Anyone in the Endo Imposter Syndrome Club and knows how to get out?
I got diagnosed with endo 6 years ago... completely by accident. I needed surgery for a massive fibroid, incl. a hysterectomy and ended up being on the table for an additional 3 hours because they did excision surgery on top after finding endo. Also later, explained a looot about the previous 15 years of my life being a menstruating mess.
Anyway, after the cleanup I had about 3 good years, and then it slowly but steadily came back. It started with random aches and pains here and there, and now turned into a full-blown monster with cramps, zero energy, constant pain, and even a little "menstruation" even tho there's technically nothing left to menstruate.
I have a call with a surgeon this Wednesday to discuss another excision surgery, but as the appointment gets closer and I'm preparing for it, I can feel kind of an endo imposter syndrome creeping in.
I read about people who have it so much worse than me (I was diagnosed with Stage I, but P3 in terms of how widespread it was), so the little voice says "is it really that bad?" (On a bad day, that answer is a lot easier.) And it was Stage I 6 years ago... It goes on with am I just oversensitive (my former Gyn's voice lives rent-free in my head). Or has the endo actually come back, or is this some completely different issue? Rationally, why would it be? But there's also no real way to know without surgery.
Years and years of not being heard (I was diagnosed at 31 and I'm 37 now) have really messed with my brain. I have all these weird little voices in my head questioning everything, and I struggle to stand up for myself - with myself...
Does anyone else deal with endo imposter syndrome? How do you remind yourself that this is all real, that pain shouldn't be like this, that you shouldn't be missing work all the time, that you're not oversensitive, or skipping fun things because your body is constantly exhausted?