ALWAYS get checked if you notice something off. ALWAYS.

As women, we often face a lot of medical gaslighting. "It's no big deal" or "it's probably just your period" are some of the more common things to hear. People do NOT take women's health very seriously, unfortunately.

I want to warn everyone about endometriosis and ovarian cysts. They are usually very quiet until they suddenly aren't. I had my cyst growing within me for years before I finally couldn't stand the pain anymore. I was scared that if I went to a doctor, they would tell me that I had cancer.

In reality, cancer is extremely rare for women my age (25). Not impossible, but EXTREMELY rare. And most people who get cancer beat it. There's also a lot more to cancer than just pain. Loss of appetite, unusual bleeding, quick loss of weight, and exhaustion can come with cancer. I wasn't experiencing those, but I was absolutely fatigued and in pain.

Turns out, for over the course of six to eight years, I was slowly developing a MASSIVE ovarian cyst. 11.9cm tall, 12cm wide, and 8cm thick. Roughly the size of a MELON. It was caused by the growing of endometrial tissue (endometrioma). In other words: endometriosis.

Less studied and understood than male pattern baldness- one of the only published studies choosing to focus on how it affects attractiveness of women. Yes, we care more about how unattractive women become with endometriosis than spreading awareness for it. It's a very serious condition that isn't usually life-threatening, but can absolutely cause infertility and the growth of tumors and cysts like mine.

Going to the doctor was the best decision I've ever made. Simply KNOWING what was going on with me eased the anxiety and physical pain significantly. Please PLEASE if you have abdominal pain outside of normal period pain- go to the doctor. It helped me significantly. Now, I go into surgery on the 2nd of February to get this thing removed and to get a total hysterectomy.