‘I WAS IN AGONY BUT THE DOCTORS JUST DISMISSED ME’
LISA de Jong was just 14 when symptoms of endometriosis began to take a toll on her life – she suffered ‘debilitating’ pain, which caused her to miss school and, years later, to miss work.
The 34-year-old told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘I would faint with my period and have low energy as well, a lot of fatigue. The symptoms got worse as I got older. It was a chronic pain condition that I had to manage my life around. It was so bad, I always knew
that what I was experiencing wasn’t your average normal cramps where you just rest for a couple of hours; it was really, really debilitating.’
However, whenever she went to the GP, her symptoms were dismissed as period pain and the contraceptive pill was advised as a remedy. She said: ‘I was put into this category of painful periods: “Just give her the pill and that will do.” When I was 23, I went to a GP and I was the one who brought up endometriosis. I suggested maybe that is what it was and she said to me: “It could be but it’s very difficult to get diagnosed and you have to get surgery, so let’s put you on another pill.”’
She was diagnosed in 2016 after a laparoscopy and received ablation treatment in Ireland.
Ms de Jong said: ‘The symptoms went on and on and they started getting worse. I just got really suspicious and I started to read more and saw other women going abroad.
‘I decided to travel because I felt I’d been a bit mutilated. I didn’t want to have to try another surgeon in Ireland and go through the same thing again, because surgery is very intense.’
She went to the Endometriosis Clinic in London, and received excision surgery from Peter Barton-Smith, who specialises in the condition.
Since receiving treatment in the UK, she now experiences very little pain.
Although her health insurance covered the cost, she said it would have cost up to €8,000 if she did not have financial cover.
She added: ‘I was delighted but I had a lot of anger because of the life I had lived in chronic pain every month.’
‘I would have loved to have surgery here but I didn’t trust the Irish medical system any more. So I was delighted to get out of here to be honest.’
Ms de Jong said attitudes towards women with symptoms of the conditions need to be improved among healthcare professionals.
She added: ‘When I was under 18, I was with my mum and went in to the GP with period pain problems. As I was leaving, the doctor looked at me and said: “Lisa, if you ever have an accident just come back in and let me know.”
‘I didn’t understand what he was saying then but now I suspect he thought I was making it up to get on the Pill to have sex. I wasn’t believed, my innocence was being questioned.’
‘I didn’t trust the Irish medical system’