Documents blamed endometriosis for “menstrual cramps”. After 12 surgeries, the woman had her uterus removed

However, Anna Cooper has already undergone 12 surgeries since she was diagnosed with a disease in which uterine cells grow elsewhere in the body nine years ago.

And she takes sustained-release morphine every day, or liquid morphine when things are particularly bad.

Anna from Newbridge, North Wales wants to shed light on her experience and a campaign of change to help others in her situation.

Relation: Scientists Discover the “Cause” of Endometriosis

For Anna, it was a problem that started when she was 11 years old, but it took her seven years to be diagnosed.

She states: “I started my period on my 11th birthday, but my mother wasn’t preparing for my period. I didn’t know what was going on. I was really painful, really heavy, and unstable. I was suffering at a certain time. It’s not like a 5 or 7 day cycle-I would be bleeding like 2 months at a time.

“I go back and forth with my doctor many times and often say,” It’s getting more pain, you’re growing, it’s just part of being a woman. ” I’ve been told many times, especially at school and like that, it’s just your period, you need to keep it going.

“I was absent from many schools because of hospital appointments and generally illness. It really isolates you as a teenager. I didn’t seem to understand anyone, so I was very early. I had to grow. “

At the age of 15, Anna was referred to a pediatrician after finding a swelling under her left rib.

The consultant placed it in an ovarian cyst after exploratory surgery the following year, revealing the real problem when emergency surgery to remove Anna’s appendix found endometriotic cells around her appendix. Was not.

She said. “He took me to surgery, and I was full of it. He had to remove me from surgery and bring me back two weeks later. He removes it all. It took 5 hours. “

Relation: Endometriosis in women took 11 years for doctors to diagnose

A few weeks before her 18th birthday, Anna was diagnosed with endometriosis. It was an important step, but diagnosis is only half the solution to the current lack of cure.

Explaining that time, Anna said. “I remember my 18th birthday party. I was at home and had surgery at a house party so I had a bandage on my entire abdomen.

“Everyone was spending their time in life because I was carefree at the age of 18. I had a lot more to worry about.

“I couldn’t go to college because I didn’t want to live away from home because of the pain. I was hospitalized weekly and did various tests and investigations.”

Shortly after diagnosis, Anna removed endometriosis from the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, and intestines.

Before turning into a Liverpool expert, she was also presented with two terrifying options, at just 18 years old, to get pregnant or have a hysterectomy.

Anna said: “I was 18 when they gave it to me [option].. If I had heard it, I wouldn’t have had a daughter. “

Despite her struggle for health, Anna is determined to remain positive. After meeting her current husband at the age of 19 (now having a 4-year-old daughter Grace), she discovered she was pregnant two weeks before she planned to start IVF treatment.

She also stopped by work one day a week to continue working as a senior dispenser of boots, allowing her to manage hospital appointments and her mother’s life.

But with chronic illnesses like Anna, there are still daily problems she must overcome – including last year when she wore a permanent ileal fistula bag.

In the near future, Anna will undergo a total hysterectomy.

Anna said: “I feel very strongly about it because it is constantly affecting every aspect of my life and it all comes from my period. I feel pain every day. One day Better than the other day. I now had 12 surgeries for it, one left me a bag.

“Because we had [child] We consider ourselves incredibly lucky. But it’s not easy.

When people say, “I have at least one child,” it’s not easy to digest because everyone has an idea in their head. “

She is currently campaigning for menstrual health to become an integral part of the Welsh school curriculum, teaching students not only the time of menstruation, but also the signs to be aware of something wrong.

Anna said: “I don’t want young girls to be in my position, but sometimes I’m in a worse position.

“I have a girl who took 7, 8 or 9 years to diagnose, and I feel that I haven’t heard or heard just because I think I’m on my period.

“My consultant who diagnosed me said that the painful period you were in bed was painful and crippled, which is not normal, but many girls know it ever. If it’s all, I think it’s normal. “

This article was originally Sun Reproduced here with permission