My painful and heavy periods are ruining my life

A woman who once had a period that lasted four months has told how her menstrual cycles are ruining her life and have left her feeling isolated.

Izzy Hawksworth, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, experiences excruciating cramps, becomes really bloated and has extremely heavy periods that can last from five days to a couple of months.

Almost every type of contraception has made her ill and she once had a period that lasted a whopping four months when she was on the implant.

The 21-year-old has had ultrasounds, MRI scans and a laparoscopy – a surgery used to examine the pelvic organs and stomach – to find the cause of her symptoms.

She tested negative for endometriosis, a disease where tissue lining grows outside the uterus and adenomyosis, where it grows into the uterus muscular wall.

Doctors also thought Izzy might have a chronic illness called pelvic congestion syndrome or uterine arteriovenous formations, a rare cause of heavy bleeding.

But this also did not show up on the test, which has baffled medics.

The ordeal has left Izzy feeling ‘lonely’ and like she is the only person in the world experiencing the mystery pains.

The writer, said: ‘In a way, I feel quite lonely because nobody understands how I’m feeling.

‘None of my friends or family have periods that are like mine, so I feel like it’s just me who is in this situation.

‘I’m also petrified that I’ll decide I want a baby in the future but then I’ll have fertility issues because of all of my symptoms.

‘I feel like my period actually ruins my life – I’m in constant pain and there’s nothing that I can do to relieve that pain.

‘My cramps even wake me up in the night and I get so bloated that I sometimes look pregnant.

‘It also really affects my mental health – I am constantly looking in the mirror crying because I can’t believe I’ll have to go through this forever.

‘I try my best to keep living my life as normal but it’s so hard when I have to go everywhere with a hot water bottle on my stomach.’

Izzy began having painful periods when she was just 11 and started using the contraceptive patch when she was 16.

Since then, she’s tried numerous types of the pill, the implant and the injection, but they have all made her bleed irregularly and left her in severe pain.

After asking her GP to refer her to a gynaecologist numerous times, she was forced to go private through her father’s healthcare insurance.

Izzy said: ‘The doctors never listened to me about my symptoms.

‘I would make an appointment with them because I was bleeding and they would just make me change the type of contraception I was on.

‘I went on the implant and it absolutely ruined my life – I was on my period for months and never got a break.

‘I felt like my pain was constantly being dismissed, I would be begging them for a referral and they wouldn’t do it.

‘They only agreed to refer me when they realised I had tried every type of contraception available to me and there was nothing else they could give me..’

Izzy has now been told she needs to try and find a type of contraception that can help her manage her periods.

But she added: ‘I had an appointment with the surgeon and he asked me what my fertility plans were.

‘I’m 21, I don’t have any plans to have a child anytime soon.

‘I’ve essentially got to manage my symptoms until I decide to have a baby as they’ve said my periods could be better after that – but that just feels impossible to do.

‘I don’t know how I will be able to survive another 10 years of feeling like this, it actually feels impossible.’

Janet Lindsay, chief executive of Wellbeing of Women, says that women have been dismissed with their period pain for ‘far too long.’

She said: ‘For too long women and girls have been dismissed despite experiencing severe pain and heavy bleeding which can disrupt their lives, relationships, school and careers.

‘They are not receiving the treatment, care and emotional support they need to manage these common yet debilitating problems despite effective treatment options being available.

Wellbeing of Women has launched a ‘Just a Period’ campaign which seeks to address the ‘unacceptable normalisation of heavy and painful periods’ and ensures there is enough information and education available for those who are suffering.