Aisha Tukur
Emily Griffiths wants to have an operation to remove her womb, known as a hysterectomy.
At 26, with no children, she knows it is a big step. But endometriosis and adenomyosis have left her housebound, in debilitating pain, and unable to see a future as a mum.
Right now, she simply dreams of being able to go for a walk unaided. But she says she has been unable to find a clinician who will discuss the procedure because of her age.
“Doctors are too busy planning ahead for the child I might want in the future and can’t see where I am right now,” said Emily, from Carmarthenshire.
Emily’s symptoms started when she was 12, with periods so painful and heavy that she missed school and became anaemic.
She said GPs told her the pain was normal.
“They would say it was all in my head and I was just trying to be off school,” she said.
Emily was diagnosed with endometriosis aged 21, after collapsing with sepsis.
She was referred to a specialist centre in Cardiff, but said the wait was so long that her family self-funded private surgery.
Emily, who has been unable to see an NHS specialist, said she had lost count of the private clinicians she had seen and felt there was “zero support” from the health service.
A hysterectomy would leave Emily infertile and prompt the menopause, which in turn could increase her risk of osteoporosis, heart disease and dementia.
Yet for the past three years she has been given a monthly injection to chemically induce menopause, pausing her periods in an effort to alleviate her symptoms.
Scans show that has caused her bone density to deteriorate.
“A hysterectomy isn’t a cure for endometriosis, but it is for adenomyosis,” she said, adding she was 23 when she received that additional diagnosis.
“Even though it’s a big step, I could have the possibility of maybe going for a little walk when I’m really struggling… but at the moment I’m stuck in a very dark place.”
