Becoming An Endo Warrior with Ella Swan
By Ella Swan
Meet Ella Swan, an incredible Endo Warrior from New Zealand who is passionate about advocacy and education surrounding endometriosis. Bells is a teacher, nutritionist, and ambassador for anyone affected by endometriosis, as well as mental illness. Though her endo journey has featured some hard moments, she believes that the friends, support and community she’s gained from her fellow warriors has made it almost worth it. Bells shares this inspiring piece with the QENDO Blog about some of her achievements and why she’s passionate about empowering those with endometriosis to live their best lives.
Hi guys! My name is Ella but everyone calls me Bells! I am a endometriosis warrior and also battle with depression and anxiety. Through my health battles, I have become a passionate ambassador for womens health and for mental illness. My mission is to already awareness and to normalize chat around what are considered to be taboo subjects. Let's begin.
ENDOMETRIOSIS IS, but not limited to:
Debilitating pain before and during periods.
Bowel problems such as bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, pain with bowel movements, bowel spasms and cramps - similar to IBS. In fact, endometriosis and IBS often go hand in hand. Often people are misdiagnosed with IBS alone, when in fact they have endometriosis.
Pain with/ after intercourse. People may experience sharp, stabbing, throbbing pains as well as cramps or aches which are felt deep in the pelvis and abdomen.
Infertility.
Fatigue and low energy.
Pain in other places such as the lower back, hips, thighs and legs.
Pain at other times of the month e.g. with ovulation or randomly throughout the month.
Abnormal menstrual bleeding eg. excessive bleeding, clotting, irregular periods, long periods, spotting in between periods.
Ovarian cysts.
Bladder problems such as urinary frequency, urinary urgency, stinging/ burning when urinating or when bladder is full.
Depression and anxiety (often due to poor quality of life)
Its important to remember that endometriosis is NOT just a painful period. It is a debilitating, INCURABLE, chronic condition which impacts every aspect of health and wellbeing.
I have been fortunate enough to turn my pain into power and into fiery passion by helping & supporting as many people as I can who battle with endometriosis and all that comes with it.
I have been blessed to have connected with some incredibly strong, resilient and wonderful women who I am now lucky to call close friends. Myself and a fellow endo sister Ellen Taylor organized a magical photoshoot in Gisborne, New Zealand where we captured life with endometriosis though the lense. A powerful day which brought together many women from all walks of life who were brave enough to share their stories. The coolest part was that this photoshoot was acknowledged by parliament and because of this, we were honored to be invited to the launch of the first ever endometriosis clinical pathway here in NZ. I have been involved in creative projects and fundraising to help fellow endo warriors, the most exciting being my 2021 calendar - by endo sisters, for endo sisters, of which all profits will go to support organisations here in New Zealand.
These are just a few of the silver linings from my health journey...silver linings which make me feel almost grateful for the hard times.
If you are reading this and can relate to my story, I want you to know that you are never alone in this battle! Some days are tougher then others and some days it feels like we wre drowning, but we always manage to get through it. We are 1 in 10! We are strong, brave, resilient, tough, amazing, powerful, bad ass warriors.
We can do this together.
Bells xxx
You can follow Bells on instagram at @wellness_with_bells
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