Stories women shared

I bled through a super tampon every hour for years and was told heavy periods run in families. Three GPs said the same thing. When I finally got a scan at 34 they found two fibroids, one the size of a lemon. My iron was so low the nurse asked how I was still walking around.

Condition: Fibroids and severe anaemia

Hannah · 34, Leeds

Every month was a week of agony and flooding, but my mum was told the same thing at my age so I assumed it was just how bodies worked. At 37 an MRI showed adenomyosis had essentially taken over the muscle of my womb. Nobody had ever suggested a scan.

Condition: Adenomyosis

Anonymous · 38, Leicester

Period pain that made me vomit and pass out was called a low pain threshold. I was 15 when it started. I got my endometriosis diagnosis at 26, after a laparoscopy that found it on my bowel and bladder. Eleven years of being told to take paracetamol and relax.

Condition: Endometriosis

Anonymous · 27, Manchester

My hair was falling out, my periods stopped for months at a time and I was gaining weight fast. I was told to lose weight and come back. It took four years and a private appointment to hear the words polycystic ovary syndrome. Nobody had ever checked my bloods properly.

Condition: PCOS

Amara · 29, Birmingham

Sex had hurt every single time since my first relationship. I was told to have a glass of wine and relax, by more than one doctor. Four years later a specialist wrote the word vulvodynia in my notes and I cried in the car park because it finally had a name.

Condition: Vulvodynia

Anonymous · 26, Plymouth

After my second baby I could not laugh, sneeze or run without leaking. Every health visitor said it was just what happens after childbirth. Two years later a women's health physio found a grade two prolapse. It was treatable the whole time and no one looked.

Condition: Pelvic organ prolapse

Anonymous · 33, Bristol

I had crushing chest pain, jaw pain and nausea and the doctor told me it was anxiety and reflux. I went home with omeprazole. Three days later I was in resus having a heart attack. I was 48 and had no idea women often present differently.

Condition: Heart attack

Sue · 49, Glasgow

I put on weight, my hair thinned and I could fall asleep standing up. The GP suggested eating less and joining a class. When I eventually got a blood test my thyroid was barely working at all. I had spent about two years being told I was just tired for my age.

Condition: Hypothyroidism

Catherine · 51, York

I was 43 with insomnia, rage, brain fog and joint pain. I was offered antidepressants twice. It was perimenopause. My bloods were called normal so it was dismissed, even though the guidance says you do not need bloods at my age.

Condition: Perimenopause

Anonymous · 44, Cardiff

Painful sex was blamed on nerves and not enough lubricant. I was told to have a glass of wine. It went on for six years. It turned out to be vaginismus alongside lichen sclerosus, and the delay meant scarring that could have been avoided.

Condition: Lichen sclerosus and vaginismus

Anonymous · 31, Nottingham

I went through urine samples, antibiotics and scans for years because I had constant bladder pressure and burning. Six of the tests came back negative so I was told to cut out caffeine. A urologist finally diagnosed interstitial cystitis and explained why none of the antibiotics ever did anything.

Condition: Interstitial cystitis

Fiona · 31, Aberdeen

Bloating that made me look pregnant was put down to IBS for eighteen months. I was 38. A private scan found a large ovarian cyst and, after surgery, borderline ovarian tumour cells. I still think about how close I came to leaving it another year.

Condition: Borderline ovarian tumour

Priya · 39, London

I was exhausted, freezing all the time and losing hair by the handful. I was told new mums are just tired. My thyroid antibodies were sky high when a locum finally tested them. Postpartum thyroiditis, missed for nearly a year.

Condition: Postpartum thyroiditis

Anonymous · 30, Sheffield

Two days before every period I lost a day of my life to a headache behind one eye. Everyone said period headaches are normal, take paracetamol. A neurologist took one look at my diary and said hormonal migraine, and the preventive he put me on gave me those days back.

Condition: Hormonal migraine

Anonymous · 29, Milton Keynes

Sickness in pregnancy that stopped me keeping water down was called morning sickness. I lost 9kg before anyone used the word hyperemesis. I ended up on a drip twice because I was told to try ginger biscuits and small meals.

Condition: Hyperemesis gravidarum

Ellie · 28, Newcastle

Recurring cystitis symptoms with clear dipstick tests meant I was told nothing was wrong and it might be stress. Four years later a specialist found embedded chronic infection. I had been offered pelvic floor exercises and antidepressants instead of a proper culture.

Condition: Chronic urinary tract infection

Anonymous · 36, Liverpool

I was weeing constantly and so thirsty I was drinking litres of water a night. I was told that is just pregnancy. At my 28 week appointment a routine glucose test showed gestational diabetes that had clearly been building for weeks. My daughter was fine, but I was furious it took that long.

Condition: Gestational diabetes

Anika · 33, Cambridge

Three miscarriages and I was told it was bad luck and to try again. Only after the third did anyone run tests. I have a clotting disorder that is manageable with treatment. Two of those losses might have been preventable if the rule had not been wait until three.

Condition: Antiphospholipid syndrome

Anonymous · 35, Belfast

My mood crashed in the two weeks before every period, to the point I was making plans to leave my job and my relationship. I was told all women get PMS. A psychiatrist eventually diagnosed PMDD after I tracked symptoms for six months myself.

Condition: PMDD

Rachel · 32, Brighton

My ankles disappeared, my head throbbed and I saw flashing lights. I rang the maternity line and was told aches and swelling are normal at that stage. At my next appointment a midwife took my blood pressure, went quiet, and sent me straight to the maternity unit with pre-eclampsia at 32 weeks.

Condition: Pre-eclampsia

Anonymous · 30, Sheffield

Breast pain and a lump were called hormonal changes because I was 26 and had no family history. I was sent away twice. The third GP referred me. It was an early stage tumour and the surgeon said the delay had let it grow.

Condition: Breast cancer

Anonymous · 27, Southampton

Constant pelvic pain after a coil fitting was dismissed as my body adjusting. Eight months of that. A scan showed the coil had partly perforated the wall of my womb. Nobody had scanned me because the fitter said it felt fine at the time.

Condition: Coil perforation

Nia · 38, Swansea

My periods stopped for five months and I was told it was work stress and to take a holiday. A locum finally ran hormone tests and found I was going through menopause at 34. Premature ovarian insufficiency. If I had not pushed for bloods I would probably still be told to book a spa weekend.

Condition: Premature ovarian insufficiency

Lauren · 35, Durham

I was told my joint pain and fatigue at 25 were down to being run down and probably a bit depressed. Years later a rheumatologist diagnosed lupus. I had textbook symptoms including the rash, and it still took five separate appointments to be taken seriously.

Condition: Lupus

Anonymous · 34, Coventry

Bleeding after sex in my fifties was put down to dryness after menopause. I was given a cream. When I pushed for a referral a year later they found endometrial cancer, caught early by luck rather than by anyone listening.

Condition: Endometrial cancer

Margaret · 56, Norwich

I fainted on a bus and a friend dragged me to a walk in centre. The GP there asked about my periods, went pale at the answer, and sent off bloods. My ferritin was close to nothing from years of heavy bleeding. Apparently being pale and exhausted was not just the student lifestyle after all.

Condition: Iron deficiency anaemia

Anonymous · 22, Exeter

I could not stop crying and had frightening intrusive thoughts about my baby. Everyone said it was the baby blues and would pass in two weeks. It was six months before someone screened me properly and named it postnatal depression with anxiety.

Condition: Postnatal depression

Anonymous · 31, Edinburgh

I found a lump and was told at 44 that lumpy breasts are common at my age and it was probably cystic. Six weeks later it had not changed. I paid for a private ultrasound and they found something that needed a biopsy. It turned out benign, but the wait taught me that probably does not mean check back if it grows.

Condition: Breast lump dismissed as cysts

Deborah · 45, Salford

Bleeding between periods, clots the size of 50p pieces, and a GP who told me some women just have heavy periods. It took changing practices to get a referral. Two polyps the size of my thumb were removed and the bleeding stopped within a month. I had accepted years of it as normal.

Condition: Uterine polyps

Gwen · 47, Newport

Eleven years. That is how long I was treated for IBS with diets, peppermint capsules and a leaflet. The pain was cyclical and nobody joined the dots with my periods. When a new consultant ordered a laparoscopy he found endometriosis stuck to my bowel and bladder. Eleven years of food diaries for that.

Condition: Endometriosis after years labelled IBS

Anonymous · 34, Bath

After my son was born I could not sleep, kept replaying the birth and jumped at every noise. Health visitors said new mums feel emotional and to get more rest. It was postnatal anxiety and trauma from the delivery. Only when I said out loud that I was scared to be alone with him did anyone refer me properly.

Condition: Postnatal anxiety and birth trauma

Chloe · 29, Wolverhampton

Intercourse was impossible and every check up said everything looks perfectly normal. I was handed a leaflet about relaxation. It took a psychosexual clinic to explain vaginismus, that it is physical and common and treatable, and that nothing being visibly wrong is the whole point.

Condition: Vaginismus

Anonymous · 28, St Albans

The pain woke me at 3am and I was vomiting. The out of hours doctor said it was likely period pain and to take ibuprofen. By morning I was in A and E with a cyst that had twisted my ovary. They saved the ovary, barely. I was 25 and told to keep an eye on it next time.

Condition: Ovarian cyst torsion

Sofia · 25, Luton