For nearly a decade, Chloe was told the pain she felt was normal. Now diagnosed with endometriosis, she is speaking out about the years it took to finally be heard.

“Some people said it was all in my head. I was determined to find out what was going on.”

Her symptoms began at 13, not long after her periods started.

“I kept flooding and I was doubled up in pain,” she recalls. “Hot water bottles and painkillers just didn’t touch it.”

Through her teens and twenties, she moved between GP surgeries and A&E departments, each visit ending with a different explanation: back pain, stress, appendicitis. None of it brought relief.

“I just knew something wasn’t right.”

The first real clue came from a locum doctor at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, who mentioned a condition Chloe had never heard of: endometriosis.

“I always tell people not to Google their symptoms,” she says. “But I did, and everything suddenly made sense.”

By that point, her life had already been shaped by years of unmanaged pain.

“On bad days I stayed in bed, crying, curled into a ball. Normal painkillers didn’t touch it. At one point I was even on liquid morphine.”

She describes the pain as “like barbed wire twisting through my stomach.”

The constant flare ups took a heavy toll on her mental health.

“No one was listening to me. People said it was all in my head. I was exhausted.”

Over time, the condition seeped into every part of her life. Work became impossible. Her social life disappeared. Even family relationships came under strain.

According to Endometriosis UK, around 1.5 million women and those assigned female at birth in the UK are living with the condition. On average, it takes eight years to receive a diagnosis.

For Chloe, support came from an unexpected place.

“The group saved me,” she says, describing a local support network. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d have been in a very dark place.”

Now, with her symptoms under control, she speaks publicly about endometriosis and the need for better education around menstrual health.

“It should be part of sex education. Young people should be taught what is normal and what isn’t. It could save years of suffering.”

Speaking openly has given her a sense of control that treatment alone never did.

“Even though I have been given the all clear, I still want to be a voice for others who are struggling.”

Her advice to anyone living with chronic pain is direct:

“Be selfish. Look after yourself. Even if it’s just brushing your teeth or having a bath. That counts.”