Nobody Believed My Pain Was Real Until Endometriosis Landed Me in a Coma

As told to Nicole Audrey SpectorMy very first period, which I got at 13, was, to put it very mildly, a real doozy. There was so much nausea, so much fatigue, so much pain. And so much blood. No menstrual pad was thick enough to absorb the flood spilling out of me, and my attempts at inserting a tampon were too excruciating. I wore diapers.Every period that followed the first was just as bad. My periods could last well over 10 days with no relief. It took a heavy toll on me. I had always been a sporty and joyful kid. That girl was gone. I was in bed more than I was in gym class, and when I could make it to school on my period, I was anxious and self-conscious because I often bled through my clothing. I wondered if something was wrong with my body and if my periods were abnormal. But everyone, including doctors, told me I was fine. By the time I was 19 and a sophomore in college, I was barely hanging on. By this point my periods would sometimes last not only weeks, but months. Everything I ate I threw up, and I was constipated to the point of seriously never being able to poop. I was wasting away. I went from being healthy, athletic 127 lbs. to sickly and frail. I’d been an A student...