Hello, lovelies. My name is Arti Shah, and welcome to another episode of A Ray of Sunshine, a journey of an endo warrior and everything in between.

In this episode, we discuss medical trauma and endometriosis, basic guidelines, and questions to ask doctors when dealing with this journey of endometriosis and the stages of endometriosis.

Medical trauma refers to a patient's psychological and physiological response to pain. Medical trauma sometimes can be viewed as an acute onset of a disrupted physiological system in which the ongoing threat is internal, and this can be long term or permanent if not dealt with by seeking professional help.

We continue our chat with Katie Boyce, an endometriosis patient, a board-certified patient advocate and chemist, and co-founder of Endo Girls Blog (https://endogirlblog.com/), to learn more about medical trauma and endometriosis.

Disclaimer: The information on this podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

The transcript of the first few minutes of this podcast is presented below:

Hello, lovelies. My name is Arti Shah, and welcome to another episode of A Ray of Sunshine, a journey of an endo warrior and everything in between. Welcome home.

In today's episode, we discuss medical trauma and endometriosis, basic guidelines and questions to ask doctors when dealing with this journey of endometriosis. And the stages of endometriosis and how they're not relevant when it comes to every patient dealing with this condition individually. But I want to dive in a little bit deeper about medical trauma because of endometriosis.

Medical trauma refers to a patient's psychological and physiological response to pain, a traumatic experience in a medical setting, a serious illness, which in this case is battling endometriosis and frightening treatment experiences due to dismissal by certain doctors. Medical traumas sometimes can be viewed as an accurate onset of a disrupted physiological system in which the ongoing threat is internal and we feel it deep within our body, which sometimes exacerbates symptoms of endometriosis. And this can be long term or permanent, if not dealt with by seeking professional help. The symptoms of medical trauma because of this frightening experience when dealing with endometriosis due to some of the doctors, family or society not believing us can be in forms of anxiety, depression, fearfulness, muscle tension, sleep disturbances, emotional numbing, hypervigilance, digestive issues, can give us a lot of flashbacks, intrusive memories, thoughts, or nightmares, and a lot more depending on the mental health of that patient.

I went through many therapy sessions with a professional counselor in order for me to deal with the medical trauma, not only caused by endometriosis, but also other difficult challenges I experience in my life. The coping mechanism tools I was provided in my therapy sessions have helped me, not just as a patient, but has helped me in this advocacy journey for endometriosis.

Hence why it is so important to listen to advocates who have dealt with this side of living with this condition, and who have also known how to deal with the emotional trauma that is so often related to endometriosis. In today's episode, we continue talking to Katie, who is a board certified patient advocate for endometriosis from America.

So looking at your journey, how has or did endometriosis affect you emotionally?

Katie: You know, sometimes I get little flashbacks, you know, what, what I had been through and I don't, I don't, I don't like it. Um, I don't like to sit in those feelings, but sometimes I know, you know, it's okay for me to do that and reflect.

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