Let’s Chat with Vonn
by Yvonne Anderson
I was always the girl who had intolerances.
The girl who couldn’t eat Mexican.
The girl who had to be close to the bathroom. The girl who always had a stomach ache.
I just remember my mum always saying “You probably have wind! Have a cup of tea!”.
When I got my period I was also the girl with period pain & a heavy flow. As a young woman who played lots of sport, it wasn’t long before my Dr put me on the pill, at the ripe age of 16.
I was on the pill for 8 years. During those 8 years I was sent for HUNDREDS of tests for HUNDREDS of problems but never once was Endometriosis mentioned. Appendicitis, Crohn’s, IBD, IBS, food intolerances, Cervical Cancer, Depression….you name it, they thought I had it!!
It wasn’t until the age of 23, when I came off the pill as I was in a same sex relationship and no longer in need of the contraception, that my symptoms increased significantly. I also had acne, mood swings, breast pain, irregular cycles, heavy bleeding, anaemia and pain during penetration or orgasm. But still, every Dr misdiagnosed me or just completely fobbed me off. One GP even said to me “You probably have PCOS which can affect your fertility but we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it. You’ll need to go back on the pill”.
It was still another 5 years before I was given my diagnosis. After 13 long years, a female GP finally gave me a referral to see a specialist when I presented with bleeding after sex. I’d had 3 Pap smears and multiple blood tests & scans which showed nothing so she, rightly, sent me off for further investigation. I was seen at the Royal Women’s and it was a JUNIOR DOCTOR who diagnosed me after his mentor presented my symptoms and said “What do you think?”. I’ll never forget the moment he said “I think she has endometriosis”. I thought he’d got it wrong. I didn’t have horrendously painful periods and I assumed that’s all it was, so how could that be me??
A laparoscopic surgery with biopsies confirmed it - I had ‘mild’ endometriosis. But thanks to our appalling public system and lack of training for gynaecologists, this ablation surgery only ‘helped’ me for 12 months. Then the pain came back with a vengeance and a myriad of new symptoms like constipation, pain after eating, continual pain during sex, pain on toileting, bladder irritation & more.
Finally, in 2021, after lots of research, tears & waning hope, I found my ‘Knight in shining scrubs’ and had a Gold Standard excision surgery at the Epworth. I actually had Stage 4, Deep infiltrating Endo throughout my pelvis, a twisted bowel, a stuck ovary and more adhesions than you could shake a stick at. My surgeon said my insides were ‘a mess’ but he was happy to have removed all of the Endo and believed I’d have an 80% reduction in my pain.
Almost a year on and my pain is greatly reduced. I gained an Adenomyosis ‘diagnosis’ along the way and I’m now starting a new chapter in my fertility journey. None of this has been remotely easy. There have been so many points in my journey where I wanted to quit, because life was just too darn hard. I absolutely believe that the community I found through Instagram has not only given me the knowledge I needed to advocate for myself but has helped support me through this fight with my body. And this is just the short version of my story.
If I could go back in time and speak to younger me, what would I say? I’d say, never ever doubt yourself. No one knows your body the way you do. There isn’t a Dr in the world who can understand you the way you do, so believe yourself first and foremost. Oh and Google ‘Excision Surgery’ and then get private health.
You can follow Von on instagram @endo_vonn
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