Charlotte McCann has been dealing with severe pain from endometriosis since she was 14. It became so intolerable as an adult she had to leave her chosen career. She would wake up in the night vomiting, and on some days Charlotte found she could not stand or get out of bed.
It is a myth that endometriosis is a painful period condition - rather, it is a system-wide inflammatory disease where cells, similar to those which line the womb, start to grow in other parts of the body. This can be on the bowel or in the lungs - and the cells multiply, creating raw and angry sores. Those affected can wait years for diagnosis, and there is no cure - meaning women are left grappling with debilitating pain that can affect their relationships, work, education and mental health.
Now age 27, Charlotte hopes a new pain management programme for the condition, which is being trialled as part of a £2.3m study, might help others in her position. The UK-wide study, led by the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian, will include pain medication alongside other treatments such as physiotherapy, and will investigate whether a personalised plan can improve quality of life. Women can wait years for an endometriosis diagnosis.
New tech could change that Emma Barnett: We can't ignore this disease that leaves one in 10 women like me in agony Charlotte, from Huntly in Aberdeenshire, is currently living with stage 4 endometriosis, external. She had to abandon her career in corporate finance due to the pain, and now works as a freelance pet-sitter when she can. "I would wake up in the night vomiting and I was always worried that maybe my appendix had burst or I had a kidney infection or something like that," she recalled.
"The pain would come on so strong, I wouldn't be able to even sit up straight, I wouldn't be able to stand up. "It was heavily disrupting my life. I couldn't focus on anything, and I couldn't sleep or eat because of the pain.
"There's no way I could continue my nine-to-five job when I could barely sit up." Charlotte said she had years of not knowing what was wrong, until an MRI scan confirmed endometriosis. More stories from North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Listen to news from North East Scotland on BBC Sounds It affected her bladder, and has spread to other parts of her body. "I am now on very strong opioid painkillers to try to get on top of the pain, but they make me feel very sick, to the point I can't eat, so I have lost a lot of weight now as well," she said.
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