonder about a lot. I think it's only natural to wonder why I have a condition that caused me 17 years of intense pain, a painful surgical recovery and almost a year of healing and mild to moderate pain. Well, unfortunately, due to a lack of research (likely due to a lack of funding), there is no real concrete answer to what causes endometriosis.

I talked to my surgeon about causes when I had my initial consult and my post op appointment. While he reiteriated that an exact cause of endometriosis is unknown, he has a working hypothesis that he shares with patients. He believes that there's a large genetic component to endo, and that it's a condition you're born with. He believes it's activated upon your first period and gets progressively worse the longer it goes untreated.

Applying his logic to my case, it makes sense. My mom started her period at age 9 and they were always so bad. They got progressively worse as she got older. It took her 8 years to conceive her only child (me). She passed away 10 years ago and never had an endometriosis diagnoses. It was also before I actively decided to get help for my killer periods so she never learned of my diagnosis before passing away. The fact that she suffered her whole life without getting treatment makes me so sad. It's also partially what inspired this blog. I don't want any more women to go through what we did.

While the exact causes of endometriosis remain unknown, I am certain of one thing. I did not get endo from having sex with a demon in my dreams. Stella Immanuel, an actual licensed doctor in Texas (as well as a minister), has been gaining traction in the news lately. Her videos have been shared on social media by members of the Trump family, mostly in regard to her theories on Covid. However, further digging into her social media activity shows she has some very batshit crazy theories on what causes endometriosis and other women's health issues. Immanuel claims that medical issues like endometriosis, cysts, infertility, and impotence are caused by sex with “spirit husbands” and “spirit wives”—a phenomenon Immanuel describes essentially as witches and demons having sex with people in a dreamworld. “They are responsible for serious gynecological problems,” Immanuel said. “We call them all kinds of names—endometriosis, we call them molar pregnancies, we call them fibroids, we call them cysts, but most of them are evil deposits from the spirit husband,” Immanuel said of the medical issues in a 2013 sermon. “They are responsible for miscarriages, impotence—men that can’t get it up.”

Obviously no serious doctor or even average person with half a brain considers this a real theory. However, it feeds into the idea of blaming women for things beyond their control, which is dangerous and happens way too often. Women are constantly shamed for enjoying sex (see the current WAP controversy) and this is more of the same. Have a nice sex dream about a celebrity that you enjoyed? Congrats, you have a painful condition without cure and it's all your fault, you horny sex monster.

How do I even wrap up such a bizarre blog post? I guess with this sentiment- there's probably a genetic component to endo, you were probably born with it and I didn't get it by fucking a demon in my dreams. 2020 is wild, y'all.