Chapter 56: Ask Me About My Uterus by Abby Norman

Something I've found that helps me with my own endometriosis journey is reading about other peoples' experiences. That's the point of this blog, right? So when I saw this book at my local independent used book store, I knew I had to give it a shot. I'm SO glad I did. From Goodreads: For any woman who has experienced illness, chronic pain, or endometriosis comes an inspiring memoir advocating for recognition of women's health issues.

In the fall of 2010, Abby Norman's strong dancer's body dropped forty pounds and gray hairs began to sprout from her temples. She was repeatedly hospitalized in excruciating pain, but the doctors insisted it was a urinary tract infection and sent her home with antibiotics. Unable to get out of bed, much less attend class, Norman dropped out of college and embarked on what would become a years-long journey to discover what was wrong with her. It wasn't until she took matters into her own hands--securing a job in a hospital and educating herself over lunchtime reading in the medical library--that she found an accurate diagnosis of endometriosis.

In Ask Me About My Uterus, Norman describes what it was like to have her pain dismissed, to be told it was all in her head, only to be taken seriously when she was accompanied by a boyfriend who confirmed that her sexual performance was, indeed, compromised. Putting her own trials into a broader historical, sociocultural, and political context, Norman shows that women's bodies have long been the battleground of a never-ending war for power, control, medical knowledge, and truth. It's time to refute the belief that being a woman is a preexisting condition.

I LOVED this book. There's been a bit of a surge of endometriosis in the news and on bookshelves but this book is different than a lot of the books that I've read recently. The author discusses her own experiences with endometriosis, which is all too familiar for anyone with endo. Women's pain is often dismissed as having a mental health origin and not a physiological one. I can't even count the number of times doctors and PAs told me that my horrendously bad periods were due to stress, even if I wasn't particularly stressed at the time. Norman researches the history of women's pain and the rampant dismissal of very real physical conditions of "hysteria." It goes through the Freud era of his incredibly sexist assessment of women and their health, as well as the lasting effects of his analysis on people in the medical profession now.

Norman's story is heartbreaking. She had a pretty rough childhood, and the fact that endo has created more issues in her life is unfair and tough to read. She is so open and honest about the pain she feels daily, and so transparent about how it's impacted her sex life. That's something that is incredibly difficult to open up about, and I am so in awe of her willingness to talk about such a hard subject. While difficult to read at times, this book is well worth it. As I've said before, people without chronic pain conditions don't get what it is like to be in pain all of the time. Reading this should help people gain some empathy, which I think is incredibly important. This should definitely be your next endo read.