This content was created by Erica Hoke. This content was uploaded by Erica Hoke. This is a YouTube video titled "Period Pain is NOT normal" (created August 21, 2021) featuring Erica Hoke presenting a health/fertility-focused talk. Erica, an infertile mom of four and host/moderator of Infertility Empowered, speaks directly to viewers about severe menstrual pain—explaining that it can indicate conditions such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or adhesions, noting the long average diagnostic delay for endometriosis (~10 years), and urging proactive advocacy, diagnosis (sometimes via surgery), and treatment to improve health and fertility outcomes. She mentions her book collaboration "Infertility Success," shares personal experience with stage 4 endometriosis and fibroid surgeries, offers practical encouragement to challenge dismissive medical responses, and invites viewers to follow her live YouTube schedule and subscribe.
Chapters
Wanted to talk to you about something that I was going over with a client last week, and that is symptoms related to period pain and what that could actually mean. So the heartbreaking thing that I see over and over again with women is that they have a doctor that they've gone to because they're having not just, not just cramps, okay? We're talking about women like myself who have during their cycle, they have debilitating pain where they're vomiting, where they're in bed, where they can't control their flow. And basically, most of the women's stories are very similar to mine, is that the Western medical community has turned them away and said, you're gonna have to just deal with it, it's normal. So, hi, I'm Erica Hoke, if you don't know me. And I talk all things infertility, fertility related with, in Empowered Fertility. I am the infertile mom of 4, and we never thought that we would have kids. So I'm really passionate about helping other women shorten the time that it takes them to conceive by addressing things quickly and proactively and empowering them to empowering you to talk to your doctors and not get so sidelined. I don't know what the right word to use is, but pushed aside, sidelined, bullied, whatever you want to say. Bullied might be kind of a strong word, but I'm not going to say it doesn't apply sometimes to getting to the conception that you want. So, um, in case you don't know, I'm doing a book collaboration with 19 other amazing women called Infertility Success. And during that process of selection and talking to my coaching clients, I have found over and over again that many, many, many of us, just like my story, were sick for a really long time. Okay, so let's talk about what period pain could indicate and why not to wait even if you're trying not to get pregnant. Okay, so if you happen to be watching this and you have a daughter who is having really bad period pain, if it's you that's having really bad period pain, and you're, even though you're not ready to start a family yet, it's really important to address these things upfront. The average time for diagnosis for endometriosis is 10 years, y'all. That's a long time to be in pain. And I can guarantee you that if this was something in a male world where they had really bad, let's say, toe pain every month that forced them to be in bed or something else, they would find out where that toe pain was coming from, right? So let's talk about really bad debilitating period pain and what it can be. So that can be a really big indicator of, um, endometriosis. So endometriosis is only diagnosable through surgery, exploratory surgery. And I think that that puts people off, um, that they're really afraid that if they have surgery, that that's going to mean that they are not going to be able to get pregnant then. But you guys, you have to address what's going on in your body and this pain that is causing you so many problems. When you go to have your kids, it's, it's going to have been built up over time. So it's better to be proactive and not endure 10 years of pain like some of us did before we got our diagnosis, um, and get that addressed early on and heal that part of your that part of your body. Um, instead of doing what a lot of women— the recommendation that a lot of women get is to go on hormonal birth control, which just either in some cases exasperates it, um, or it doesn't alleviate any problems that they're having at all. Okay, so what else could it be? So you're having really bad periods, heavy periods, painful periods, putting you in bed. What else could that be an indicator that also can be an indicator of uterine fibroids. So, um, uterine fibroids— by the way, just so you know, I had stage 4 endometriosis, also had uterine fibroids. Remember, I'm the infertile mom of 4. Um, so you can have the surgeries and still get pregnant. Um, so I had a really extensive excise surgery for my endometriosis, and I had a ton of fibroids removed. It took them a really long time to determine, meaning like 3 minor surgeries before they could really determine with a saline ultrasound that the fibroids were causing the pain, the heavy bleeding, and that sort of thing. But again, this is something that can be addressed. Sometimes the endometriosis can be addressed through diet and changes like that, supplements, um, lifestyle changes. But a lot of these things require surgery, and I don't want you to be afraid of the surgery like I was for so long because you feel like that is going to reduce your chances. If you don't address the cause of your period pain and your problems, that's going to continue to plague you. Okay, so what else could it be? I have an amazing story going into the book that this woman Um, you know, after years of being told a number of different things that, um, including that the pain was in her head— so I won't go into her story— but including after going through to multiple doctors and talking to them about what the deal was, where her pain was coming from, she found out that she had an adhesion from her ovary on her bladder, y'all. Does that sound painful? So every single month that she would get her cycle, the, the process of your— of her menstruation would cause that adhesion to her bladder to be super, super debilitating and painful. That is not normal. It is an indication of disease, y'all. So those kind of things, you know, she could have cut down her time to conception if she would have stood up for herself. That's what we're all about. Like, I'm the admin and the moderator over at, um, Infertility Empowered, and that's— those are the kinds of things that we talk about. How to advocate for yourself in the medical community. What are the things that you can be doing proactively to help with your infertility and why it's important and why it's important not to wait. So, um, shortening the time, saving yourself money, and in some cases basically giving you a longer window to try to conceive, right? So if we address these things earlier on and we don't wait, then when you're ready to have a baby, you have a longer window, um, and more success, right? So that's what we're looking for. So thanks for joining me today. I will see you around the interwebs. Hey, if you're watching on YouTube, by the way, go ahead and, um, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and that bell for more content like this. We're live noon Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here. Health and blessings to you guys. Bye-bye.
