I humbly share this article courtesy of Karlie Wilkinson who currently has a petition with CHANGE.ORG  petitioning Minister for Health and Sport Greg Hunt MP in Australia.
I have close friends and family members who have to endure this debilitating and horrible illness and in this small way, I wish to make both men and women more aware of the issues at hand…. Michael Thornley

Endometriosis is REAL!

“Endometriosis is a disease which effects 1 in 10 women, approximately 176 million. Its as common as Diabetes yet our government & health care “professionals” across the globe do not recognise it as a genuine illness. It is often referred to as a “silent epidemic”.

It is something I am passionate about because it is something I live with. I was diagnosed 2 years ago and it is something that will effect me until the day I die.

Endo effects mainly the uterus and the surrounding organs including but not limited to; bowels, stomach, bladder, fallopian tubes and even the lungs. It causes chronic pain, extreme fatigue, chronic nausea (it’s literally morning sickness without the baby), muscle & joint pain, painful periods, severe bloating, infertility + more. It was described to me “it’s like having rusty insides & as time goes on the rust builds and builds and the less functioning the organs become, until eventually they are useless”. It is surgery every 6-12 months, being told you’ll never have children at the age of 19, morning painkillers. It is torture and it is real. These symptoms persist every single day of our lives, it is our “normal”.

Any sufferer will tell you just how hard it is to find someone educated and willing to help when it comes to specialists. I myself was told by a specialist (who did not know that I had already been diagnosed) that it couldn’t be endometriosis because of my age and that my pain was caused by something I have been eating… tell me now just how educated these so called professionals are in women’s health. These horror stories need to be heard.

I am calling on the Australian Government to have this disease recognised as real.

Provide more support to those of us who are torturing ourselves everyday by pushing through the pain because we want to be able to provide for our families and less to those who take the system for a ride each and every day. We need your help.

At the moment Australian women are being denied financial support, expected to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for surgeries (that are only temporary may I add) and pay for expensive hormone treatments that may not even work. The government and the healthcare industry needs to be educated more than they currently are, because I think I speak for every sufferer when I say we are sick of being laughed out of specialist offices being told “it’s all in your head.”

Please sign this petition and help me get this recognised as something real. ”

Thank you xx
Karlie Wilkinson