Chrissy Teigen is on the mend following surgery for endometriosis, a condition that can cause severe pain, heavy period bleeding, and sometimes, fertility issues.
Teigen shared an Instagram Stories selfie from a hospital bed on Thursday morning, writing “Please endo this pain lol” in the caption. Later that day Teigen posted to Twitter and Instagram Stories some videos of herself at home, appearing groggy and wearing three bandages on her stomach.
Before the operation, Teigen asked her Twitter followers about how difficult the recovery from endometriosis surgery would be. And in the new videos, she said she is having a harder time recuperating than usual. “I thought I would be… I usually am really good after. This one’s a toughie.”
But the post-op pain is well worth it, Teigen said. “It makes it hard, every little cough and stuff, but it is truly still better than the contractions and the pain of endo.” For now Teigen is resting with the help of Curb Your Enthusiasm, a box of donuts, and some numbing agents.
Endometriosis is a condition in which the type of tissue that usually lines the uterus (or tissue that’s very similar to it) starts to grow on other organs (such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes). That tissue responds to hormonal changes throughout your menstrual cycle, the Mayo Clinic explains. Like the tissue lining your uterus, it thickens, breaks down, and bleeds, causing inflammation in the affected areas and pain throughout your cycle, particularly during your period.
The condition can be extraordinarily painful, difficult to diagnose, and hard to manage. Heavy period bleeding, breakthrough bleeding, and pain during sex are among other possible symptoms, SELF reported previously. Over time scar tissue can develop, as well as adhesions, which are fibrous bands of scar tissue that cause pelvic tissues and organs to bind together, the Mayo Clinic says. And if the tissue is growing on the ovaries, it can cause ovarian cysts (endometriomas) that may damage the eggs inside. All of these issues can make it difficult to conceive.
While experts still aren’t totally sure what causes the condition and there is no cure, there are a variety of treatment options. Those options include hormonal birth control, pain management (with medication and home remedies), and surgery, the Mayo Clinic says. In some cases, minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery can help to remove built-up endometriosis tissue, scar tissue, and cysts, which can reduce the pain and the effects on fertility. But surgery is not necessarily a permanent solution, because the tissue can grow back.
Teigen is having a tough time recovering from her endometriosis surgery physically. But she also had the procedure during a particularly emotionally challenging week: the expected due date for the baby she lost in September 2020. “My little Jack would have been born this week so I’m a bit off,” Teigen wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, adding that her period pains this month month feel “exactly like baby kicks.”
On Thursday, Teigen reflected in an Instagram post on the tough mix of painful emotions that she’s experiencing this month. “He would have been here any day now—if he were like Luna and Miles, I’d probably be holding him as we speak,” she wrote. “I am so full of regret that I didn’t look at his face when he was born… I hurt every day from that remorse.”
This month in particular is a “rough reminder” of her pregnancy loss—as well as the unpredictability of the grieving process. “To be honest, I thought the worst was over,” she wrote, “but I guess life and emotions aren’t on any sort of schedule.”
Related:
- 9 Signs You’re Dealing With a Ruptured Ovarian Cyst
- Emma Roberts Had Undiagnosed Endometriosis for Years Before Her Pregnancy
- Chrissy Teigen’s Heartbreaking Photos Reminded Me There’s No Right Way to Grieve