This is Laura’s Story.
I was diagnosed with Endometriosis and Fibroids in 2014. Until then, I thought having very heavy, painful periods was just normal. As it turns out, everything I was suffering with was not normal and was part of a disease I was not yet familiar with. I'm from Afro-Caribbean heritage as both of my parents are Jamaican. My mum and my sister have both suffered with endometriosis but had assumed that I would not inherit it, so it was never really mentioned.
When I first started having periods at a young age, they were heavy and traumatic. I had no idea how to deal with them. I wasn’t allowed to use tampons, due to my Mum's fear of Toxic Shock Syndrome. I would suddenly bleed through clothing, I was vomiting, I had severe stomach and back pain. I was miserable and embarrassed. My Mum took me to the doctor’s surgery, where my GP tried me on stronger pain relief and another medication to reduce the bleeding. When this didn't work, I was put on the pill. This allowed me to live an (almost) normal life.
Fast forward to the year 2012, I was 31 years old, my Husband and I had been married for almost 2 years and were starting to think about expanding our family. I stopped taking the pill and assumed it would be easy. I also assumed that the heavy periods I had started to experience were normal, and perhaps just part of coming off the pill. The link between infertility and gynaecology issues were not something I had considered at this point. I went to my GP several times and was put on various painkillers again. My GP said this was normal. I eventually went to see a gynaecologist at a private hospital, and a transvaginal ultrasound revealed that I had 3 small fibroids. My gynaecologist also suspected that my symptoms suggested endometriosis but said that this could only be confirmed via surgery (laparoscopy). I had my first laparoscopy and was diagnosed in 2014.
To date, I've had 11 surgeries. My most recent one was a hysterectomy. My husband and I had made the heartbreaking decision to end our fertility journey after 12 years and 4 failed rounds of IVF. My uterus was so full of endometriosis, fibroids and scar tissue. My consultant actually said it was the worst case of endometriosis he had seen.
Endometriosis has affected my career too and in June 2023, I handed my notice in at my Business Analyst job because my employer’s sickness absence policy had destroyed my mental health. I had been unwell with severe period pain on and off, and was constantly in disciplinary meetings for exceeding the number of absences allowed. I did ask for the sickness absence policy to be updated to support my condition but I was told there were “too many conditions to consider”. I believe workplaces should be more open and respectful of Women’s Health concerns. This should be reflected in their sickness policies.
I've had to explain what endometriosis is and how it affected me to so many people. This has included friends, family and colleagues. Most people think it's just a bad period. I discovered Endometriosis UK purely through research online a few years ago and now I’m sharing my story to raise awareness this Endometriosis Action Month.
To anyone reading this going through their own endometriosis journey, keep going, you’ve got this and you’re not alone.
