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Coline Le Boulaire's hell began with her first period. "Big pain, we even thought it was appendicitis". From then on, his teenage life will be punctuated by school absences and trips to the emergency room. "The pain was so intense and no one could explain what it was." To find answers, she begins to investigate on her own. And discovers information on endometriosis, which puts him in the ear. But the various doctors she consults affirm it: it is impossible that it is reached at 17-18 years. "Except that my research clearly specified that it was not the age that counted, but the fact of being settled".
It is finally a gynecologist in the emergency room who will manage to put a word on her ailments after ten years of medical wandering: yes, she is indeed suffering from endometriosis. "It was necessary to do a laparoscopy to make the diagnosis because it was not seen on the MRIs or on the ultrasounds."
Over the years, Coline Le Boulaire has learned to rub shoulders with this intimate enemy and tries to tame it, not without apprehension. Because she knows it: every month, she will find herself pinned down by pain for eight days. Three very intense days "when I don't leave my house", then symptoms that go downhill. Not to mention those spikes that twist her stomach during ovulation. "I also have urinary damage. My life is turned upside down on a daily basis."
To help her through these stressful cycles both physically and morally, she relies on her trusty hot water bottle ("La base des bases") or her cat who comes to rest "there". After having swallowed astronomical quantities of medication for years to relieve herself, Coline decided to turn to more natural alternatives such as acupuncture, yoga, sophrology. "But it's very personal," says the 28-year-old. “We have to find what suits us”.
This chronic disease, which affects one woman in ten, has interfered through all the strata of her life: intimate, social (“Friends can be fed up with being canceled at the last moment”) and of course professional. “There is absenteeism, low morale, tensions at work and stress which increases the symptoms”. His dream ? That access to telework for women with endometriosis be democratized. "Even five days a month would be great," she sighs. "If we did the calculations of the many women on leave because of their endo... This would allow us to be serene in our work and not create frustrations with the employer who would say to himself: 'Hey, she's still absent'".
