Endometriosis Quotes

“When all you know is pain you don’t know that that is not normal. It is not a woman’s lot to suffer, even if we’ve been raised that way.

It is not OK to miss a part of your life because of pain and excessive bleeding.

It is not OK to be bed-ridden for two-to-three days a month.

It is not OK to pain during sex.

It is not OK to have major bloating or nausea."

(Address, 2011 Endometriosis Foundation of America Blossom Ball)”
― Susan Sarandon

“Suffering should not define you as a woman! And just because you’re a man it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect you! HELP HER to remove the taboos and the loneliness surrounding this disease; be understanding, show empathy, and don’t accuse her of being sensitive, delicate, or overly dramatic – this is a big opportunity for you guys to show that you care and to be a real man!"

(Address, 2011 Endometriosis Foundation of America Blossom Ball)”
― Susan Sarandon

“It's not easy to diagnose because depending where the endometrial deposits are, the symptoms can be quite different. It's an unrecognized problem among teenage girls, and it's something that every young woman who has painful menstruation should be aware of ... it's a condition that is curable if it's caught early. If not, if it's allowed to run on, it can cause infertility, and it can really mess up your life.

[Author Hilary Mantel on being asked about being a writer with endometriosis, Nov 2012 NPR interview]”
― Hilary Mantel

“But I had to think to myself that this was normal, because that was the attitude. I was 19 when I went to see my doctor and I was told it was all in the mind.”
― Hilary Mantel

“It is not easy to talk about a condition once dismissed as ‘the career women’s disease’. But women will continue to suffer until we realise the cost of ignoring it”
― Hilary Mantel

“It never occurred to me that somehow women did know about it. It just never occurred to me. Yes I am wearing sneakers too. You are in a suit, I am comfortable. So when she explained to me that this was the first event really of its kind, it floored me. So I called my daughter who is in her 30s now and I said “do you know what endometriosis is?” She said, “what? Have to pack the pack the busters.”

I said “no man, you have never heard of it?” No she said. I do not know what it is, and it occurred to me that my 30-year-old daughter who I told about endometriosis and it didn’t stick. If she didn’t know, and she is one of the hippest people I know, and her daughter doesn’t know, she has 19-year-old and she is a 13-year-old. The boy, we don’t care much about if he knows about it so much. There is other stuff for him to learn. Like how to roll a condom, things like that.

You know, and it occurred to me that if they didn’t know that there were hundreds of thousands girls out there that don’t know. It is not because their mothers don’t want to tell them, because it’s not religion, it’s pure ignorance. We don’t know, we don’t have the information, we have it now, and so now is why this very first gathering is happening. Now is why we’re all sitting here looking really fabulous as you are...

[Whoopi Goldberg on endometriosis awareness from the 2009 Blossom Ball]”
― whoopi goldberg

“In the car inching its way down Fifth Avenue, toward Bergdorf Goodman and this glamorous party, I looked back on my past with a new understanding. This sickness, the “endo-whatever,” had stained so much—my sense of self, my womanhood, my marriage, my ability to be present. I had effectively missed one week of each month every year of my life since I was thirteen, because of the chronic pain and hormonal fluctuations I suffered during my period. I had lain in bed, with heating pads and hot-water bottles, using acupuncture, drinking teas, taking various pain medications and suffering the collateral effects of them. I thought of all the many tests I missed in various classes throughout my education, the school dances, the jobs I knew I couldn’t take as a model, because of the bleeding and bloating as well as the pain (especially the bathing suit and lingerie shoots, which paid the most). How many family occasions was I absent from? How many second or third dates did I not go on? How many times had I not been able to be there for others or for myself? How many of my reactions to stress or emotional strife had been colored through the lens of chronic pain? My sense of self was defined by this handicap. The impediment of expected pain would shackle my days and any plans I made.

I did not see my own womanhood as something positive or to be celebrated, but as a curse that I had to constantly make room for and muddle through. Like the scar on my arm, my reproductive system was a liability. The disease, developing part and parcel with my womanhood starting at puberty with my menses, affected my own self-esteem and the way I felt about my body. No one likes to get her period, but when your femininity carries with it such pain and consistent physical and emotional strife, it’s hard not to feel that your body is betraying you. The very relationship you have with yourself and your person is tainted by these ever-present problems. I now finally knew my struggles were due to this condition. I wasn’t high-strung or fickle and I wasn’t overreacting.”
― Padma Lakshmi, Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir

“We have a duty tonight. Everybody, and guys this for you as well because I know you know women. You have a duty tonight. You only have to tell one other person what you heard. Just tell them what you heard, or ask them have you ever heard of this? If the answer is no, share what you learn tonight.

That’s all. You don’t have to do anything else. You just have to tell somebody else. You have to take whatever stigma people think that is there. You have to take it. It’s not male or female. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with, here’s a disease you don’t know about and you need to know about it. It’s that simple. It’s not rocket science.

[Whoopi Goldberg on endometriosis awareness from the 2009 Blossom Ball]”
― Whoopi Goldberg

“When all you know is pain you don’t know that that is not normal. It is not a woman’s lot to suffer, even if we’ve been raised that way."

(Address, 2011 Endometriosis Foundation of America Blossom Ball)”
― Susan Sarandon

“It's a bittersweet feeling to finally name what ails you after so long. On the one hand it's a relief because you can finally take action. On the other, endometriosis can feel overwhelming. There isn't enough useful information about it, nothing that encapsulates its all-encompassing nature or defines the all-involving path to recovery - except this book which is mind-blowingly relatable, relieving, and helpful.”
― Bojana Novakovic

“Endo doesn't just affect the pelvic region. The body's response to the inflammation it causes sensitizes the central nervous system, and if you don't know what's going on - as I didn't - this sensitization ***** with your head. If your head's not right, there's a good chance you're in distress. This is where endo crosses the line from a physical ailment to an emotional one too. -- from the forward, written by Bojana Novakovic”
― Amy Stein, Beating Endo: How to Reclaim Your Life from Endometriosis

“You are you because you love the way the world looks through your camera. You are you because of the way you love your friends and family. Not because some scar is on your body. That's a part of your history and what helps form what you believe in. not what defines you.”
― A.M. Willard, Heated Sweets

“As twisted as it sounds, I was so happy that I had received a diagnosis.”
― Bethany Stahl, Endometriosis: It's Not in Your Head, It's in Your Pelvis

“I wish that men got endometriosis. If it was painful when they ejaculated, you know they would find a cure immediately and every doctor would know what to do to make it less painful, even a foot doctor.”
― Tiffany Haddish, I Curse You With Joy

“Leaders bleed.”
― Silvia Young, My FemTruth: Scandalous Survival Stories

“ Surely, I can’t be expected to be normal considering the abnormality that is my body?”
― Karen Havelin, Please Read This Leaflet Carefully: Keep This Leaflet. You May Need to Read It Again.

“And while my illnesses don’t define me, they are a part of me. They have shaped me into the person I am today. Every decision I make includes them.”
― Brooke Gilbert, The Irish Fall

“I began to realize that I knew more about endometriosis than my doctor did.”
― Bethany Stahl, Endometriosis: It's Not in Your Head, It's in Your Pelvis

“I am amongst a community of warriors.”
― Bethany Stahl, Endometriosis: It's Not in Your Head, It's in Your Pelvis

“The only thing that troubled me more than being a mystery was the realization that I was also the one who had to solve it.”
― Abby M. Norman

“In times like these, we must be warriors.”
― Bethany Stahl, Endometriosis: it's not in your head, it's in your pelvis

“When I was a little kid, I worshiped Josh Lewenthal, now, I couldn’t care less about him, I just need his sperm.”
― Sarah Ready, Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

“Emma was 25 years old, but at only 12, when she got her first period, she had become aware that something was wrong with her body. Excruciating pains that felt like sharp shards of glass were cutting her lower abdomen open. Not even the most potent painkillers could alleviate them. They often plagued her for at least one week a month until she collapsed.”
― Piera Isabella Bernamonti, Love in colors

“None of my friends in high school showed any signs that their insides were on fire for a quarter of their lives. Were they just really good at pretending?”
― Tiffany Haddish

“It's crystal clear to me that no one wants to hear about it, but I will never finish needing to tell how much it hurts, how bad it is. I'm always looking for a scale to measure it by, some way to pierce the thick skin that separates me from other people, to make them understand.”
― Karen Havelin, Please Read This Leaflet Carefully: Keep This Leaflet. You May Need to Read It Again.