Girl with agonising womb condition tries to kill herself ... after 7 years of being fobbed off by GP
A STuDENT has told how she tried to kill herself after doctors failed to diagnose her agonising womb condition for seven years.
Lucy Grainger, 20, said at times the pain from endometriosis was so severe it felt like being stabbed – and on some days she was left unable to walk.
She first went to see her doctor aged 13 but was dismissed as simply suffering from period pain or irritable bowel syndrome. For most of her teenage years she struggled with the pain, constantly visiting the GP with no progress, and even being labelled ‘crazy’ and ‘delusional’.
The experience had a profound impact on her state of mind – and in December last year she tried to take her own life.
‘It had a huge effect on my mental state and I was so depressed I tried to kill myself by self-harming several times,’ she said. In the aftermath of her latest attempt she decided to change her doctor. ‘It’s the most frustrating thing being told you’re just being dramatic or ... because you can’t hack the period pains,’ she said. ‘I knew something was really wrong a very long time ago.’
When her new doctor learned of her medical history, he sent Miss Grainger for NHS treatment at a private hospital – and it was there that she was finally diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Within weeks she had a scan and was referred for immediate surgery. She had a three-hour laparoscopy operation in February and has been recovering at home in Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire.
Now Miss Grainger, a third-year advertising student at Lincoln university, wants to raise awareness of endometriosis, a gynaecological condition which affects 1.5 million in the uK. It can cause painful or heavy periods, and may lead to infertility, bowel and bladder problems. ‘It was like being stabbed in the pelvis with a knife, over and over again,’ she recalled. ‘I am just relieved that I am finally being taken seriously.
‘For years I was told I was wrong about my body, that I had nothing to worry about but I was adamant it was more serious. I was in so much pain I knew it wasn’t normal.’
Miss Grainger is facing the prospect of not being able to have a family because of her condition. But she is determined to make the most of what she does have.
‘My doctor said he’ll do everything he possibly could, treatment and operation wise, to see if there would be that small chance,’ she said. ‘At the moment I am just trying to get on with my life.’