A woman experiencing gynaecological health issues was repeatedly dismissed and told to ‘just take paracetamol’ by doctors during her 13-year battle to receive a correct medical diagnosis.
Gabriella Pearson, 32, from Surrey, started having ‘cripplingly painful’ periods at the age of ten and is now unable to work or conceive naturally due to her conditions.
Doctors ‘constantly dismissed’ her pleas for help, labelled her ’emotional’, and put her on the contraceptive pill at age 12, telling her her experience is ‘part of being a woman’ and ‘to just get on with it’.
It comes as a damning report by the Women and Equalities Committee found women are enduring painful gynaecological conditions due to ‘medical misogyny’ in the NHS.
After a 13-year wait, Gabriella received an endometriosis diagnosis at age 23 after her mother noticed a small article on the condition in a newspaper and convinced doctors to book her in for a scan.
Endometriosis occurs when cells in the lining of the uterus are found elsewhere in the body. According to the charity Endometriosis UK, it takes an average of seven-and-a-half years to get a diagnosis in the UK.
Gabriella has since received two further diagnoses of adenomyosis, where the lining of the womb starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb, and fibromyalgia, a long-term condition causing pain all over the body.
Her battle for recognition in the healthcare system has inspired her to co-create Menstrual Health Project to promote positive change and spread awareness of endometriosis and other menstrual conditions in schools, the workplace, and wider society.
Gabriella Pearson (pictured), 32, from Surrey, spoke to Femail about her battle with endometriosis, adenomyosis, and fibromyalgia
In December, a report by MPs on the Commons Women and Equalities Committee revealed their findings of how doctors often have a poor understanding of women’s health, meaning they fail to recognise symptoms and are dismissive of patients’ pain.
The neglect is fuelled by a ‘pervasive stigma’ around reproductive health issues and a lack of education about common conditions such as endometriosis, heavy periods and adenomyosis.
As a result, victims suffer agonising discomfort that ‘interferes with every aspect of their daily lives’, including their education, careers, relationships, and fertility, said MPs on the committee.
Gabriella’s life changed aged ten when she started her period. She said: ‘It was really heavy and really painful to the point I was curled up in a ball absolutely crippled by the pain.’
The constant and painful bleeding meant she was unable to have a typical school experience and was could not take part in PE and other sporting activities.
‘By 12 my mum had just had enough, and she took me to the doctors, and I was put on the contraceptive pill straight away,’ Gabriella said. ‘I didn’t have any investigation, there was no questions asked.’
She continued: ‘I think it was really hard for my mum as well because I think there was a bit of a culture, and I think it’s a culture that we’re breaking now, like “Oh great, that’s what the doctor said, that must be the right thing to do and off we go”.’
‘So, I spent from 12 to 17 constantly on different contraceptive pills, and when I started secondary school, I remember just completely flooding through my school skirt and going to the school nurse, and she just gave me a wet paper towel.
The 32-year-old, who started her periods at the age of 10, said that in 2024, ‘medical misogyny’ feels ‘worse than ever’
Pictured: Gabriella Pearson, right, and Anna Cooper, left, the founders of Menstrual Health Project
As well as grappling with severe gynaecological issues, Gabriella suffered from intense bowel pains
She has co-founded Menstrual Health Charity, providing educational tools to raise awareness of menstrual health conditions
‘There were no period products, there was no spare clothes for me to wear and I just felt school wasn’t a place where I had support either.’
Gabriella continued to struggle with gynaecological symptoms and bowel problems throughout her teen years, causing her to miss a lot of school, which in turn impacted her mental health.
‘I developed really bad anxiety because I was constantly worried about going to school and about all the other symptoms I was struggling with.’
When Gabriella entered year 11, she struggled with depression and left halfway through the school year, completing her GCSEs at home.
‘I scraped by,’ Gabriella said, adding, ‘I did terribly and then, from 17 to 23, I was back and forth in the doctors constantly with different symptoms.
‘I was still bleeding heavily, and it was painful, [there was] pain during and after sex, severe bloating, severe lower back pain, erratic bowel movements…I think I probably had every symptom of endometriosis.’
Gabriella said that though she suffered from many of the endometriosis symptoms, she was ‘constantly dismissed’ or given misdiagnosis.
‘I was told I had IBS, I had a gluten intolerance, that it was just stress, or that it was normal at my age, [even though] I was coming out of my teen years by the time I was going to the doctors.’
After fighting her case at the doctors, she received a transvaginal ultrasound at the age of 22, an appointment so tough to secure that she likened it to ‘getting blood out of a stone’.
Gabriella struggled with depression and anxiety throughout school and sat her GCSE’s from home
The 32-year-old is unable to work due to her high pain levels and is unable to conceive naturally
The invasive procedure was ‘traumatic’ for Gabriella, and she ‘cried the whole way through’.
‘I went back to the doctors for the results, and she just said that they were inconclusive and that I had to go for another one.’
Unable to put herself through the process again, Gabriella declined. However, the doctor’s ‘cold’ attitude to the results and suggestion of going for a second ultrasound made her question her health.
She said: ‘It completely threw me… [and it made me question] am I imagining all of this?’
Gabriella explained: ‘Then, in the next six months, things really ramped up, and I was in and out of work, and I couldn’t keep a job; I had just been let go from the temporary job I had been working as well.
Gabriella has undergone five surgeries in total, but worries the time between each one is getting shorter
‘I spent about six months back and forth in A&E and I’d see the same nurse in triage and just be completely brushed off [and told] there’s nothing wrong with you and to take some paracetamol.’
However, a GP later referred to Gabriella’s original ultrasound results, which were previously considered inconclusive, and found evidence of endometriosis.
From there on, she was referred to a gynaecologist and an endometriosis specialist before undergoing a keyhole surgery to determine how widespread the endometriosis was.
‘I had endometriosis on my left ovary and my bowel, which made so much sense… I was so relieved, and I thought, I’m not actually crazy, I’ve not imagined all these symptoms, there’s an actual reason why I’ve been feeling like this.’
Since then, Gabriella has had five other surgeries to remove the endometriosis and received secondary diagnoses.
‘Unfortunately, my endometriosis has continued to grow back on my left ovary and bowel but it’s also spread to my bladder and my womb.’
While ‘medical misogyny’ is ‘horrific’, according to Gabriella, she did acknowledge the many great medical professionals striving to make a change
She added: ‘It’s been really difficult because for my last two surgeries, the time between them is getting shorter.’
While Gabriella’s health battle remains, she has found some solace in setting up Menstrual Health Project to raise awareness of the condition and to help tackle ‘medical misogyny’.
She noted that while there are ‘so many medical professionals trying’, ‘medical misogyny is just horrific, and in 2024 it actually feels worse than ever.’
‘I’ve been told to put up and shut up and to just get on with, and that’s it’s part of being a woman, and I think there’s a massive culture of that.
‘There are medical professionals that do gaslight, dismiss, misdiagnose, don’t treat patients the way they should be listened to.’
To make a positive change, Gabriella’s charity strives to educate people, particularly in schools and in the workplace, on menstrual conditions to prevent others from going through a similar experience to hers.
To access Menstrual Health Project’s resources, click here
