Nichola Barrett went to the doctors when she was 16 years old because of the excruciating stomach pain that was bothering her. She felt that something was wrong with her body, but doctors casually told her that it was most likely caused by the heavy periods that she was getting. Barrett was prescribed with painkillers.
According to The Sun, doctors told Barrett that the cramps would go away. However, the cramps were still there. So, she returned to the doctors. Fast forward to ten years, the pain was still there and began on bothering her so much. When Barrett visited a gynecologist, she was diagnosed with endometriosis.
Endometriosis means that there is an abnormal growth of the lining in her womb right outside the uterus. During the examination of her womb, doctors told Barrett that they discovered a scar tissue in one of her fallopian tubes that was extremely severe. This meant that she won’t be able to conceive kids in her own body.
Barrett was only 25 years old when she discovered the devastating truth, as she was planning to have children. Now that she’s 29, she called the diagnosis as “like a punch in the face.” While her friends and family are busy taking care of their own children, Barrett had to get ready for her hysterectomy to stop the pain and the build-up of scar tissue.
Barrett said, “I remember thinking, “How can I never be a mum?” I wasn’t bothered about the pain anymore, it was more about how I wanted to be a mum. I still can’t get my head around it even now; I am never going to be a mum. You plan a life and then to be told you can’t have that life, it is like a punch in the face.
“When I first found out, my sister had just got pregnant again, so it put me in a predicament with her because I thought, ‘How can I be close with her?’ I am really close with my sister but I struggled because she had these newborn babies and I couldn’t feel happy because it’s what I wanted and my sister had it all. I started resenting my sister a little bit because she has now got five kids, it was really hard.”
Barrett wanted to share her story to other women and encourage them to consider endometriosis as a possible cause if such pain is to be felt.
Barrett said, “If it is a different kind of pain I hope people will go to the doctor and get checked, I don’t want people to go through what I have gone through. I would like doctors to listen to the patients, we know our own bodies and we know different pains. At least I could help somebody.”
