Endometriosis Awareness Month: How Oklahoma Misses The Mark

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, and if you're like many fellow Oklahoma residents I've spoken to about this disease, you have probably never heard of it. I spent eight years seeking medical help in Oklahoma to find an answer for my chronic pain and two-week long periods. In 2025, I finally found answers in Texas with a surgical confirmation of endometriosis.

Endometriosis is when the endometrium grows outside the uterus, and can grow on ovaries and fallopian tubes. In extreme cases, endometriosis can grow on nearby organs, like your bowel and bladder. Endometriosis can cause chronic pain in the pelvis and the whole body. It can also cause long periods, trigger autoimmune diseases, and other complications that are still being researched.

It took me eight years to get an endometriosis diagnosis.

I first noticed complications from endometriosis in 2018 with a longer-than-normal period. I initially chalked it up to stress and didn't think anything of it. But after that, I rapidly began experiencing more complications. My periods increased to 12 to 14 days long and were extremely painful and heavy, causing me to miss work and times with friends and family.

Even after my cycle each month, I would continue to experience extreme fatigue that would effect my everyday. I soon developed depression and anxiety, further decreasing my ability function. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I was constantly in pain. I was desperate.

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Luckily, I already had an amazing therapist at the Christian Family Counseling Center in Lawton who was able to help me navigate the depression and anxiety. But she agreed something was wrong, whether hormonally or physically or both

I also had a phenomenal primary care doctor, Kenda Dean at Bridging Family Healthcare in Grandfield, who never dismissed what I was feeling and did her own research in her spare time to find answers. We managed to successfully diagnose me with PCOS, PMDD, and Hashimoto's. And as we tried to treat these, nothing fully remedied the pain, the fatigue or the long, heavy and painful periods.

Every gynecologist I saw in Oklahoma told me nothing was wrong with me.

Unfortunately, during this time, I saw many specialty doctors who dismissed and gaslit me. I saw multiple gynecologists in Lawton and Oklahoma City who all told me nothing was wrong. They encouraged I get on birth control. Some didn't even want to help me because I wasn't trying to have children, and encouraged me to try having children to see if pregnancy would make a difference in my conditions.

In 2024, the last gynecologist I saw in Oklahoma told me that since I didn't want to take birth control, that it was like "bringing a mechanic a car and asking them not to fix it with tools."

I felt defeated. The dismissals from medical professionals, who are supposed to helping women, went on for eight years. Eight years of barely being able to function. Eight years of specialists in women's health saying I was fine when really I wasn't.

In 2025, I found an endometriosis specialist in Texas.

Thankfully for the internet, I didn't feel alone in my struggles. Other women who spoke about endometriosis and told personal stories that were similar to mine, helped me understand that I wasn't a unique case. Statistically, it takes a woman seven to 10 years to be officially diagnosed with endometriosis, even though endometriosis effects one in 10 women.

It was through TikTok that sparked by own research on seeking an endometriosis specialist near me. I didn't even know endometriosis specialists existed. After a quick Google search of "endometriosis specialists near me," I found the Endometriosis Center of Excellence in Plano, Texas.

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My primary care doctor wasted no time in sending in a referral, and in September I had an appointment with my soon-to-be surgeon, Dr. Rachel Haverland. My mom went to my first appointment with me because, based on my experiences, I was worried about not being fully heard. Again.

But luckily, that wasn't my meeting with Dr. Haverland. She was kind and sympathetic, and really understood what I had been struggling with for eight years. Just from our first meeting and her listening to my story, she believed I did have endometriosis, and possibly adenomysis, which is when the endometrial tissue grows inside the uterus and could be one of the reasonings for my pain and long/heavy periods.

She said in our meeting that she doesn't always recommend surgery, sometimes lifestyle changes make a difference in patients. But for me, she recommended surgery because she believed I was an extreme case.

Laparoscopic surgery is the only treatment that has remedied my complications from endometriosis and adenomyosis.

In November 2025, I had laparoscopic surgery where Dr. Haverland removed endometrial tissue, scarred tissue, fibrosis, and cysts. She also removed my appendix because it was inflamed and could've resulted in a future appendicitis. And she implanted a progesterone IUD to treat the adenomyosis, because the only other treatment for it is a hysterectomy, and I'm too young for a full hysterectomy without causing long-term complications.

I'm now four months post surgery, and it's the first time in eight years that I've been able to function normally. I'm not constantly in pain. I'm not bleeding two weeks out of the month. I'm able to sleep at night and not need a nap in the day. I'm able to go to work, cook dinner and clean around the house all in one day without collapsing from fatigue or needing a rest day or two to recover.

Even though I struggled for eight years just searching for answers, I'm glad I never gave up.

Oklahoma ranks 48th in the nation for women's health.

I've lived in Oklahoma my entire life. I love living in Oklahoma. It's where my family has resided since the 1800s. It's home. But when it came to my health, Oklahoma didn't feel like home. Every so-called "women's health expert" in Oklahoma that I sought help with and told me nothing was wrong, didn't make me feel secure or loved in my own home.

So for Endometriosis Awareness Month, and Women's History Month, I hope my story can offer hope for women in Oklahoma who are struggling with endometriosis. Or even hope for women who are struggling with another type of illness and aren't feeling heard.

I hope one day women in Oklahoma will be able to receive the care they need in their home state instead of having to travel across state lines just for a healthcare professional to hear them.