By Naga Munchetty5 Live presenter”What’s wrong with me?” It’s a question we’ve all asked at some point. We know when something isn’t normal – we want to know why, and what can be done to make things better.For millions of women around the world who experience menstrual pain and heavy periods, it’s a question that can take years to answer. And in many cases the only thing that can be done to make things better is drastic: a full hysterectomy.On average, it takes around eight years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, a condition that sees tissue similar to the lining of the womb growing outside the uterus. That’s eight years of severe pain for many women.For adenomyosis, a similar condition in which the tissue grows inside the muscular wall of the uterus, it can take even longer. In my case, it took 32 years. More than three decades of pain so severe that I sometimes couldn’t sleep at all. Thirty-two years of, at times, incredibly heavy bleeding that would last for weeks; 32 years in which doctor after doctor struggled to work out what was wrong me and – in some cases – even told me there was nothing wrong at all.And I’m not alone. When I first spoke about my diagnosis on my BBC Radio 5 Live programme, I was overwhelmed by the stories I heard from women who had gone through something similar. They are stories that I’ve been hearing ever since. Stories of women in crippling pain for decades. Naga reveals womb disorder makes her scream in painNaga Munchetty told to suck it up by NHS doctorsSukhi, who spoke to me on air after texting the programme, told me she waited 20 years to be told she had endometriosis: “I was flooding. I couldn’t leave the house. I was having to use incontinence nappies just to get to work and back.”So why, given that 51% of us are women, isn’t it easier to find out what’s wrong with us? Why does diagnosis take so long, and frequently become a battle with medical professionals? Why don’t we have simple tests for a condition that’s thought to affect one in 10 women? And will we ever find an effective treatment short of a full hysterectomy?Those are the questions I took to Edinburgh this week, with my BBC Radio 5 Live programme, to meet some of the researchers and scientists trying to find answers.’Passing out every month’The Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh is one of the few places in the UK where conditions like adenomyosis are being actively investigated by researchers. Dr Kate Walker is one of the research assistants at the lab and when I meet her, she’s examining bottles of period blood provided by women. She is looking at why some women experience far heavier periods than others, and what that can tell us about their underlying conditions. “On average, blood loss in a period would be 30-40ml,” she tells me. One of the bottles she’s looking at contains 400ml. “This is more blood than you would be allowed to donate in three months, and this woman is losing this amount every month.”Jen Moore, 34, came with me to the lab in Edinburgh to see for herself what the scientists are working on. Her adenomyosis symptoms only stopped earlier this year when she underwent a full hysterectomy.”I was passing out every month and just thinking it was normal, and just telling myself ‘why can’t I deal with this like everybody else?'”It’s an issue that means a lot to Dr Walker, because it’s something she’s experienced herself. So did her mother. And so does her 12-year-old daughter.”Heavy periods affect one in three women at some p …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBy Naga Munchetty5 Live presenter”What’s wrong with me?” It’s a question we’ve all asked at some point. We know when something isn’t normal – we want to know why, and what can be done to make things better.For millions of women around the world who experience menstrual pain and heavy periods, it’s a question that can take years to answer. And in many cases the only thing that can be done to make things better is drastic: a full hysterectomy.On average, it takes around eight years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, a condition that sees tissue similar to the lining of the womb growing outside the uterus. That’s eight years of severe pain for many women.For adenomyosis, a similar condition in which the tissue grows inside the muscular wall of the uterus, it can take even longer. In my case, it took 32 years. More than three decades of pain so severe that I sometimes couldn’t sleep at all. Thirty-two years of, at times, incredibly heavy bleeding that would last for weeks; 32 years in which doctor after doctor struggled to work out what was wrong me and – in some cases – even told me there was nothing wrong at all.And I’m not alone. When I first spoke about my diagnosis on my BBC Radio 5 Live programme, I was overwhelmed by the stories I heard from women who had gone through something similar. They are stories that I’ve been hearing ever since. Stories of women in crippling pain for decades. Naga reveals womb disorder makes her scream in painNaga Munchetty told to suck it up by NHS doctorsSukhi, who spoke to me on air after texting the programme, told me she waited 20 years to be told she had endometriosis: “I was flooding. I couldn’t leave the house. I was having to use incontinence nappies just to get to work and back.”So why, given that 51% of us are women, isn’t it easier to find out what’s wrong with us? Why does diagnosis take so long, and frequently become a battle with medical professionals? Why don’t we have simple tests for a condition that’s thought to affect one in 10 women? And will we ever find an effective treatment short of a full hysterectomy?Those are the questions I took to Edinburgh this week, with my BBC Radio 5 Live programme, to meet some of the researchers and scientists trying to find answers.’Passing out every month’The Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh is one of the few places in the UK where conditions like adenomyosis are being actively investigated by researchers. Dr Kate Walker is one of the research assistants at the lab and when I meet her, she’s examining bottles of period blood provided by women. She is looking at why some women experience far heavier periods than others, and what that can tell us about their underlying conditions. “On average, blood loss in a period would be 30-40ml,” she tells me. One of the bottles she’s looking at contains 400ml. “This is more blood than you would be allowed to donate in three months, and this woman is losing this amount every month.”Jen Moore, 34, came with me to the lab in Edinburgh to see for herself what the scientists are working on. Her adenomyosis symptoms only stopped earlier this year when she underwent a full hysterectomy.”I was passing out every month and just thinking it was normal, and just telling myself ‘why can’t I deal with this like everybody else?'”It’s an issue that means a lot to Dr Walker, because it’s something she’s experienced herself. So did her mother. And so does her 12-year-old daughter.”Heavy periods affect one in three women at some p …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
