The Endoawareness Poll

Every once in a awhile, I will create a poll which visitors can respond to.  The results of those polls will be placed on this page.

Results Ending November 2, 2000:

Question: "How much emotional/social support do you receive if you suffer with Endo?"

Results:

Off & On - 41%

A little bit - 33%

A large amount of support - 16%

Consistent support - 8%

I couldn't be happier - 0%

None - 0%

Comments made by women who've participated with the poll:

I think the most dfficult part of "getting" support has to do with the fact that we don't "look" sick. I mean people in casts with broken bones get support and sympathy and help. But we can't walk around with out belly's hanging out or where signs to tell people. I also think that because endo is a chronic, lifelong problem a lot of people don't know "how" to support us. When asked "how are you feeling" we must think about how we answer. Does this perosn want me to say "fine" to be polite or do they really want to know. I think that so many of us have developed a way to hide a lot of our pain so we don't interfer with others happiness. I have become very good at smiling even when I want to curl up in a ball and lay on the bathroom floor. This makes it difficult to get constant support when we need it. There is nothing "easy" about having endo. It effects everything we are as women. It effects our emotions, hormones, our ability to enjoy sex, our ability to work without missing a few days a month or getting there on time. It effects our abilty to become mothers and then the pain effects our ability to be great mothers on a consistent bases. There is no "good" or even 100% safe treatment. Some treatments are worse than the disease itself and others lead to life long health problems on top of the endo. Even surgery with the best endo docs in the world have risks involved. And what in the end? Most of us will lose the one organ that fully makes us female. That even is not always a cure...