Women from around the world weigh in on their experiences with endometriosis.
6 Women on What It’s Like to Live With Endometriosis
This month is Endometriosis Awareness Month, a campaign launched to raise awareness and help end stigmas around the debilitating condition that has historically been misunderstood and misdiagnosed, leaving many women to suffer in silence.
Despite affecting one in 10 women worldwide, it’s a condition that is rarely spoken about publicly, although thanks to public figures like Alexa Chung and Lena Dunham, and the efforts of charities and campaigns such as this, women are finally being heard.
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is the presence of cells, similar to those found in the womb, growing outside of the uterus, but the cause is still unknown. It can lead to inflammation, scarring and, most typically, chronic pain. The condition usually affects women between the ages of 15 and 49, and has been linked to infertility. There is currently no cure, but there are various treatments for the more severe symptoms, from laparoscopic surgery to more natural remedies. Not only is there physical pain, but the condition can also have a huge impact on women’s mental health and their way of life.
“This March, we want to end the stigma associated with the condition,” Faye Farthing of Endometriosis UK, tells Vogue. “Comments such as, ‘Endometriosis is just a bad period’ or ‘Just get on with it’ need to become a thing of the past. Delayed diagnosis can have a huge impact on someone’s life. Not only can the disease worsen if it goes untreated, it can also have a huge impact on a person’s mental health, education, relationships and career.”
Here, Vogue speaks to six women from around the world about their experience and the strength that has kept them going.
Anita Nneka Jones, 30, UK
“From the age of 14, I started getting painful periods. There was an occasion where my pelvic pains were so bad at school, I ended up at A&E and was diagnosed with minor appendicitis. Years later, I learned that appendicitis is a common misdiagnosis for women with endometriosis.
An Instagram post changed my life. A friend of a friend published a picture of herself in a hospital bed and wrote she'd been diagnosed with a condition called endometriosis. From that moment, I decided I wouldn't let doctors dismiss my pain and insisted I’d be referred to a gynecologist. At 28, I was finally diagnosed with stage 2 endometriosis. The surgeons had found it in three places, including in my bowels.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Anne Lora Scagliusi
