"SOME WEIRD FEMALE DISEASE"?
To find out more about the mental and emotional effects of endometriosis, Awake! spoke with Mary Lou Ballweg, president of the Endometriosis Association, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here is an excerpt from that interview.
Q: What emotional effects does endometriosis have on women?
A: A lot depends on what the disease is doing at any particular time. When they are teenagers, it can be quite devastating emotionally. Girls cannot really comprehend what is going on, particularly because their condition is usually not diagnosed at that time. They are also very sensitive about these issues. They do not want to talk to their parents about them or to anybody else. So these youngsters may come to believe that they are not as strong or as good as other people. Often they have difficulty keeping up with schoolwork, and their social life suffers. We know of many girls who have dropped out of school. Every single week we hear from at least one girl who is not making it in school because of severe health problems related to endometriosis.
Q: What about married women and older women?
A: Pain may cause havoc in a marriage, particularly if the woman's condition is not diagnosed. Once it is diagnosed, husband and wife can work together because they know what is going on. Then together, hopefully, they can find ways to counteract the effects of the disease. But when a woman's condition is not diagnosed correctly, it is really devastating. We have one woman on our staff here whose doctor told her—in front of her husband—that the symptoms were all in her head. The husband believed the doctor, and now they are divorced. This lack of understanding is a major challenge. If you go home and tell your family that you have some chronic disease, such as multiple sclerosis, you are likely going to get some sympathy and support. But if you go home and tell them that you have endometriosis—well, what is that? To them it is some weird female disease that nobody even wants to talk about. You may not get any support at all.
Q: What kind of support do you think husbands, children, and parents can give to a woman who has endometriosis?
A: First of all, I think they need to believe the woman and believe what is happening to her. They should try to offer the support that they would offer if any other kind of health problem came along. A big part of it is to learn everything they can about the disease. Once you know more about the disease, you can understand its effects and you can also understand the side effects of some of the drugs. Moreover, I think that most of our societies worldwide have created a taboo—they are embarrassed to talk about female biology. This is really sad. So I think that the biggest challenge we face worldwide is probably changing people's attitudes about just what it means to be female.
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