Master Grazia’s life skills

Emma Barnett, journalist and broadcaster Endometriosis manifests itself differently in every woman. You could have it mildly at first, then it may get worse, which is why it’s difficult to diagnose. The average time it takes to get an endometriosis diagnosis is seven years, with some women having no symptoms until they try for a baby – then the symptom is not being able to get pregnant naturally.

Some women with endometriosis experience huge difficulty having sex, while some have pain the entire time, which can be confused with fibromyalgia. For me, the hallmark of endometriosis isn’t the amount of blood or the heaviness, it is the pain before and during my period.

For years, I thought everyone had very painful periods or, if they didn’t, they were just extremely lucky. Women who don’t have endometriosis can have painful periods but, with endometriosis, we are talking pain on another level. It comes down to women thinking ‘this is normal’ when it’s not, but we don’t have the language to describe it because we’ve been taught to expect periods to be painful. I knew something wasn’t right with me, I just didn’t know how to articulate it. So it’s also about listening to that voice inside you and not taking no for an answer.

In the past, my period has made me want to vomit; feel like I couldn’t walk; my bowel has been horrendous; I felt like I had a rod of iron in my middle pulling me down into the centre of the earth, utterly incapacitated. But periods shouldn’t leave you feeling like this.

You can only be 100% certain that you have endometriosis if you have keyhole surgery: a laparoscopy. It’s bloody important that you do that. It is the single most important thing. Emma Barnett’s book, ‘Period.’ , (£12.99, HQ) is out now