It takes on average 9 years to be diagnosed with endometriosis in Wales – that’s too long!

There are 1.5 million in the UK with endometriosis – and most struggle to have their voice heard..

Lowri lives with endometriosis and in her spare time volunteers for Endometriosis UK as the Mid Wales Support Group Leader and Campaigns & Social Media Volunteer for Wales.

Here is Lowri's endometriosis story (for those I haven't bored with it already!):

From my first period (aged 14) cramps would radiate from my lower ribs down to my knees, I would bloat to the size of a heavily pregnant woman and my periods were really heavy. I knew something wasn’t quite right, I just figured that everyone was different.

Like other women in my support group, I have spent years having GPs tell me “you’re a woman, you will just have to learn to live with it” and suggesting ibuprofen, hot water bottles and putting me on the pill.

I was finally officially diagnosed with endometriosis via laparoscopy in August 2016. I was approaching my 31st birthday.

Five years and various surgical and hormonal treatments (including two lots of chemical menopause) later I had excision surgery with one of Wales’s NHS endometriosis specialists at the end of October 2021. Thankfully I was added to their surgery list pre-Covid and my operation was performed in a different hospital in order to speed up the waiting time. After being in theatre for just over six hours, all of my visible endometriosis was excised (there was a lot of it) and I was diagnosed with the added loveliness of suspected adenomyosis. (Just a reminder..... there is no cure for endometriosis and there is a 30-50% potential chance it will come back even after the 'gold standard' of treatment).

I am so grateful that I was able to have my operation as I know through my support group that many women are still waiting and potentially face years before they are seen and treated. Some are even taking out large loans in order to be treated privately as they can’t cope with the delays to treatment.

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