A woman who was left bedbound is raising awareness of a condition that affects one in 10 people assigned female at birth. Endometriosis is a chronic, incurable condition that takes, on average, seven years to be diagnosed after someone starts experiencing symptoms.
The Echo reports how Linda Hardaker had to wait almost 15 years to be diagnosed with the condition. This was despite going to see a doctor when she was aged 15, two years after symptoms - heavy periods and mood swings - began. Endometriosis occurs when the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body. The pain caused during periods when the lining sheds, and the blood has nowhere to go, is debilitating.
Linda, from Liverpool, knew she had the condition because her mum, aunt and cousins had been living with it for years. But doctors refused to accept that it was hereditary. The mum-of-four recalls leaving a concert, aged just 17, with her pants "literally saturated with blood". Doctors wrote the incident off as a heavy period. She was finally diagnosed when she was 27 after being rushed to hospital because she had collapsed due to a stabbing, twisting pain in the abdomen. Even the strong painkiller co-codamol failed to soothe the pain.
