When the symptoms got serious enough that she couldn't move out of her bed, she finally went to the doctor, but even that wasn’t a smooth process.
“When I originally went in to the doctors for pain, I got told it was just period pains and to take some Panadol and it will go away.
"Two days later I went to another doctor and she immediately referred me to the hospital mistaking it for appendicitis, and then I finally got a referral to the gynecologist about five months after.”
It then took her eight months of waiting to see her gynecologist before three months of appointments, scans, and smears to actually get her on the surgery table for her final diagnosis.
The surgery she undertook was a keyhole surgery that removed the endometriosis that was sitting on the outside of her uterus, and the cells were then sent off to a lab to get the definitive results.
However, since endometriosis is a recurring illness Sophie still sees the effects today, after the removal.
“It affects me day to day as I still struggle with the intense pains, and it still affects me working, as I’ll feel super unwell and I’ll end up not being able to move from my bed when it’s at its worst.”
Although dealing with endometriosis has been hard, Sophie still likes to keep a positive outlook on her condition to help support others in the same situation.
