A university student tried to kill herself after bungling
doctors repeatedly dismissed endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome as
period pains – for seven years.
Lucy Grainger, 20, claims she was even told by paramedics
she was "crazy” and "delusional" when she collapsed with
crippling stomach pains.
She was only properly diagnosed with endometriosis and
polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) weeks after she tried to kill herself last
December.
Grainger changed doctors and was instantly referred to a
private hospital and a gynecologist confirmed she needed emergency surgery.
She underwent a three-hour laparoscopy operation in February
and is now recovering at home.
In order to raise awareness about the condition, Grainger is
writing a blog and going into schools to speak to young girls about her
experience.
"I am just relieved that I am finally being taken
seriously," Grainger, of Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire, said. "For
years I was told I was wrong about my body, that I had nothing to worry about
but I was adamant it was more serious."
"I was in so much pain I knew it wasn’t normal. It had
a huge effect on my mental state and I was so depressed I tried to kill myself
by self harming several times," she said. "I don’t remember too much
about it but I remember I was so desperate. I had missed so much of university
because of the pain and no one was listening to me."
"All I remember is going to hospital and being
discharged and coming home. I changed GP surgeries a few weeks later and told
the doctor about my history," she said. "She just said ‘right that’s
it, we need to sort this out’ and referred me to a private hospital."
"If I had gone on the NHS I would have been waiting for
six months but within weeks the surgery took a scan, diagnosed me and sent me
into surgery," Grainger said. "The cost was covered by the NHS but I
was told I would have to pay for future operations."
"I don’t know if my condition will mean I can have
children in the future or not but time will tell. At the moment I am just
trying to get on with my life," she said.
Grainger, currently in her third year at Lincoln University
studying Creative Advertising, first saw a doctor when she suffered
excruciating pelvic pain at age 13.
"I have been told I was 'crazy’ and 'delusional' by
doctors because they couldn't figure out what was wrong," she said.
"Nothing ever came up on scans and tests - little did I know,
endometriosis is only visible when surgery is completed - so I was just
discharged and left to go home."
"This happened too many times for me to count. I was
also misdiagnosed with IBS," she said. "It's the most frustrating
thing being told you're just being 'dramatic' or you're a 'drama queen' because
you can't hack the period pains or the IBS."
"I know my body better than anyone else, and I knew
something was really wrong a very long time ago. Sometimes it was so bad I was
unable to walk and had to just lie in bed," Grainger said. "It was
like being stabbed in the pelvis with a knife, over and over again. It doesn't
come and go, it is there every single day. Pain that affects me so much, I am
almost left paralyzed. The feeling in my legs go and I'm left unable to walk
some days."
"I have lost count of the number of times I took Lucy
to the GP surgery and hospital because she was in pain," Grainger's mom,
Tracey, said.
"The reaction was always the same, it was period pains
or growing pains or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The situation should never
have got to the stage it did but no one listened," she said. "Because
of her age and because I had no history of the condition, everyone thought it
was something else."
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2018/05/01/patient-tried-to-kill-herself-after-doctors-dismissed-crippling-pain-for-7-years.html
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