When I was 11 or 12 I never really thought about my periods. Don't get me wrong, they were horrifically painful at points, but it wasn't until I visited my GP and had a pelvic examination that kickstarted a period of hospitalisations and pain.
Little me had no clue what was going on, I just knew that I was in pain and that something needed to be done to find the cause of it. This was when I was diagnosed with PCOS; a condition that affects how the ovaries work and presents itself in the form of irregular periods, facial hair and difficulty getting pregnant (NHS, 2022). Never in my life did I think I would be having a conversation about fertility at 12 years old, and even though I had a 'diagnosis', I was still told that PCOS isn't painful and that it wouldn't be the cause of my pain.
Fast forward a few years, I had been in and out of hospital, seen various specialists and was misdiagnosed with conditions such as appendicitis and kidney stones, and while I was becoming disheartened, I had hope that the cause of my pain would be found.
The strangest part about all of it was that my pain would always revolve somewhat around my menstrual cycles, and while endometriosis; a long-term condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grow in other places, causing severe period and pelvic pain and other symptoms, was always thrown around in conversation, I was always told I was 'too young' to have it.
Six years and two surgeries later, my certainty that I had endo was finally heard and found.
It was a moment that some might've looked at me and thought I was crazy - I remember waking up and my dad telling me that I had it and I burst out crying, in a way almost out of happiness that I finally knew what was wrong and that I was right in what I thought I had.
Once everything had sunk in, it was a strange feeling. Never before had I had a certainty or plan on what to attempt to handle what I was experiencing; it had always been guess work, and while I began to accept what I had, I found managing the condition a whole different ball game.
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