My Name is Shannon.
I started my periods at age 11 and started having really heavy periods in Year 9, to the point that I was always curled up in pain. Having to go to school was exhausting as I was always told that this amount of pain with periods was normal, so I continued to deal with the pain right up to 2018, when I moved in with my now husband.
In November that year I had my appendix removed and the pain kept coming daily. The amount of doctors I saw that kept that saying it was just UTIs and post surgery pain etc!
We moved from where we were living to Manchester, where then I saw my current GPs who actually listened to me. They referred me to see a gynaecologist at first who wasn’t listening to me and instead told me to try the Marina Coil and that 6 Months later they would review how I was - but I was in so much pain and kept bleeding every 2 weeks.
I was given a date for my laparoscopy and was finally diagnosed with Endometriosis on the 12th March 2024 after a long fight and battle of 5 years I now have an answer to what my pain was!
My piece of advice to anyone going through this right now and trying to get a diagnosis would be to keep advocating for yourself! Don't give up if you feel something isn't right, keep fighting and you'll get there in the end! It's a tough ride but with the correct support around you or online you can get what you need and the answers you need ❤️
- Shannon