Hi, I’m Ioana, a gynaecologist specialising in assisting human reproduction techniques and infertility in patients with endometriosis. Like all of you, I grew up in a society where the image of a doctor must be impeccable, as if the white coat is an armour against all problems, well, no! I remember the surprised reaction of a colleague that I was working with, when I told a patient with endometriosis that I know what she is going through, that I am in the same situation. My colleague found it odd to admit that I also have endometriosis.
My struggles with endometriosis probably started in my teens when a painful ovulatory crisis made my parents rush me to the hospital with suspected appendicitis. It was so painful. Afterwards I was fine, until the last years of residency, when I was working on a ward, and had such severe pain that I went to do an ultrasound and I saw endometriosis lesions. I finished my call and went to the beach. I had a free weekend and I read all the time about causes, lifestyle, treatment, I didn’t understand why I was going through this, what should I learn from it?!
I had to learn that the body works according to the rules, that it is not an inexhaustible battery and that everything at some point pays off, even hormonally speaking.
I believe that the nature and organism of each one works only in our favour, that we must listen to it. I think that endometriosis appears as an alarm signal, after which you understand that you are not well, that you need to compose yourself to be in balance.
“Endometriosis helped me find my balance and it helped my patients. I understand them, I advise them differently, after reading everything I could about diet and lifestyle in endometriosis”
Sleepless nights, numerous guards, eating on the run, lack of sport, the extra 5-6 kg were also visible on my face, not only inside. All this made me understand that I am in a hormonal imbalance and that is where I have to start. There is no hormonal balance with insufficient sleep, chaotic eating and chronic stress.
I was working in a hospital where endometriosis surgeries were done and where I saw many patients with this problem who came to me for infertility treatment. Patients who associate endometriosis and infertility have always been a professional challenge for me, and it seemed to me that I needed to know more about this disease, beyond books and courses, and that’s how it was, it all started as a journey for me but also for the patients.
The reason why I choose to write and publish my experience is to encourage other women, to understand that anything can be solved if you know how to approach it and where to ask for help. Sure, maybe because I’m a gynaecologist I managed to understand the symptoms in time, to avoid getting to a stage where surgery would have been necessary.
What else do I do? I have the rigour and discipline of a soldier’s life, I’m in bed at half past ten in the evening, and I customise my diet according to simple, anti-inflammatory reasons (no dairy, red meat, gluten – as much as possible). I am sure that pilates classes help me a lot to control my symptoms and almost 2 years after the diagnosis of the disease, my endometriosis lesions have shrunk.
I am here, as a doctor and a woman, I have written all the above lines to let you know that I am just like you and that you are not alone in this experience.
Dr Ioana Iordache
Gynaecologist and fertility specialist
Bucharest, Romania