The Doctor Will See You Now

William Croyle, Tamer Seckin

Description

Endometriosis materializes when the endometrium – the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus – sheds, but does not exit a woman’s body during her period. Instead, it grows outside of the uterus, spreading to organs and nerves in and around the pelvic region. The resulting pain is so physically and emotionally insufferable that it can mercilessly dominate a woman’s life. The average woman with endometriosis is twenty-seven years old before she is diagnosed. It is one of the top three causes of female infertility. The pain it emits can affect a woman’s career, social life, relationships, sexual activity, sleep, and diet. It is incurable, but highly treatable. Unfortunately, though, it is rarely treated in a timely manner, if at all, because of misdiagnoses and/or a lack of education among those in the medical community.

This book gives hope to everyone connected to endometriosis. That includes every woman and young girl who has it, and the women and men in their lives – the mothers, fathers, husbands, children, and friends – who know something is wrong, but do not know what it is or what to do about it. This book is written at a level that everyone with ties to this disease can relate to and understand, but it is also for doctors with good intentions who lack the knowledge of how to diagnose or treat it.

The Doctor Will See You Now is for women determined to let the world know their stories so that every woman with this disease – from the thirteen-year-old girl who is being told that her pain is “part of becoming a woman” to the woman who has been misdiagnosed for decades – knows she is not alone.

Yes, her pain is real.

No, she is not crazy.

Yes, there is hope.

Sujets

• Médecine
• Gynécologie et Obstétrique
• Santé et bien-être
• Santé du quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Fitness
• Endo
• OB
• Health
• Obstetrics and gynaecology
• Santa Genoveva Airport
• Women's Health

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681621678
• Langue: English

Extrait

R ECOGNIZING AND T REATING
E NDOMETRIOSIS
R ECOGNIZING AND T REATING
E NDOMETRIOSIS
By Tamer Seckin, MD
Turner Publishing Company
424 Church Street Suite 2240 Nashville, Tennessee 37219
445 Park Avenue 9th Floor New York, New York 10022
www.turnerpublishing.com
Copyright 2016 by Tamer Seckin, MD. All rights reserved.
The Doctor Will See You Now: Recognizing and Treating Endometriosis
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to Turner Publishing Company, 424 Church Street, Suite 2240, Nashville, Tennessee, [phone], fax [phone], E-mail: [e-mail] .
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Cover design: Nathalie Ouederni and Maddie Cothren
Book design: Kym Whitley
Illustrations: Thom Graves
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seckin, Tamer.
The doctor will see you now : recognizing and treating endometriosis / by Dr. Tamer Seckin, MD.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-68162-112-8 (pbk.)
1. Endometriosis. 2. Endometriosis--Diagnosis. 3. Endometriosis--Treatment. I. Title.
RG483.E53S43 2016
618.1--dc23
2015030301
Printed in the United States of America
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the millions of women around the world whose lives are affected by endometriosis, may you find the peace and health you so richly deserve.
C ONTENTS
F OREWORD : By Padma Lakshmi
I NTRODUCTION : A Letter to You from Dr. Seckin
T HE D ISEASE
C HAPTER 1: You re Not Crazy
C HAPTER 2: The Road Less Traveled
C HAPTER 3: Endo What?
C HAPTER 4: Pain, and its Effect on Personality
S YMPTOMS
C HAPTER 5: From Early Endo to a Frozen Pelvis
C HAPTER 6: The Taboo of Periods
C HAPTER 7: Killer Cramps
C HAPTER 8: Painful Sex
C HAPTER 9: Cut with Razor Blades
C HAPTER 10: Neuropathy
C HAPTER 11: Four Miscarriages and a Baby
C HAPTER 12: Fatigue
C HAPTER 13: Genetics
M ISDIAGNOSES
C HAPTER 14: It Was All So Stupid
C HAPTER 15: IBS: A Dump Diagnosis
C HAPTER 16: Hysterectomy Bad
C HAPTER 17: Appendicitis
C HAPTER 18: Ovarian Cysts
P HOTO R EFERENCES
E FFECTS
C HAPTER 19: Those Who Suffer with Them
C HAPTER 20: Living Just to Work
C HAPTER 21: You Learn Who Your True Friends Are
C HAPTER 22: A Miscarriage
A LTERNATIVES
C HAPTER 23: Alternatives, Not Substitutes
C HAPTER 24: Painkillers
C HAPTER 25: Acupuncture
C HAPTER 26: Good Nutrition
C HAPTER 27: Birth Control Pills
C HAPTER 28: Pseudomenopause and Menopause
C HAPTER 29: Hysterectomy Not So Bad
C HAPTER 30: Freezing Your Eggs
T HE C ARE Y OU D ESERVE
C HAPTER 31: Your First Visit: What to Expect
C HAPTER 32: The Gold Standard
C HAPTER 33: When Surgery Doesn t Go as Planned
C HAPTER 34: New Lives (Literally) after Surgery
C HAPTER 35: Laser Surgery and Electrosurgery
C HAPTER 36: Robotic Surgery
C HAPTER 37: A Possible Link to Ovarian Cancer
S UPPORT : N OW AND IN THE F UTURE
C HAPTER 38: The EFA
C HAPTER 39: ENPOWRing the Young Generation
C HAPTER 40: Educating Doctors
C HAPTER 41: A Cure
C HAPTER 42: Support Groups
C HAPTER 43: Finding the Right Doctor
C HAPTER 44: Insurance
E PILOGUE
R ESOURCES
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
E NDNOTES
I NDEX
FOREWORD
By Padma Lakshmi
I MET DR. SECKIN in his office in New York in 2006. I had no real hopes that I would hear anything new from what I had always heard from doctors all my life on this visit, so I went with no expectations. But it was this chance, last-minute appointment, which truly changed my life. You see, Dr. Seckin is an endometriosis specialist who has made it his life s calling to treat women with this disease. His thoroughness and care for every single one of his thousands of patients is unmatched. After filling out two detailed questionnaires and going through a thorough physical exam, he told me I had endometriosis and that I would need surgery right away. I had no idea what endometriosis even was, but I realized for the first time, at that moment, that this diagnosis was the beginning of my journey to take back my life.
In 2009, Dr. Seckin and I co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America to increase endometriosis awareness, provide advocacy, facilitate expert surgical training, and fund landmark endometriosis research. We knew a lack of disease awareness and misdiagnosis were the two main reasons why so many women suffered for so long. We also knew the medical professionals on the frontline of battling this disease were not properly equipped to diagnose and treat it. It was time for our foundation to lead the charge. To that end, the EFA hosts an annual medical conference welcoming experts from around the world to New York City to meet and discuss the latest research, diagnoses, and treatment options for endo. We host patient awareness days and have created the first school and community-based endometriosis education program. Sales from our latest project, this book, will help fund more outreach programs.
Once diagnosed, I was relieved to know that I wasn t crazy and that there was a reason for all this pain. If you have endo, you re not alone. Having endo has nothing to do with anything you did. It s not because you re weak or a sissy when it comes to pain. You don t have to buck up and take it. Endo is not a life-threatening disease, but it does take away your life. Is endo an awful disease? Yes, but changes are happening. There is hope, and there is treatment. Endometriosis doesn t have to be your lot in life. There are a lot of things we can t do anything about. But we can do something about endometriosis. If you have this disease or think you might have it, The Doctor Will See You Now is a good place to start your road to recovery.
INTRODUCTION
A Letter to You from Dr. Seckin
TO THOSE AFFECTED IN ANY way by endometriosis: I know the pain you ve been battling. You hurt, a lot, more than anyone else can comprehend. You feel alone and hopeless. You re physically and mentally drained, nearing your breaking point, if you haven t reached it already. You ve tried repeatedly for years to get someone, anyone, to listen to you, to understand what you re going through-a friend, a family member, a school nurse, even a doctor-but they don t. They dismiss your issue as a girl problem or a woman thing, as a disease or condition that it s not, or as something that will magically fix itself over time. They couldn t be more wrong; you know it in your gut, and I know it for a fact. I know it, not due to experiencing this pain myself, but because I was taught by listening to my patients.
To the woman who has had multiple surgeries without symptom relief: You deserve better treatment, and there is better treatment. Your doctor is probably giving you the best care he or she has been trained to give, but there are better options that you haven t tried, options that can end your suffering.
To the woman who needs laparoscopic deep-excision surgery but cannot afford it: There are specialists who would be willing to help. You may have to spend more time and resources and conduct more research than you would if you were contending with some other illness, but considering what the results will be compared to the pain you re in now, it will be worth your effort.
To the woman with endometriosis who wants to have a child and is seeking assistance from a fertility clinic, but who hasn t yet become pregnant because the real cause of the problem hasn t been addressed: You can tremendously increase your chances of conceiving a child if the disease is properly treated. Endometriosis is what is blocking your dream, and no fertility treatment can overpower it.
To the adolescent girl who regularly misses school, extracurriculars, and social activities because she is sick but doesn t know why: Yes, you are sick, very sick, no matter what anybody tries to tell you. Just because your girlfriends do not experience the same amount of pain that you do doesn t mean that what you are feeling isn t real. Despite what you have been told, killer cramps are not normal.
To the supportive family member desperately seeking a way to help your loved one who is suffering from endometriosis: I know how difficult this is for you and how much you want to help her. You feel helpless, but please know that she needs your support now more than ever. It s hard for you, but it s worse for her. She s not being dramatic. She really is as sick as she says she is. Together, we can help her get better. But you need to be part of the solution.
To the future doctors whose responsibility it will be to care for patients with endometriosis: We have to work together, not simply to help them get through each day, but to conquer this beast so they can live their lives the wa