A mum born with two wombs had such bad "double periods" she suffered brain fog and became anaemic - but claims a doctor missed the rare condition saying her symptoms as just "bad cramps".
La-Anna Douglas, 40, was born with one kidney, a liver infection, blood in her stomach, jaundice and severe dehydration.
She got her first period at the young age of ten, suffered from excruciating cramps and pelvic pain constantly.
La-Anna was also left embarrassed when other children noticed bloodstains on her clothes.
In her teenage years the content creator from Baltimore, Maryland, USA noticed that she had cramps on her left side for three to four days before cramps impacted her right side for another three-four days.
But when La-Anna brought this up to her doctor, she claims her concerns were shrugged off and she was told she was just a girl with bad cramps.
She said: "My physician at the time was a man.
"He was the one that did my first smear at the age of fifteen and said that my cervix wasn't visible.
"He never referred me for further testing. He just simply said I am a girl with bad periods.
"The cramps impacted me in a variety of ways. I was often fatigued, I became anaemic, I would sleep for hours and when I started working I passed out on the job a couple of times.
"I also would sometimes have brain fog where I could not concentrate.
"When I slept, I would be knocked out for hours, especially after taking one-thousand milligrams of ibuprofen to try to relieve the pain.
"Sometimes I would sleep about twelve hours."
It was only after she struggled with infertility in her twenties that she was finally officially diagnosed with a didelphys uterus (a double uterus and a double cervix), endometriosis and fibroids.
La-Anna endured several surgeries, infertility drugs and a failed In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) in an effort to try to get pregnant.
Growing up La-Anna was crippled by the symptoms of her two periods, which included brain fog, anaemia and fatigue so bad that she would sleep for hours on end.
She said: "Before my diagnosis, I had never heard of a didelphys uterus'.
"As a young lady, no one ever talked about infertility, reproductive health or women living with a double womb-like me in middle school or high school.
"We were not taught about uterine issues in sex education and young girls today are not taught about reproductive health or infertility.
"While I was growing up I essentially had two periods, my left side would cramp for three-four days followed by my right.
"I bled double the amount of a regular period as well, but my regular physician just shrugged it off as bad cramps.
"Once I was a cashier at a grocery store and had a line of customers going out the door when my period suddenly hit.
"I was wearing khaki pants that day and they were soaked through with blood by the time I was able to excuse myself and run into an open room.
"There are so many women in the world with my same diagnosis or a have a similar kind of issue and they have no idea what they could be suffering from because we oftentimes as women do not request a second opinion if we don't agree with what the physician is saying about what's going on with our bodies.
"It's important that we fearlessly advocate for ourselves.
"People that have struggled with having children could also not have a womb at all as well, which is also something that was never talked about in schools growing up or in today's society."
After eight years of fertility issues, La-Anna fell pregnant naturally in 2012.
She is now six months pregnant with her second child after secondary infertility.
"I got married at twenty-two and my husband and I wanted to start a family a year into our marriage but we were unsuccessful," she says.
"It was an extremely difficult time for me, I was depressed and pushed everyone including my husband away.
"After numerous surgeries for infertility, to remove endometriosis and to open my right cervix, I was so depressed that I was close to taking my own life.
"I blamed myself for not being able to get pregnant and I was also still carrying the weight of my past abuse.
"However, in 2012 by the grace of God in the ninth year of our marriage, after eight years of infertility, I became pregnant naturally.
"After that, we tried again for many years but were repeatedly unsuccessful.
"At the end of 2020, I was ready to have a hysterectomy because I was tired of all of the pain I had experienced for the last 30 years and especially since we hadn't been successful in getting pregnant the second time around up to that point.
"I was told that I was a great candidate to have a hysterectomy, especially because of the fibroids in between my two uteri.
"I was really close to moving forward with the hysterectomy but I'm so glad I changed my decision to have the Laparoscopic Robotic Myomectomy after talking it over with my husband and my mom.
"After several exams including an ultrasound, MRI and a double-balloon procedure - the High Risks OB doctors explained to me that I qualified for a Robotic Laparoscopic Myomectomy to remove the cause of my pain, which was three fibroids growing between my uterus'.
"Amazingly, in September 2021, I discovered for the second time that I am pregnant with another girl."
La-Anna is glad for the life she has now and wants to share her story to motivate other women going through the same struggles.
She added: "So many women have reached out to me on Instagram since I started sharing my story.
"I have received such an overwhelmingly positive response from around the world, from women sharing with me that I have given them hope.
"I've said it to my husband and other people, this baby I am carrying is more than just for us. It's like a beacon of light for others that are struggling.
"It is possible for others to get pregnant, even with reproductive health issues, as I did even with two uterus'.
"The main thing to remember is your worth is not based on you being pregnant, your worth is based on you being you."
