SPOTLIGHT
When she finally received her diagnosis, “It wasn’t a surprise to me at all. To finally have an explanation for my pain was a sigh of relief,” she adds. Emily is among many other women who have waited for this type of diagnosis and recognition of their pain. According to Wagner, “Anywhere from 10% of women are probably going to have evidence to endometriosis at some point in their life.” This is part of the reason Emily has coined the term the ‘1-in-10 Woman’ on her Instagram blog to represent her advocacy for herself and others with endometriosis. Why Don’t You Believe Me? But why did it take doctors so long to give Emily an accurate diagnosis after years of suffering? Historically, “women in pain were looked down on and told that they were just experiencing a heavy period that month,” explains Emily. Even today there are instances where gender inequalities and lack of information may be present in the medical field. “I actually just had a doctor appointed [recently] to update my shots where I had to explain to the primary doctor what endometriosis was,” says Emily. From Emily’s experience with endometriosis, 34
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there are many reasons why doctors are unable to diagnose it. “People aren’t interested in it. There’s no cure and not enough information,” she explains. “Women in pain are not believed.” The reality of being ignored by doctors, both male and female, has altered the way Emily treats her conditions. “The medical trauma that has happened to me, as a result of spending 12 years begging doctors to help me and literally being ignored, has caused me to be scared of being alone with male or even female doctors,” she says. One of these instances happened during her sophomore year of college. “The male doctor refused to give me a pelvic exam and told me to, ‘take some Midol and use a heating pad’,” Emily explains. “I passed out on the bathroom floor that night, woke up and drug myself to class and practice the next day.” Though, not all doctors are trained in the same manner as gynecologists, such as Wagner, in diagnosing this disease and recognizing people’s pain. It may seem like waiting over 10 years for a diagnosis is a long time to be suffering in pain, but it is not uncommon. “A lot of times there’s a long delay between the time when people start reporting their symptoms and when they finally have a diagnosis or a treatment,” explains Wagner. “The hallmark of endometriosis is painful periods or menstrual cycles. There’s no way for me to tell how much pain you are in except for you telling me,” which is what she recognizes to help her patients. She adds that a lot of diagnoses take time because many women are told that their symptoms are just a regular level of period pain and causes them to refrain from going to the doctor. For Emily, this experience with disbelief in her symptoms by other doctors and all of the hospital visits are balanced on top of remaining a full-time student at Central. “Emily and [her husband] have a lot more on their plates than dealing with this disease. They take their homework to the ER and study in between contractions,” explains Lewis. “She will spend half the night in the ER and then have to wake up and take a test the next day. It’s just a lot to handle … I couldn’t have done what she has done. I don’t think most people could have,” adds Lewis. Losing Her Sport In addition to keeping up with school full-time, Emily used to be a two-sport student-athlete, on
