Needing to quit demanding jobs?
Posted , 4 users are following.
I am 27 years old and have been having pain since 7 years ago and my doctor diagnosed me with endometriosis recently. The pain has been getting worst and really bothers me for at least 2 weeks of the month. I wake up multiple times in the middle of the night because of the pain during these weeks. I am also in my second year of medical school and hoping to be a physician one day, but the goal seems so difficult to achieve with the pain. I feel so tired and anxious all the time and I'm not sure how I can get through residency/work hours (~80 hrs per week). Will this only get worst? I don't want to go through med school with large amounts of debt only to not be able to work in the future. I also want children with my husband and am afraid if I postpone this to after med school, the chances of conceiving will be lower. Should I quit right now when it is not too late and go back to my old, flexible job? If you have a demanding job, can you share how you can manage both at the same time? Thanks!
0 likes, 13 replies
aitarg35939 nts7125
Posted
Hi NTS:
I hope that you are able to become a doctor as you'll have so much understanding of what terrible pain does to us. As to your question, all I can say is that endo and law school didn't mix well. Law school is so much easier than med school & residency that it's hard to compare, but you should know that I had to take 2 leaves of absence because of the endo. I don't know if you can do that in med school.
nts7125 aitarg35939
Posted
Thanks for you reply, aitarg. I really do hope I can continue. Did you have to take the leaves of absence because of surgeries or trying to get your pain under control? I have classmates who have taken a leave of absence for a year, which I might have to do. I don't think we can take 2 leaves. Did you find that the stress from law school related to an increase in symptoms? I feel like the pain has gotten so much worst since starting school.
aitarg35939 nts7125
Posted
When my endo 1st went nuts, it was going 6 weeks without a BM. I chalked that up to the stress from just starting law school. Not too long after that, diarrhea set in. It got worse & worse over Xmas break. I started the 2nd semester but got much sicker, passed out while visiting my dad (in my hometown) in the hospital. 5 days of testing, internist told me that I was going to have a hard time, that there was something physiological wrong with me but.that doctors were going to say the problem was in my head but that I shouldn't believe them. This was before imodium
aitarg35939
Posted
NTS, the system kept deleting the rest of my response. I'll have to finish later.
nts7125 aitarg35939
Posted
aitarg35939 nts7125
Posted
I'll try to finish now. Everything just got worse & worse still with no diagnosis - stumbled into that. Went to apologize to a professor for missing class (endo). Turned out she had ulcerative colitis. She called her gastroenterologist. He tested me for everything reasonable then said it was colon cancer, ulcerative colitis, or something called endometriosis. He thought it was endo & he told a gyn to do a laparoscopy & told her what to look for. Had to do that during semester because I was passing cupfuls of dark blood rectally again. Following week, hemorrhaging from laparoscopy during class ,,, it was my last semester. Had to take 3 incompletes. Had a total hysterectomy the 1st week of January after 5 weeks of arguing with the doctor to do it and with a friend's mom who didn't want me to foreclose my options. (Original plan was to keep one ovary though doc said it would have to come out within 5 years; endo progressed in 5 weeks from mild-moderate to severe, then-worst category, and that ovary had become unsalvageable.)
We didn't have the term post-surgical depression then but I sank into it more and more deeply. The hormonal upheaval didn't help. I could not think straight & I couldn't write coherently & I could barely speak a full sentence. I couldn't work on finishing my classes.
aitarg35939
Posted
Finally I got word that if I didn't finish those 3 incompletes before the 9 months mark, passing grades turned in before then, I would have to re-enroll. I struggled through and received 3 pity-passes so I got my J. D.
I know you are not interested in a hysterectomy. I mention it & the ensuing hormonal & depression mess because those seem to be part & parcel yet today of finding one's way through endo. They affect everything: job, school, home life, sex,
aitarg35939
Posted
Many the system doesn't want me to tell you this!
You didn't mention how old you are or when you had your laparoscopy. I still think your biggest question is whether you're fertile now. I was fertile @ 23 but infertile by 26. Other women manage to conceive much later than that.
I wish you the best of all luck possible so that you can have your medical degree & your kiddos.
aitarg35939
Posted
Oops, I just saw your entry with your age & endo history clearly stated ,,, senior moment on my part to say you hadn't given that info ,,, any way I can blame that on endo returning in '08 ;-)
Pinkie122 nts7125
Posted
Hello!
First, I'm so very sorry you have such pain. My daughter is now 16 and has had endometriosis pain and constant bleeding for almost two years now. Her obgyn at ucsf did surgery last June and spent 5 hours cutting endo out from her abdomen. Pathology indicated it was endometriosis stage 3.
She was is constant pain. Usually a 4/5 but often 6/7 on the pain scale. At least once a month we were in the ER due to her screaming in agony. She took Tylenol and Advil multiple times every day and norco for bad days.
We started to see a pain dr. It has changed her life. They began with a tens unit, did a nerve conduction study on her abdomen, and two weeks ago they performed a Superior Hypogastric Plexus block inj into the base of her spine. She had a reaction to the steroid, but it was like a light switch going on and off. Suddenly the pain was much less. Within 10 days her pain is now at a 2. It's NEVER been this low in two years. She's able to go to school, do homework, go out with friends, and her depression has diminished dramatically the past TWO weeks. Try this injection. It's literally a life saver for my girl.
aitarg35939 Pinkie122
Posted
Aitarg
Pinkie122 aitarg35939
Posted
Thanks Aitarg! I've read your story too. I'm so sorry that there are so many ladies out there in chronic pain with abdominal conditions. It shouldn't be this way. I hope you are feeling better now. Thank you for sharing your story.
aitarg35939 Pinkie122
Posted
Thank you, Pinkie, but I'm good. All that happened a long time ago. That hysterectomy saved my life. I'm in my 60s and would do the same again. I am alarmed at the severity of symptoms in younger and younger women and girls. The only other women I knew who had it in the '70s and '80s had pretty normal teen years with just worse than normal cramps and slightly longer periods.
I have no idea what the explanation is for these worsening symptoms.