Singer Imany, godmother of the Endomind association, tells us about endometriosis, the disease she has been suffering from since the age of 15. A subject that is particularly close to her heart and for which she has been committed for years.
Suffering from endometriosis since the age of 15, Imany, the singer with the velvet voice, has made this disease her fight, with the French association for the fight against endometriosis, Endomind (www.endomind.org). A disease still unrecognized recently, difficult to diagnose (it takes about 7 years …), which, however, causes irreparable damage to the lives of affected women.
Endometriosis is the leading cause of infertility in France and affects 10% of French women of childbearing age, i.e. around 4 million women (according to Endomind ). 60% of them will have difficulty having a child, and 30% of them will not. Figures that make you shudder … Many personalities have confided in this disease, like Laetitia Millot, qui many times, has spoken to tell about her struggle to become a mother despite endometriosis, this is the case of singer Lorie, too.
In turn, the 41-year-old artist who will begin a new tour on January 15, 2021, and come out « Voodoo Cello », a new album in spring 2021, is unveiled and has agreed to tell Gala, his journey, his fight against endometriosis, his commitment to Endomind and her happiness to have had two children despite the illness.
Gala: When did you know you had endometriosis?
Imany : I learned it at the age of 23, after a long medical wandering of eight years during which nobody knew how to put a name on my pains. One day, I was on vacation in Tahiti, I had a greater seizure than the others. I saw an emergency gynecologist who suggested I might have endometriosis. For a reliable diagnosis, I had to operate. I agreed, and he removed the cyst in question. Until there, having painful periods was inevitable specific to all women. Now I knew it was a disease.
Gala: Is that why you accepted to become the association’s godmother?
Imany : In 2014, I was contacted by Nathalie Clary, the director of Endomind. We had friends in common and she knew I had endometriosis. I initially refused because I was afraid to reveal to the public this part of my privacy. When she explained to me that it was a common disease, when I thought the opposite, that endometriosis affected one to two in ten women in France, or 4 million people, she convinced me. I realized that this disease was a social injustice because it affects only women, and therefore no epidemiological studies existed. It revolted me, so I got committed to Endomind, even if it means revealing my private life …
4 million women are affected by endometriosis in France
Gala: What to say to a young girl who finds it normal to suffer every month?
Imany : Contrary to popular belief, it’s not normal to have a stomach ache when you have your period. It is therefore necessary to consult. A pelvic examination is necessary or an MRI, an ultrasound, it is still necessary that it is well interpreted. Today, Saint Joseph Hospital, in Paris, is a reference. But the real question is: what causes the pain of women to be normalized even today? There, we necessarily think of patriarchy and millennial misogyny … I am convinced that solving the problem of endometriosis will solve other ailments in our society.
The hardest part: “Silence, because we suffer alone in our corner”
Gala: Rules have always been a taboo …
Imany : Yes, for women of my generation and those before. But today, this is much less the case. Young girls talk freely about their period on social media. In my time, we spoke of it in a low voice and above all we did not pronounce the word rule: we spoke of ” stuff “, of ” ragnagnas “, Etc. That proves that women were the first actresses of this silence, brought up in shame of having her period, the fear of having a blood stain on her clothing, ” it’s dirty “, as the saying goes. This is certainly what explains the total lack of interest in the medical profession for endometriosis.
Gala: What is most difficult to live with apart from the pain?
Imany : Silence, because we suffer alone in our corner, without daring to complain, and the strange feeling of doubting yourself, so nobody is interested in that. And the lack of consideration for those around you because if we talk about it, we pass for a ” chochotte Who can’t stand the pain.
Mother of two children, including a daughter “arrival by surprise”
Gala: What should be changed so that endometriosis is better taken into account?
Imany : Endometriosis should be considered a chronic disabling disease, which would allow better support by social security. With the association, we are considering the creation of ” yellow houses », like the ” pink houses For breast cancer, which would bring together a panel of therapists accessible to all: doctors, gynecologists, sexologists, psychologists, etc. Houses where women could go with their companions because what we do not talk about either is that pain also makes sex difficult.
Gala: Despite endometriosis, you managed to become a mother of two children …
Imany : I was lucky… But to be honest, I had difficulty getting pregnant with my oldest son, and my daughter arrived by surprise. It is a miracle! But if I hadn’t had children, I was ready to accept my fate.
Imany will be in concert in Roubaix on January 15, in Annecy on January 20, Mulhouse on February 9, Perpignan on February 12, Paris, at the Théâtre du Châtelet on April 12, 2021 (concert in support of Endomind). Then on international tour from January 2021. Album Voodoo Cello to be released in spring 2021.
Photo credits: Eugenio Recuenco
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