Have you ever been so physically and emotionally overwhelmed by pain, exhaustion and nausea that you can barely lift yourself off the sofa? Never mind managing to be fully present for a full day’s work on top of the commute there and back. I have, and it’s a monthly occurrence, thanks to the triple whammy of endometriosis (where tissue grows outside of the uterus), adenomyosis (where the uterine lining grows into the muscular wall of the uterus) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (a hormonal and endocrine condition causing irregular periods and excess androgens).
Being at the mercy of what studies suggest is a genetic lottery, I’ve grappled with heavy, prolonged and hard-to-predict periods since my teens and during my early twenties my symptoms took a turn for the worse. I was facing pelvic, leg and joint pain and extreme bloating even outside of my periods. I made frequent hospital appointments to try and pinpoint the cause.
