"I was told having a baby might help painful periods before adenomyosis diagnosis"
A woman who gets so bloated she looks "pregnant" was diagnosed with a little-known womb condition - after being told having a baby might help ease her pain.
Grace Almey, 21, has always struggled with painful and heavy periods since she started them aged nine - and would sometimes bleed for three weeks at a time.
Her mum, Joanne, 56, took her to the doctors countless times and Grace tried various different contraceptive pills and the coil but nothing eased her symptoms.
Doctors continued to dismiss Grace's symptoms - and she says she was even told aged 15 'normally we'd tell women to have a baby' to help ease her pain.
She was eventually told they thought it was endometriosis and underwent a laparoscopy which instead diagnosed her with adenomyosis - a condition where the lining of the womb starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb.
Grace, from Scunthorpe, UK, is now living with the condition as the only way to rid her of the pain is to have a hysterectomy - to remove her uterus.
Grace Almey, 21, has always struggled with painful and heavy periods since she started them aged nine - and would sometimes bleed for three weeks at a time.
Her mum, Joanne, 56, took her to the doctors countless times and Grace tried various different contraceptive pills and the coil but nothing eased her symptoms.
Doctors continued to dismiss Grace's symptoms - and she says she was even told aged 15 'normally we'd tell women to have a baby' to help ease her pain.
She was eventually told they thought it was endometriosis and underwent a laparoscopy which instead diagnosed her with adenomyosis - a condition where the lining of the womb starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb.
Grace, from Scunthorpe, UK, is now living with the condition as the only way to rid her of the pain is to have a hysterectomy - to remove her uterus.
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FunTranscript
00:00I was diagnosed with adenomyosis in July this year and here are some symptoms that I have had for 10 years
00:06That I just thought was normal for me
00:08But it was actually adenomyosis. Of course, the main one is having terrible periods. My periods would ruin my life
00:14Whenever I was on my period I would have to have days of school
00:17I would have to take time off work because I was literally bedridden
00:20I was in pain, back and forth to the doctors, back and forth to the hospital
00:24Having bad periods is a major red flag. If you have really terrible periods
00:28This is not normal and please please seek some medical advice. Another symptom I have had
00:32Literally as long as I can remember is really really intense bloating
00:37Like I would be so bloated to the point where like I could literally couldn't bear to have clothes on. I would wake up in the
00:42Morning sometimes with a very swollen stomach like I'd not eaten anything
00:45I'd not drank anything to trigger it. Another big red flag that I have had again
00:50As long as I can remember is painful bowel movements. This would happen specifically on and around my period but going to the toilet for me
00:57Was like incredibly painful. I would have really bad backache. I would be sweating
01:01I would feel sick. And again, I just thought this was my body's reaction to my period but upon obviously
01:06Speaking to medical professionals and also doing research like obviously that is not a normal thing
01:11The thing I've personally suffered with for like since I was a child is having really intense
01:18Uncontrollable emotions. It is very apparent to me now that I had a major major
01:24Imbalance in my hormones and that was causing me to go on these crazy emotional journeys
01:29And I just thought I was sensitive. I thought I'm just a hysterical person, but since learning more about hormones
01:35I really really now understand these emotions and feelings. They weren't who I was as a person
01:40It was chemicals in my body could literally not keep themselves
01:43Keep themselves balanced and this was causing me to have like extreme emotional reaction
01:47I have always been an extremely anxious and stressed person and while that is a whole feat in itself
01:53My adenomyosis and my gynecological issues definitely had a contribution
01:57Because now I'm trying to get those under control and find like the right hormone or balance for me
02:01I'm noticing that I am much more level-headed
02:03I can sort of regulate myself a lot easier as well as making adjustments such as like caffeine intake sleep
02:10All these things are so important and I was really not looking after myself. You are diagnosed with a gynecological condition
02:17It is not like being diagnosed with anything else
02:20Not really the normal process of being diagnosed with an illness and being offered treatment for it
02:24A lot of the time you are kind of left with nothingness after the diagnosis. There's not much information available
02:30It can be so frustrating because you are genuinely left to find things out by yourself and there's no real support
02:35Really anybody you can call and say hey, I'm struggling with this. Like what's your advice?
02:40And as we all know, it's a nightmare to be seen by doctors
02:43And also it's a nightmare to get in touch with your gynecologist if the little treatment options that they offer you
02:47It's a lot of trial and error. So trying different pills or trying the coil then adapting your diet and your lifestyle
02:53but it's all a big blur and there's no real clear direction because there's just not enough research enough education and
03:00There's just not enough training in the medical profession at the moment that I'm aware of. I was diagnosed with adenomyosis
03:06And I told my doctor that's what I'd been diagnosed with. They're like, oh, I've never even heard of that
03:09So doesn't really give you much faith that they're gonna be able to offer you any support or help
03:14The bittersweet reality is the best place I found for information was tik-tok like just researching videos seeing what other people had been through
03:22Seeing what other people have tried
03:23I'm so so grateful for social media for that aspect because I found like such comfort
03:28Finding other women that were going through the same thing and there's so much strength in numbers
03:32So I think if we can all keep pushing and all keep talking about it and raising awareness
03:36Then I would love to hope that eventually we would get to a place where this wasn't the answer