After my 2009 endometriosis diagnosis through laparascopic surgery, I refused Lupron shots. I'll post on that later, as well. So I took the only other option - continual course birth control. I was okay for a couple of months, and then the pain returned. So the prescription was changed. Imagine this happening a couple more times until Fall 2010, at which point I was married and suffering terrible daily pain.
I found a new doctor who specializes in endo and PCOS, and she prescribed Mirena! Apparently it has been used a treatment for over a decade in Europe, but the FDA hasn't approved it here as anything more than birth control. After 2-3 months of my uterus adjusting to the alien creature that was now inhabiting it, my pain was gone. For about six weeks. And then it came back with a terrible vengeance.
Knowing full well that I was pretty much out of options, except pregnancy, I turned to the internet. My husband and I don't want children, so having them to alleviate my pain seems very selfish and wrong. I found just a couple of references to soy-induced endometriosis, and that was all I needed. I latched onto that idea like Mulligan and Divot on a new squeaky toy:
Mulligan destroys his things, and then covets Divot's things...
Anyway, I found these vague references last Wednesday night, as I was curled up in a ball of pain waiting for the 6 liquid ibuprofen I had just inhaled to start working. I decided first thing the next day, I was going soy free. And I did, except that I didn't know that my cooking spray has soy in it (seriously?) so Thursday can't really count for purists like myself. But I only hurt for like, 5 minutes on Thursday afternoon and then the pain subsided. Usually when the pain starts the intensity just continues to grow until I finally give in and take something or crawl into bed.
So here I am, 2 (or 3?) days post-soy and I feel great! I haven't hurt at all during my normal 11AM-4PM window of pain-opportunity. So I'll continue to chronicle my experiences and hopefully someone out there will find this, and know that hysterectomies aren't necessary, and neither are children and expensive IVF (unless of course you want them!) for pain relief!
In the very near future I'll be posting about Lupron (strictly opinion, not experience-based), research (I'll try to find peer-reviewed articles) that links soy to endometriosis, and even some recipes for soy-filled staples that I can't live without (think mayo....), as well as my daily (or at least 5X/week) experiences and pain levels...
As time goes on, I'll try to document my go-to meals. I don't want this to become just another food blog, but since living without a fairly rampant food ingredient is the primary topic, I'll try to give you ideas of staples.
Welcome!
