Breaking a Date With Agony

Think of the difficult things women do every day; marking a little old
calendar should be as easy as just hanging around. 



WOMEN’S CALENDARS look very different from men’s.
     Aside from the fact we seem to like to mark things in, there’s that whole “When’s muh period!” obligation.
     Women who are affected by endometriosis can use this propensity to help know their endo, and empower themselves to fight some of its undoing aspect. The more you know and understand your foe the better able you are to put up defences and repel attacks.

Date map demonstrated





     For years my calendars looked like in the above image. Seems almost runic, doesn’t it? And this isn’t even an elaborate example.
     I worked out short codes like “NP” for “no pain”; “HB” for “heavy bleeding.” I made a red dot for the date my period was due; and my own personal symbol, a spiral and delta, for when it actually arrived. These and more made me able to note what was happening with my menstruation each month.
     Pay particular attention to the markings identifying pain levels, using the Mankoski Pain Scale (Access Mankoski Pain Scale). So a #6 would be:
Cannot ignore pain, though possible to still function at work and social activities.

     Over the years I was able to look back and learn how to read my endometriosis issues. Such as what times of the year I seemed most hard-hit (January, May, August); or what days of my period delivered the most negatives. I was able to make correlations between extreme flare-ups and what was happening in my life (high-stress times at work proved to be big triggers).
     Identifying patterns gave me the ability to try to “counteract” issues before they came up: whether this meant abstaining from certain foods; upping intake of specific vitamins and minerals; getting in some extra exercise; focusing on anti-stress practices like yoga and meditation.
     I learned how to adjust my way of living to meet the challenges of endo by becoming able to “predict” its behavior via date mapping.

Date & diary


     This calendar approach is like a fast-look version of the Endo Diary (Access Endo Diary post) I also advise you to keep. Both will give you invaluable insight into your day-to-day endometriosis difficulties and chronicle any crises over the years.
     This can serve, not only yourself, but your physicians and care-givers, by assisting them in tracking advances, setbacks or hold steady times.
     I bet it is hard for you to imagine how making notes on an almanac can truly evolve into a method for combating pain, anemia, hospitalisation and even infertility. But when you consider that The Old Farmer's Almanac continues to be one of the highest selling publications in the world year after year since its introduction in the late 1700s, you have to acknowledge that there must be something to this “observing the date” thing.
     Create your own coded language – like you can use fun stickers to represent different aspects: such as a puking emoji for extreme pain (#9 on Mankoski Pain Scale) – and own your dates.
     Every time you make a mark, affirm healing with this quote:

“Every day in every way, I am getting better and better.” – Émile Coué


In beauty may you walk


Add some sunshine to your life with warming images from Trinidad and Tobago
Photo-stories at: Trinbago Shine On
And free to download and use images at: Jhaye-Q Trinbago photography

 TOPMOST PHOTO by Steven Devlin from Pexels





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