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How to handle flare ups

Flare-ups are rough; the pain that is felt is exhausting, you want to curl up and hide forever and just want it to end, but it's just another one of those horrible side effects of endometriosis. There are ways, however, to get some relief during a flare-up.

First, I should probably talk about what an Endometriosis flare-up is.

An Endometriosis flare-up can manifest in many ways. For some, it is an Endo belly, and for others, endo belly is just a normal part of there daily Endometriosis struggle. An endo belly is when the stomach becomes swollen from bloating and inflammation. It looks like you are pregnant, and it's very uncomfortable, to say the least.

Flares also can take a toll both physically and mentally. It can feel like somebody is carving your insides out like a pumpkin with a knife that is on fire. They can also cause you to not be able to walk, work or go to school. Make you so tired that you sleep all day and make your whole body ache from the top of your head to your toes. Every movement can make you feel like you are on fire, and that can make you get really depressed and have very negative thoughts, especially if you are like me and get them very often.

There are ways that you can try and feel a little bit better during a flare-up, though. 

TENS: Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a method of relieving pain by use of a mild electrical current. A TENS machine is a small, battery-operated device that has leads connected to sticky pads called electrodes. You put them on parts of your body and can set the vibrations and intensity to essentially trick your brain into paying attention to that instead of the pain. I personally use my TENS machine a lot.

Rest: resting as much as possible can be very useful. Curling up with a good book or binge-watching tv can help distract you enough to not notice how horrible you feel.

Meds: using pain medication prescribed to you during a flare-up can be quite handy to get some relief unless you are like me and pain killers don't do anything but make you sleep but even then, while you're asleep, you can't really feel the pain as much anyway.

Heat: using a heating pad or something similar on the pain can help relieve the pain you are feeling and make you more comfortable.

Other than that, there isn't much else you can do but stay hydrated and just try and take the edge off. Flare-ups are temporary, and as long as you try and take care of yourself as best as possible, that's all that really works. Don't try and over do it with cleaning or anything if you can get away with it because it will only prolong the pain.

What do you do to treat your flare ups?

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Location: New Zealand

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