So my name is Helen McLachlan.
I'm 36 and I'm a volunteer for Endometriosis UK.
I started my periods quite late, I was 14.
By the age of 16, I was having a period
every other week and I went to my GP
who put me on the contraceptive pill
and said: "You've just got irregular periods.
The pill will regulate that.”
So that was age 16.
Age 25, 26
I then started to get pain the week after my period.
So my periods of always been beautiful; four days, fairly light
and then I started to get pain the week after my period, but the pain
then developed to be not just a couple of days after my periods,
it was then a week, then two weeks and it progressed to be
all month round.
I struggled to walk, I was in A&E
four times in a three-month period.
I had severe problems walking.
I would burn myself with my hot water bottle.
I went to my GP and said: “Look, I've got this scarring on my tummy.
Is this endo coming through my skin?”
He said: “No, you know, it's where you're burning yourself.
You can clearly see the hot water bottle imprint on your tummy.”
I was under the care of a general surgeon in 2011,
and I wrote him a four-page letter with my pain and symptom diary.
I cried on it when I was writing, I was unable to work.
I was on 25 tablets a day.
My mental health was incredibly bad.
Thank goodness I had a dog that I loved more than myself,
and I wrote to the general surgeon and just said: “I think
I've got endometriosis will you do a diagnostic laparoscopy.”
And he woke me up from the surgery and said:
“Didn't find any adhesions, but I did find endometriosis”
and he tapped me on the leg and said: “Good luck.”
I was then put on Zoladex
which puts you in a medically induced menopause
it’s a temporary menopausal state, and I had horrific side
effects from that.
It was winter
I could go out and I could melt the snow.
The hot flushes were incredible
and no one really told me that's what was going to happen.
It was just an awful, awful six months of my life.
I then had surgery in 2012,
which relieved the pain somewhat.
Then I had the Mirena coil
put in later on in that year, six months afterwards.
And then I was okay for a couple of years.
I lived in Australia and I lived very well, I lived a lot.
I just wanted to live while I was able to.
So I've since had three more surgeries.
2015, 2018 and another one in 2019
and endo just is part of everyday life.
I get insane bloating, which is why I'm wearing a dress.
I can't wear fixed jeans.
I haven't been able to wear jeans since 2011.
At my worst, I struggled with the pressure
of a seatbelt across my tummy because the pain is too much.
I have migraines, insane ovulation pain.
But at the moment, in terms of the endo situation, I'm managing.
Since 2011, I would estimate that I have not earned in excess
of £60,000 because of not working, my reduced hours.
Then on top of that, you've got the financial commitments.
So I take supplements to try and help my body as best as possible.
You've got the hot water bottles, the heat pads.
It's expensive to be chronically ill,
so the mental health impacts of endometriosis
is often not discussed and it's underrated.
It knocks your confidence, your self-esteem.
So I'm a qualified accountant, but it's took me a lot more time
to get qualified because I would sit one exam per
exam period, whereas other people take three exams at once.
It affects how you view your body.
It affects the jobs that you go for.
It affects how much you believe in yourself
it affects what you commit to.
In terms of planning a wedding
I can't plan my wedding
because I don't know how bad I'm going to be at the time.
However, the longer your diagnosis time goes on,
the more people will tell you it's in your head
and trust me, we know our bodies
and no one on earth would go through this for fun.
I was at a research conference two weeks ago and a GP spoke,
and she was saying how they feel a bit helpless, to be honest,
because endometriosis doesn't necessarily show on scans
so they can order an ultrasound, but that's a process to rule out
polycystic ovaries, fibroids, etc.
So GPs, I desperately feel for them because
I believe no one goes to work and wants to do a bad job
but I feel that GPs need a lot more support
and training and information
and you know, we all need to
hook up a bit more to support them to be able to support us.
Covid-19 has proved to us that if you put enough money
and resources into a problem, that it can be effectively
managed and endometriosis and polycystic ovaries,
the medical experts
are begging for cash and resources, they are absolutely desperate.
They've got all the will in the world.
It's so important it becomes a political issue
because it just is, like you cannot ignore
something that affects half the population.