Former beauty queen discloses painful sickness she’s lived with for many years

Ex-beauty queen and TV host Nike Oshinowo has disclosed that she has suffered from endometriosis  for decades, more specifically since the age of 13.

The 50-year-old made this known at the recently organized Gala Night of Fun and Fund Raising for Endometriosis put together by the Endometriosis Support Group of Nigeria on Saturday, April 9 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The former model described hers as a near-death experience when the ailment hit her during boarding school in England.

She said: “I have lived with endometriosis since the age of 13. I was sent to boarding school in England when I was seven years old. It was during the first few days in secondary school that I began my [menstrual] periods.

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“They called the ambulance and I was hospitalized for 10 days because   the pain started and wouldn’t stop. I thought I was going to die, the first two days I was in the infirmary with the matron and she kept saying, ‘O Adenike, we understand that you miss your home, we understand that it is difficult for you, we understand that every girl must go through it but just bear it’.

“I’m telling the story because it happened in England and, supposedly, the white people, who knew best, yet had no idea what was wrong with me. Every female student they had dealt with, had a normal period and coped with it, so they could not understand why I was dramatizing. They thought I just wanted attention. The pain was so intense I passed out. They called the ambulance and I was hospitalized. The challenge was now to get me to stop bleeding.

“Living with endometriosis is a challenge. When you see your doctor, your doctor just tries to treat the symptoms and assumes the pain resolves around your menstrual cycle. But this is not so. The pain affects every single aspect of your life.

“I, as Nike Oshinowo, have never had an examination without my period, I have never travelled without my period. There are so many things I have never done without my period. When I’m very happy, my period comes, When I’m depressed, my period is there. I learned just to cope with it. I love the quote that women wear their pain like stilettos. That’s what I have been doing.

“Until I turned 40, Nigerians didn’t know I suffered from endometriosis. When I turned 40, I granted an interview and Nigerians understood why I never drank alcohol. You cannot be on medication and take alcohol. It was finally understood why I was so clean cut and into healthy living.

“The first time I experienced the pain of endometriosis was very traumatic. I thought I was going to die. Really, I have lost count of the number of surgeries that I have had but I sure know that it’s more that 17 times.”

Endometriosis is a truly painful experience. In simpler terms, it is a painful disorder that leads tissues that ought to lie inside the uterus also known as the endometrium to develop outside the uterus.

Although endometriosis involves the ovaries, the bowel and the tissue lining the pelvis in most cases, some severe cases may see the endometrial tissue outgrow these areas and spread as far as the pelvic region.

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The condition causes severe pains when women have their menstrual periods and may even lead to fertility issues if not properly and duly treated.

Some of its most common symptoms include excess bleeding, nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, pains with urination, pains during sexual intercourse pains during menstruation among other things.

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