Women with endometriosis share stories in Cwmbran group
It can cause severe pain especially during menstruation and in some cases lead to infertility.
Now a support group for women battling endometriosis has been set up in Cwmbran.
On Sunday, the group's first session took place at the Court Farm and Oakfield Community Centre.
Group member Danielle Howells who suffers with endometriosis (Image: NQ) Danielle Howells aged 27 attended the first meet up.
She started experiencing severe period pain during her time at university.
Danielle explained: 'I had my first period at 16 and it was super heavy, but my first sort of real bad pain was when I was 18 in my first year of uni.
'I went to A&E and obviously, they told me 'It's in your head' but it wasn't.'
Like many women left untreated things got progressively worse for Danielle.
She ended up expelling her decidual cast a cone shaped piece of uterine lining.
Instead of shedding in small pieces, as in a typical period, the entire uterine lining came out in one large piece.
This can be extremely painful.
Yellow ribbons to raise awareness of endometriosis (Image: NQ) Danielle said: 'I went to the toilet had a wee and it just came out and I was like 'yuck!' I took a picture on my phone, and they (medical professionals) were making a joke about it.'
Danielle expressed how thankful she was that a support group had been set up in the local area.
She said: 'It's nice because you get to hear everyone's experiences because it's very lonely to go through so it's nice to feel less alone but at the same time it's horrible because everyone is going through it and you wish they weren't.'
Group leader Sam Rosser outside the Court Farm and Oakfield Community Centre. (Image: NQ) Group leader Sam Rosser 43 has battled with endometriosis throughout her life.
Sam's pain was so bad she even paid £6000 to see an experienced endometriosis surgeon.
Reflecting on the group's first session Sam said: 'I feel like we're all in the same boat we're all going through the same horrific journey and there really is nothing out there.
'I don't know any other groups that meet up who talk about endometriosis.
The group discussions were very emotional at times.
Sam said: 'It can be very triggering and hard to talk about I think until you talk to people about it you don't realise how much it affects you.
'One of the members of the support group suffers so much with her back that she's having to have steroid injections, another in there ended up with an ileostomy.'
Women outside an endometriosis support group at Court Farm and Oakfield Community Centre (Image: NQ) Sam opened up about her own personal battle.
'I'd been struggling since I was nine years old but once Covid hit I genuinely couldn't get out of bed.
'I had no quality of life I wasn't able to go anywhere I wasn't able to do my job to my satisfaction, and I decided to go privately and have surgery.
'My last surgery was £6000, and I didn't have £6000 so we had to take out a loan. My husband actually took on a second job to pay for that.'
The group is next meeting at the community hall on July 27.
A guest speaker who specialises in pelvic therapies will be attending the session.
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