We were lucky to catch up with Alanna Trzcinski recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
When both Shelby and I were able to sit down and discuss our individual journey with Endometriosis, we realized that the there wasn’t enough information out there that can help others navigate their journey with Endometriosis. After years of living with a debilitating disease and finding out more about the disease, we knew more accurate information needed to be more accessible. We also realized that a community of shared experiences led to a feeling of being seen, after years of feeling isolated and “gaslit”. It allows us and others to feel like they have a place to have connection to others in their everyday lives living with Endometriosis and Adenomyosis.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a wife, a mom, and an advocate for Endometriosis. I became passionate about advocating when the things i enjoyed most like, hiking, riding horses, and being with friends became nearly impossible to do. I wasn’t new to this pain, but it became more intense. For years, since I hit puberty, every month I had debilitating pain when I was on my cycle. I was often told that a painful period was “normal”. I would often miss school of the first or second day of my period and had extreme fatigue, and would often have UTIs. I just kept believing that this was just the way it was. Fast forward, I was in my first year of marriage when I had my first miscarriage. I wasn’t trying to get pregnant, but I the pain was still very real. Not long after, I went to work not feeling like myself. The pain got so bad that I had my sister-in-law take me to the hospital. I was passing a kidney stone. Now I had passed a stone before, but this time when they went to do the x-ray they found a mass on my right ovary. The ER doctor that was assigned to me, told me that he wanted to make sure that it wasn’t ovarian cancer. So while attempting to pass a large kidney stone, they did a vaginal ultrasound, which was not the most comfortable thing. They didn’t think it was cancer, but they weren’t sure what it was and wanted me to follow-up with an OB-GYN, so I did. In many ways I’m grateful for my doctor. She was able to identify that it could potentially be Endometriosis, or “Endo”. The only certain way to diagnose Endo is through a surgery called laparoscopy. At the time I was completely oblivious about Endometriosis and honestly didn’t realize the impact it would have on my life and the trajectory of my life. I just trusted my doctor to know all about it and help me. I didn’t know that there were 2 different surgery’s that can be preformed to “treat” Endometriosis. I ended up having 2 ablation surgeries and a slue of hormones therapies to stop/ get “rid” of the Endo and help with the pain. I was also extremely blessed to have 2 babies, (those with Endometriosis have a 40%- 50% chance of having infertility). This was all before I found out about the gold standard of care for Endometriosis called, excision surgery. The difference between the two are vast. Think of a weed, if you don’t pull it from the root it can still gather nutrients to grow and will often spread. If you pull the weed from the roots, it can’t keep producing more weeds and doesn’t live. So think of ablation as just cutting the weed (or burning the endo) at the surface. It’s still able to grow because Endometriosis creates its own estrogen (it’s often an estrogen dominate disease) . Excision, however, is like taking the weed out from the roots. If you take it completely out then it doesn’t have a chance to spread and grow from that cell. Finding an Endometriosis excision specialist was key in me getting so much of my life back. I also had Adenomyosis, so when I was having excision surgery, I had a hysterectomy. My hysterectomy was not to get “rid” of Endo, but the Adenomyosis. These details all matter, because of the misinformation out there that leads to loss of the ability to have children, if you have that desire, all to “cure” endo can lead to life long pain, both emotionally and physically. The amount of trauma and misinformation that those that live with Endometriosis deal constantly with is harmful and not right. On this podcast we want to create a safe space that provides accurate information for those that have Endometriosis as well as those walking along side us. 1 and 10 woman are diagnosed with Endometriosis, and it takes an average of 8-10 years to be diagnosed, if ever. This number doesn’t even include those less marginalized with an inability to get proper medical care. We tell stories of others to help our listeners feel seen in a very isolating disease. When we have questions, or our listeners have questions, we try to find answers. We want information to be as accessible as possible. As Endometriosis is a whole body disease, it’s also a whole life disease. It effects every aspect of life. We want to provide ways for others to recharge their battery, as Endo often drains us. That’s why our tagline is, ‘Charging our life, when Endo drains us.” We want to give voice to every area of our lives that Endo impacts. We want to help others and change the narrative of Endometriosis care and woman’s health.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Advocacy is not for the faint of heart, especially when the odds are against you and you really don’t know what you’re doing. We started this podcast as a way to get accurate information out to the masses about Endometriosis. The challenges come when you have to vet guests and really make sure that what’s being said is not only accurate, but helpful. In a space with a lot of criticism it’s important to give voice to the entire disease, which is why I think we have grown so much in our first year. We took risks. We didn’t allow fear from stopping us from connecting to the top people in this community. If you don’t put yourself out there, then you’re allowing others to do it, and it may not always be the most informed. We’ve learned you really have to build a community and you’ll grow and go so much further in your goals. Always reassessing your goals, but also know your capacity. You don’t want your goals or passion to take away the work/ life balance. Then it’s no longer life, just work. However, If you’re going to commit to growing a business, know your capacity.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
Almost a year into growing this podcast, I feel like I have finally found my calling. I’ve always struggled with combining my passions, abilities, and gifts. This really is the space that allows me to flourish in all those areas. Being able to find something that combines all these elements is what pushes me to keep striving and staying focused on the goals. I couldn’t imagine not doing this, but I can imagine growing in this.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.endobattery.com/
- Instagram: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa0hJcE51OENxeE1rWTNaUm1WalBqR25WNHptd3xBQ3Jtc0tsUFVzQTRKZktybjZabVFmeHR0Z3I3NHBoZVhtOHpuYUFBNDBGakpwM1ktb0lsRnBFTUxITWw1MFBjS1ZPLTNpbTZsN3VPazg1NUI1UmJyWHliaUlpazdGYnQzQlJMVEUweGpuSm1zelFtR2dJMERKTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fendobattery%2F
- Facebook: endobattery
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnBtLjf88Cpl2qmkK5WETQ
- Other: https://endobattery.buzzsprout.com