Endometriosis Awareness Month

Zoe Turner opens up about her experience with Endometriosis as a 21-year-old living in Cardiff. 

Endometriosis is a long-term condition that can affect women of all ages. It's where the lining of the womb grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. It’s still not understood what causes endometriosis. Symptoms can affect the day-to-day lives of these women going through it, such as lower tummy or back, pelvic pain, severe period pain, and pain during or after sex. We must have awareness days for such issues as this one, as we need workplaces and schools to understand the pain women go through when they are living with this condition.

To understand Zoe's journey, I asked her about her periods. “At age 14 or 15, I was going out to meet my friends but was late due to severe pain. My mum told me I had terrible periods like her. So I was jealous of my friends who didn’t get bad pain”.

Zoe, like many others, never considered her period anything worse than a bad period until she was at university and was bleeding through menstrual cups doubled up with a pad. “Within an hour, I realised something was wrong.” So Zoe leapt to improve her quality of life and get an operation to improve her endometriosis. 

“Once doctors started to take me seriously in April 2020 about it, I was then referred to the hospital and had a phone call appointment in December 2020. From then, I had an ultrasound and my surgery in July. However, my post-op consultation was ten months later, and because my symptoms had improved, I was discharged from the hospital. “

“Before my operation, every day was challenging. I was bleeding so heavily during my period that I would bleed through anything in an hour. It was making uni and working difficult. The pain as well was at its worst. I was relying on painkillers almost every day. It wasn’t just stomach cramps. It was also back pain and upper leg pain. It would leave me feeling tired.”

After the doctor's advice, Zoe went on the Mirena coil after her operation to help her with the bleeding side, but this did not cure the issue. She has now been on the Mirena coil, and the first year after her operation, she didn't get a period. After that, her cramps were mild, but as time passed, her endometriosis worsened. “I would be on a ball on the floor, unable to move, and multiple times my mum would call for medical help. I then had a diagnostic laparoscopy in July 2021 and had excision surgery of endometriotic tissue and removed a large cyst on my left ovary. After my operation, things massively improved.

Zoe has been living her life better since then. Still, it hasn't completely stopped her condition from having flare-ups, and she has accepted this is something she will be living with for the rest of her life and is open to trying anything to ease the pain. “About a year later, I had my first bad flare-up whilst travelling in Portugal. Similar symptoms happened, so I struggled to walk or go anyway. This lasted for about two weeks. Now, I tend to have a regular period every month where I can expect bad cramps but nowhere near as bad as before my operation, and now and then, I do get really bad flare-ups.”

Zoe opened up about how having this can affect your day-to-day life, such as cancelling plans with friends and family and missing out on events living with endometriosis.

Endometriosis day is essential due to the lack of education in schools about these topics. We all know sex education could be more helpful in school, but so can science lessons on the human body to help young girls understand these conditions from a younger age and start getting help sooner. Zoe says

“I didn’t learn about endometriosis until I started researching possible things that could’ve been wrong with me. I didn’t think much about this until I had a conversation with my nan about going to the doctor about it. She and my aunt had it, a hereditary condition.”

Growing up, doctors never took me seriously and would just tell me I had bad periods and the pill would help it. 

A big part of having endometriosis is trying to get diagnosed. This can be a long process that takes years which is a struggle for women just wanting answers so they know the following steps to take.“It took almost 4 or 5 years for me to get a diagnosis; for most people, it is seven years. There's so little research into it, and I think that teaching people about it at schools should be a part of school so that people who go through it can speak to a doctor. No one should have to endure severe cramps because it is ‘just a bad period.’

Zoe said she'd learned almost everything I know about endometriosis online. The doctors weren’t informative about the condition at all. Endometriosis UK is a beneficial resource, as well as the Instagram “Living With Endometriosis” These have helped me understand my condition, learn how to manage it, and just know that other people experience it too. It’s also helped to navigate conversations when trying to explain it to my friends and family.”

Zoe, like many others, has accepted that she will continue to live a sure way to adjust to life with flare-ups of her endometriosis even after her surgery. However, due to insufficient information on endometriosis, we need to talk more about ways to help people suffering life with this. Don’t be scared to share your stories for awareness month because it can encourage others to go to the doctor. Your period shouldn't put you in horrendous pain and stop you from doing your usual daily tasks.

Recommended Endometriosis podcasts:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1VXKdZp7cVnRTDkOivqOyt

https://open.spotify.com/show/1dvkkwPvOrCuqGXt2YBGcM

https://open.spotify.com/show/5t49D3WuwGZjON2secRNAK

For any further information and support:

https://www.endometriosis-uk.org