The more I learn about endometriosis, the more I wish I had become informed sooner. As I mention when I cover these stories, I used to have periods that were so painful that I had to work from bed. (They’ve recently returned but I’m 45, they’re not going to stick around for long.) While I haven’t been diagnosed with endometriosis, my symptoms fit. Celebrities are speaking out about their experiences with the condition as part of endometriosis awareness month. We just heard from musician Halsey, who said that her periods have affected her career to the point where she had to tell the men around her, who couldn’t deal with her needing to take time off, to “suck it up.” Other celebrities who have the condition include Lena Dunham, Julianne Hough, Daisy Ridley and Jamie King. Padma Lakshmi, who has been open about suffering from endo, recently spoke to People Magazine. I didn’t know that she co-founded The Endometriosis Foundation of America nine years ago. Padma said that she had a host of problems that she wasn’t aware were due to endometriosis until she was diagnosed 36. She emphasized that if you’re in bed for more than two days when you have your period that it’s important to get a professional opinion.
“Once a week, every month, I was bedridden,” the Top Chef host, 47, tells PEOPLE Now. “I got my period when I was 13 and didn’t get diagnosed until I was 36. That’s 23 years, 12 months a year, 12 weeks from, you know, that I was missing at volleyball practice, the school dance, midterm exams, helping my mom cook the family meal. All these things that’s part and parcel of being a teenage kid.”
Since March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, Lakshmi is hoping to bring attention to what she calls “a very isolating disease.”
“No one wants to talk about their period. It’s not my nature to go on TV and talk about my vagina, but it was such a good cause and I saw how much better my life was after I had surgery and got the proper treatment. I was like, ‘Oh! This is what normal people feel like,’” she says.
Lakshmi, who co-founded of the Endometriosis Foundation of America in 2009, also shared her experience and the common warning signs.
She explains that if, during your period, you have heavy bleeding, “such bad cramps that over the counter medication is not taking care of it, if your bra size goes up a cup during that time” they could be signs of endometriosis.
“I had headaches, I had numbness in one leg, I had lower back pain, I had all kinds of digestive problems, and a lot of time they just tell you that you have to grin and bare it,” she says. “This is our lot in life because we’re girls and we have babies. Pain is your bodies way of telling you something is wrong.”
Lakshmi also urges women to “listen to [their] body.”
“If you are down for more than two days, if you can’t go about your business for more than two days, to work, to the gym, be with your family, cook, see your friends, you should seek professional help,” she says. “And don’t just go to your gynecologist – look up a specialist. Someone who specializes in PCOS, fibroids and endometriosis because those are all ailments that have to do with the female reproductive system.”
Let’s take a moment to celebrate what complete bosses we are, because an advocate just reminded us that if we’re in bed for more than two days a month we need to seek help. Can you imagine if there was a condition that put men in bed just one day a month? If women made up in the majority in power, would we be trying to limit access to the medication for that condition?
I do have numbness and digestive problems too, I’ve had them for years, and no doctor has ever suggested it could be endometriosis or related to menstruation. I need to look into this. I also thought that just going to my gynecologist was enough, and that it was normal to be in this much pain. This job teaches me something every day (and it’s not just the latest trends in hair and fashion, although I love learning about that stuff).
photos credit: WENN and Backgrid
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