It is not normal what happened to me or what happens to me. I went consulting with doctors and gynecologists, always deviating me from one professional to another. I knew when I was going to have it, because a week or 5 days before, when I accelerated my walking, I ran or jumped … any movement would make me writhe in pain, leaving me immobilized sitting on a bench, the street, or in class, hoping the pain would go away after taking painkillers and antiinflammatories. Growing up, i didn’t need to keep track of my cycle. As someone so young i couldn’t understand how to be quiet about something so painful. It's time to refute the belief that being a woman is a preexisting condition.When i firts got my period at the age of 14 and i was screaming of pain they told me to “keep it together”.

Putting her own trials into a broader historical, sociocultural, and political context, Norman shows that women's bodies have long been the battleground of a never-ending war for power, control, medical knowledge, and truth. In Ask Me About My Uterus, Norman describes what it was like to have her pain dismissed, to be told it was all in her head, only to be taken seriously when she was accompanied by a boyfriend who confirmed that her sexual performance was, indeed, compromised. It wasn't until she took matters into her own hands-securing a job in a hospital and educating herself over lunchtime reading in the medical library-that she found an accurate diagnosis of endometriosis.

Unable to get out of bed, much less attend class, Norman dropped out of college and embarked on what would become a years-long journey to discover what was wrong with her. She was repeatedly hospitalized in excruciating pain, but the doctors insisted it was a urinary tract infection and sent her home with antibiotics. In the fall of 2010, Abby Norman's strong dancer's body dropped forty pounds and gray hairs began to sprout from her temples. For any woman who has experienced illness, chronic pain, or endometriosis comes an inspiring memoir advocating for recognition of women's health issues

Abby norman ask me about my uterus