Vicky’s story
Vicky Reid is a talented celloist, music teacher and part of local Liverpool band The Mono LPs. She’s also been a guest speaker at SPACE. Here’s some of her story about her battle with endometriosis, infertility and IVF treatment, in her own words…
I'm writing this from Liverpool Women’s Hospital, right after I’ve just had major surgery to treat Stage IV Deep Infiltrating Endometriosis.
Yesterday, I had robotic-assisted surgery to remove a 10cm endometrioma (an endometriosis cyst filled with blood on ovary) and endometriosis adhesions that had stuck part of my bowel, uterus, and ovaries together, as well as lesions in other places. This was causing me unbearable pain each month as well as ongoing infertility.
Long story short... I've suffered from very painful and heavy periods most of my life, and have always been told that it's "just normal" and that I should just take painkillers and get on with it, or take contraception to deal with the problem.
I have always, always wanted to be a mum and just assumed it would happen to me naturally and easily, and I was surprised and confused when it didn't. After two years of trying to conceive and various investigations, I was simply told that I had "unexplained infertility" just like so many other women in my situation are.
Eventually my husband Ste and I had nhs funded IVF treatment to help us overcome our fertility problems, and we were INCREDIBLY lucky that it worked first time (although it very almost didn't!). As a result of this, we now have our amazing and beautiful son Maximus, for whom we are very grateful for every day.
But it was actually during one of the IVF scans that the endometrioma was first detected, and it was actually suggested that we cancel our IVF round at the time so that I could sort my health out before resuming with treatment. Although we considered this option seriously, we chose to continue with the round of treatment we were in and we now have our amazing little boy.
Even so, my symptoms returned after I had him, so I told my GP, who was brilliant and sent me for a scan, which detected the large endometrioma (now larger than before). I was referred to gynaecology services, who told me that I needed to be operated on urgently as I was now at risk of ovarian torsion and eruption... Even despite this, it took ANOTHER 2 YEARS of waiting and begging for me to be operated on, before we actually got to this point of treatment for my endemetriosis, and so now here I am.
So all in all, it's taken from me being an adolescent schoolgirl who first started experiencing unusually painful periods to being a 40-year-old woman to get to this point of treatment - which is quite a while to say the least! And I am writing this to raise awareness and to encourage other women in this situation…
So women, please do not ignore your pain or allow yourself to be fobbed off by doctors who say, "That's normal women's problems” or tell you to just get on with it. It is NOT normal to be in continual pain, and you should absolutely not have to put up with it.
If you have had painful periods for a long time, and you encounter any kind of problems getting pregnant - there’s a good chance that this could be the cause.
So speak up, ask for it to be checked out, and keep fighting until you get the help you need.
