I needed to do something with that part of my Self that these experiences had hurt. One day, someone said to me that they admired my courage to have kept on going inspite of the pain. Gosh...courage...I AM brave, I realized. It felt good to think about my response to pain in a positive light. Gradually, I began to realize that the messages that I had internalized from all of the medical "dismissal" were messages that were not true or helpful. (LOL at myself...Watch out...now I am going to sound like that guy on Saturday Night Live who says those lines that go something like "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough...........and people LIKE me.") Anyway, I did a thorough self-evaluation and I liked what I found. I pronounced myself brave, sane, loving, and smart (well..ok...make that "smart enough"). As I have thought about myself in this new light, my frustrations from all the mistaken evaluations have greatly lessened. And I see brave, sane, loving, smart people contributing to this board daily. I'd advise us all to give ourselves credit...where credit is due. It makes those wrong evaluations that others made seem much less important.
At 12:31 PM 12/4/00 -0600, you wrote:
>A laparotomy in 1970 changed my life forever!! Since that time I have
experienced all of the following:
>** If you have severe chronic pelvic pain...
>
>** If have all your tests have been normal...
>
>** If you are told that your symptoms are functional in origin...
>
>** If you have been told that stress is causing your pain...
>
>** If you have been told that " It's all in your head "....
>
>** If you are told that an allergy may be responsible for your pain....
>
>** If your doctor has been so insensitive as to laugh at you, when you have
come to him/her for help...
>
>** If you have been told that there is nothing wrong...
>
>** If you have been told that you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS); but
you do not have the classic IBS symptoms ( constipation and diarrhea) ...
>
>** If your doctor tells you that the cause of your pain is Fibromyalgia (
because your pain is referred to other parts of your abdomen )...
>
>** If your doctor suggests that you need to have a mental health evaluation...
>
>** If your doctor prescribes Tranquilizers...
>
>IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT ADHESIONS COULD BE THE CAUSE OF YOUR CHRONIC
PAIN!!! In 1997 I had a Diagnostic Laparoscopy -- which PROVED that there
was a VALID REASON for the severe chronic pain, which I had endured.
MASSIVE ADHESIONS HAD ATTACHED MY OMENTUM TO MY ABDOMINAL WALL!!!
>
>A DIAGNOSTIC LAPAROSCOPY is the ONLY WAY that ADHESIONS can be diagnosed!!
>
>A DIAGNOSTIC LAPAROSCOPY is the ONLY WAY that ENDOMETRIOSIS can be diagnosed!!
>
><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
><HTML><HEAD>
><META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
><META content="MSHTML 5.00.2919.6307" name=GENERATOR>
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><DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A laparotomy in 1970 changed my life
>forever!! Since that time I have experienced all of the
>following:</DIV>
><P>** If you have severe chronic pelvic pain...
><P>** If have all your tests have been normal...
><P>** If you are told that your symptoms are functional in origin...
><P>** If you have been told that stress is causing your pain...
><P>** If you have been told that " It's all in your head "....
><P>** If you are told that an allergy may be responsible for your pain....
><P>** If your doctor has been so insensitive as to laugh at you, when you have
>come to him/her for help...
><P>** If you have been told that there is nothing wrong...
><P>** If you have been told that you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS); but
>you do not have the classic IBS symptoms ( constipation and diarrhea) ..
><P>** If your doctor tells you that the cause of your pain is
>Fibromyalgia ( because your pain is referred to other parts of your
>abdomen )...
><P>** If your doctor suggests that you need to have a mental health
>evaluation...
><P>** If your doctor prescribes Tranquilizers...
><P>
><P>IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT ADHESIONS COULD BE THE CAUSE OF YOUR CHRONIC
>PAIN!!! In 1997 I had a Diagnostic Laparoscopy -- which PROVED that
>there was a VALID REASON for the severe chronic pain, which I had
endured.
>MASSIVE ADHESIONS HAD ATTACHED MY OMENTUM TO MY ABDOMINAL WALL!!!
><P>A DIAGNOSTIC LAPAROSCOPY is the ONLY WAY that ADHESIONS can be diagnosed!!
><P>A DIAGNOSTIC LAPAROSCOPY is the ONLY WAY that ENDOMETRIOSIS can be
>diagnosed!!
><P> </P></FONT></BODY></HTML>
>