Slowly piecing together the possibility that I may never have experienced what I thought were “normal” periods. I started my first period just before my 9th birthday and they’ve always been heavy and very painful. Even not on my period, I’ve always experienced a LOT of pain like during ovulation, during sex, getting spasms, painful toilet visits, etc. Growing up, I genuinely thought it was normal to not function properly on your period. Missing school, taking painkillers around the clock, sweating through the pain, relying on TENS machines and heat packs for relief, I thought that was just part of being a woman and no one told me otherwise. I’ve even given myself mild toasted skin syndrome from using heat for pain relief so often. I’m 24 now, and two days ago I ended up at a walk-in centre because I was experiencing extremely heavy bleeding that wouldn’t stop (soaking through a pad every hour) alongside excruciating burning pelvic pain. It felt similar to my usual period pain, just amplified significantly. I think the heavy bleeding made everything feel even worse. I was given tranexamic acid through an IV, IV fluids, and Oramorph for the pain, which helped. After waiting several hours, I finally saw a gynaecologist. She asked me a lot about my periods over the years: whether I’d missed school, how often I used painkillers, how severe my symptoms normally were, etc. Then she asked why I’d never seen a doctor about it before. Honestly, I was confused by the question. I’d seen my GP as a young teen and I was just given birth control and told that heavy and painful periods were normal, that missing school or work because of them was normal, and that it was just something you had to put up with as a young woman. She’s referred me for an ultrasound and an outpatient gynaecology appointment. She mentioned that it could potentially be something like endometriosis. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed because this is a lot to process. Has anyone else had a similar experience of realising years later that what you thought was ‘normal’ actually wasn’t? And for those diagnosed with endometriosis, does any of this sound familiar?   submitted by   /u/midnightbold [link]   [comments]