"My name is Michelle, and I'm an endo warrior. I've never had a normal period. I want people to know about endometriosis and adenomyosis. More than one in 10 women have endometriosis. I’m one of them. For more than a decade, my periods were extremely heavy, excruciatingly painful and completely debilitating. And they didn't last three to seven days. My periods sometimes went on for weeks at a time. I bled for two whole months one year. But the saddest part of this is that as a teenager struggling to be "normal," I never realized my heavy periods were anything but. Doctors didn't believe me and told me I was depressed. It took several years (and lots of tears) to finally convince a doctor in Hawaii that something wasn't right. He suspected endometriosis and four years later, I've had three surgeries to help improve my quality of life. It shouldn't have to take so much effort. Last week, I had a hysterectomy to help "cure" my adenomyosis, another chronic disease I recently discovered I had. More people need to know about these invisible illnesses. People need to listen to their bodies. Trust yourself. Endometriosis doesn't define me, but it sure as hell helped me understand myself a lot better." @myshellie23