Lauren Jeffries was only 20 years old when she started experiencing ‘strange’ symptoms neither she nor her doctor could explain.
The young woman experienced intense pelvic pain, itching in her private parts, and a constant urge to urinate over several months.
Not only did her GP fail to give her a diagnosis, he told her she might have an STD and suggested getting pregnant to ‘solve’ all her problems.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the now 31-year-old reflects on the arduous journey she went through trying to figure out what was wrong with her.
Initially, she thought it might be a urinary tract infection and sought medication from her GP, but her condition only deteriorated.
Despite multiple visits to the doctor, she was continually misdiagnosed and felt like she was being given random diagnoses ranging from an unplanned pregnancy to sexually transmitted diseases.
‘I felt so dismissed and misunderstood – I don’t know why he thought I had an STD. I had no symptoms for it, just lots of pain and fatigue,’ she said.
‘When I finally got diagnosed with endometriosis a year later, my doctor told me I should consider getting pregnant because he said it would help with my pain.’
That bizarre piece of advice is a common myth about endometriosis that has no scientific foundation.
Lauren Jeffries was only 20-years-old when she started experiencing ‘strange’ symptoms neither she nor her doctor could explain
The young woman suffered through months of ‘sharp, stabbing’ pelvic pain that crashed over her in waves, endless itchiness in her private parts, and felt like she ‘constantly’ needed to go to the toilet
Lauren said she was only 21 and still at university when her doctor suggested getting pregnant.
‘I’d seen this doctor my whole life and only just realised he didn’t really care about me or what was going on.
‘I was working part-time and lived with my parents – I was in no position to have a baby. It’s such a crazy thing to say.
‘We got into an argument about it because I told him it was a myth, but he doubled down.’
She was stunned by how uneducated her own doctor was about the disease, which can lead to life-threatening complications.
‘It’s like he was clutching at straws,’ she said.
He put her through a dozen random tests over six months – including an ‘intrusive’ and ‘horrible’ endoscopy, which involves a camera being inserted into the body.
Endometriosis, which affects one in ten women, develops when tissue that lines the womb grows in other parts of the body.
Lauren said she was only 21 and still at university when her doctor suggested getting pregnant
It can cause bleeding, inflammation and, if left untreated, can lead to infertility.
While there are drugs which can reduce the debilitating symptoms, patients cannot get pregnant while taking them.
Patients with endometriosis wait, on average, more than eight years from the onset of symptoms to receive a diagnosis.
Lauren said that her pain was akin to a ‘sharp, stabbing’ sensation that made her ‘double over’ until it passed.
‘Other times, I’d feel a throbbing pain – or just something aching that never went away,’ she said.
When her GP still couldn’t figure out what was wrong, he gave her a referral for a gynaecologist.
‘My doctor may as well have just said: ‘Oh, this is too hard for us. We obviously don’t know what’s going on so we’re giving up’,’ Lauren said.
When Lauren went to the gynaecologist, she immediately suggested the young woman might have tissue growing on her bladder and booked her in for exploratory surgery a few months later.
Lauren said that her pain was akin to a ‘sharp, stabbing’ sensation that made her ‘double over’ until it passed
‘My symptoms got worse before the surgery – I was bleeding all the time and I was extremely fatigued.
‘My friends and family also told me I just looked very unwell.
‘It was mentally taxing knowing that there was nothing I could do. But I was lucky I went to a private hospital – many women who go through the public healthcare system wait years.’
Lauren said that her pain was often so bad that all she could do was curl up into a ball.
‘I felt so frustrated because I missed out on so much. It was unfair. I kept thinking – ‘Why is this happening to me? Why do I have to deal with this when no one else does? Why am I different?’
‘I missed out on lots of social events and spending time with my friends because I couldn’t leave my room. I felt segregated from other people.’
Lauren hoped that her symptoms would go away after the surgery – but that was not the case.
Doctors removed endometrial tissue from Lauren’s bladder, bowel, and uterus.
Lauren hoped that her symptoms would go away after the surgery – but that was not the case
Lauren was worried the pain would ‘last forever’ – but her doctor later started her on ‘life-changing’ medication
‘I was still in pain everyday after the operation. I was confused, my mum was confused, nothing made sense.
‘The symptoms weren’t as bad as before surgery, but the pelvic pain persisted.’
She was worried the pain would ‘last forever’ – but her doctor later started her on ‘life-changing’ medication.
Two years after her surgery, Lauren was prescribed Visanne – a medication that shrinks endometrial tissue and reduces associated symptoms such as pelvic pain and painful monthly bleeding.
‘Visanne changed my life. I lived in pain every day for a long time, but this medicine gave me my life back,’ Lauren said.
‘I feel like one of the lucky ones. My life has completely turned around. My hope is that other women might now also be able to live a normal life.’
Lauren shared that while she isn’t sure if she wants to have children, she worried about the disease being a barrier to her starting a family.
‘It’s a difficult conversation I’ve had with previous partners.
‘I’m 31 now, and in the back of my mind I’m always thinking about if it’s too late, if I won’t be able to carry a child.’
Around 1million Australian women are living with endometriosis.
The condition causes 40,000 hospital admissions each year, and leaves hundreds of thousands of other women regularly reeling in pain.
