Amy Schumer feels like a “new person” after surgeries for endometriosis
Amy Schumer revealed in a new documentary series Monday that Amy Schumer feels “like a new person” after she underwent surgery last year to treat years of chronic pain caused by endometriosis.
Schumer opened up about her decades of health struggles — and how she used comedy to cope — in one of the most recent episodes of “Examination with Dr. David Agos,” which premiered on streaming platform Paramount+ last week.
Schumer, 41, who starred in the films “Trainwreck” and “I Feel Pretty,” underwent a laparoscopic hysterectomy, or appendectomy, or appendectomy, last year to treat what she calls a “sole disease” of endometriosis, she told Agus, who is her physician and professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California.
Endometriosis is an often painful and incurable disorder in which tissue similar to the kind that lines the uterus grows outside of it and in other areas of the body, including the ovaries, fallopian tubes and bladder, according to the US Office on Women’s Health. , which doctors estimate affects at least 6.5 million women nationwide. This disorder, also called endo, can affect anyone with a uterus of childbearing age, but it is most common in people in their 30s and 40s.
Schumer documented the aftermath of the operations on Instagram in September 2021, saying that the doctor discovered that 30 endometriosis spots had spread from her uterus to her appendix.
“I feel really hopeful and I’m really glad I did it, and I think it’s life-changing,” Schumer said in a post-op post.
In the new documentary series, Schumer said she’s struggled with pain from endometriosis since she started menstruating when she was about 11: “I hope to have a good week in the month where I’m not in so much pain, and I’m still trying to make it happen, I’m still trying to navigate life, and it’s been really hard.”
She has gone years without receiving a diagnosis, which she attributes to systemic inequities in medicine that can lead doctors to underestimate women’s pain. “There’s a tendency to always think women are just being dramatic,” she said.
She had a similar experience with her own pregnancy — chronicled in the “Expect Amy” documentary series — which she described as “a living hell” due to hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition characterized by extreme nausea that’s believed to be caused by elevated levels of hormones, according to the American Pregnancy Association.
“It was a full nine months of violent illness,” Schumer said. “It was like I had food poisoning for nine months.”
The diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum didn’t come until she was six months pregnant, she said, adding that she was “very excited to have the diagnosis” and that she has since spoken to several other women who have also dealt with him about their experiences. .
Schumer gave birth to her son, Jen, in 2019.
While Schumer’s health struggles have diminished, she’s still battling trichotillomania, the hair-pulling disorder she’s dealt with for decades, which she revealed after the premiere of her Hulu series, “Life & Beth,” this year.
When Schumer was about 10 years old, around the time her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and her parents divorced, she began forcibly pulling her hair out and had to wear a wig to school, she told Agos.
The condition was later diagnosed as trichotillomania, which the Mayo Clinic classifies as an idiopathic mental disorder.
Schumer said she still struggles with compulsive trichotillomania, adding that hair extensions are “the only reason I can be on camera” and that she worries her son will develop it, too.
In the docuseries, Schumer said that comedy provided her with a way to help her family deal with the various health problems they faced: “Making everyone around me laugh makes me feel better,” she said.
In the episode, Schumer also discussed her difficulties with sleeping, her failed attempt to conceive a second time through IVF, her husband’s diagnosis on the autism spectrum, and her father’s struggles with alcoholism and MS.
Schumer’s episode of “The Check Up” was shown along with two other episodes, which featured actors Nick Cannon, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin.
The first three episodes, which aired last week, focused on actor Ashton Kutcher and his brother, Michael. Oprah Winfrey; Journalist Maria Shriver. and former “Deal or No Deal” host Howie Mandel.
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