‘All I could think about was the pain, I thought something really bad was happening. The next day I got my period and thought it was just a bad cycle. Unfortunately it only got worse from there.’
16:00, 08 Mar 2026Updated 18:19, 08 Mar 2026
Skye Farrell-Brown speaks out about living with endometriosis
It is Endometriosis Awareness Month this month, and it’s been a year since my diagnosis on March 7, 2025, writes Skye Farrell Brown, from Cornwall.
To finally have a diagnosis is such a relief, as it takes on average nine years to diagnose. Endometriosis is where tissue similar to the uterine lining grows outside the uterus. It can grow anywhere in the body, and causes inflammation, and scarring.
The main symptoms include pain, mainly when on your period and ovulation, but it’s often daily, painful sex, infertility, painful bowel movements, nausea, migraines and fatigue. However it effects everyone differently.
I still remember the first time my endometriosis pain got bad. I was on the way to a science lesson. Science was my favourite subject and because I didn’t have the best maths grade my school didn’t want to let me do triple science, but I persisted and I got moved to triple.
We were doing mole equations in chemistry and I really needed to grapple hard and concentrate but an awful tugging pain started in my lower belly.
At lunch I was given paracetamol by the school nurse and went to my next class, but I could not focus at all. All I could think about was the pain, I thought something really bad was happening. The next day I got my period and thought it was just a bad cycle. Unfortunately it only got worse from there.
Skye Farrell Brown speaks about how endometriosis can make her balloon within a few hours and has a serious impact on her health and wellbeing (Image: Skye Farrell Brown )
As I got older, it did not stay confined to my cycle. I was often hunched over from pain and got the nickname “sloth” because of how slowly I moved. I also started getting migraines and nausea that mimicked morning sickness. Doctors told me it was just my hormones balancing and that it would stop.
Instead, it got worse. I was repeatedly put on the contraceptive pill. One caused solar urticaria, making me allergic to sunlight. Another made my PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) so severe that I became suicidal and was sectioned when I was 18.
When I explained this, I was told that if I could not tolerate taking hormones, I could not be in that much pain.
I developed extreme bloating, often called endo belly. My partner at the time told me I was getting fat and that it was disgusting and I needed to go on a diet.
I lost weight trying to stop it despite already being a slim build teen at the time. But the bloating never went away, although it would fluctuate (I now know that the bloating was caused by the endometriosis tissue bleeding, as the blood can’t escape it causes inflammation and swells your belly up like a balloon).
My pain escalated, including severe pelvic pain, electric shock pain through my spine, hemiplegic migraines when due on, and symptoms that mimicked UTIs and appendicitis. I was repeatedly told to go to A&E just to be dismissed as dramatic or anxious. I was told what I was going through was normal, and because of my neurodivergence I had a low tolerance to pain.
After years of being ignored and dismissed I convicted myself I was crazy, until I met my boyfriend, who had cared for someone with endometriosis in the past. He urged me to keep fighting for answers.
I finally convinced my GP to refer me onwards. A gynaecologist finally listened, I remember crying happy tears as he said to me “this sounds like endometriosis, we’ll get you sorted”.
I was referred for surgery and told they did not expect to find anything, as my ultrasounds were clear. They told me and my partner I would only be under (general anaesthetic) for around 30 minutes. I was under for three hours, and my poor boyfriend was beside himself with worry. Endometriosis was found and excised.
I finally had proof I was not imagining it. I am so thankful to the Eden ward at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. Everyone from the anaesthetist to the healthcare assistants were so kind and good to me.
I lucked out and had a endometriosis specialist do my surgery, and he took out anything that had the slightest possibility of being endometriosis.
I was also extremely lucky to have excision surgery which is the gold standard treatment for endometriosis. Excision surgery actually cuts endometriosis out at the roots, giving you more time before it grows back.
However unfortunately, despite being able to do excision surgery in Cornwall, any future surgeries after diagnosis will be ablation, where they only burn the top layer of endometriosis off, which means it comes back much faster, and studies have shown ablation can actually cause even more adhesions causing more long term pain.
This is why I’m trying to campaign for the NHS to make all surgery for endometriosis excision surgery. I just can’t wrap my head around the fact they use it for diagnosis only then switch back to such and outdated method. It makes me so anxious for any future surgeries if need another laparoscopy.
I have started a petition which you can find here on change.org, titled Implement excision surgery for endometriosis treatment in the NHS.
The relief did not last. My pain returned, as cannot tolerate hormones, which is used to slow the growth. Where my endometriosis was found is a very high nerve area, and it’s possible that it has permanently damaged my nerves, leaving me in daily chronic pain.
At 24, I have had to give up work, going to university, sports, walking the costal path and so many parts of my life I took for granted. I’m also facing infertility which is extremely hard as I’m at the age my peers are all having babies, so my social media is full of pregnancy announcements and cute baby photos, while I wonder when or if it’ll ever be my turn. I’m trying just to make do as best I can as it’s too soon for another laparoscopy and I really don’t want ablation but I can’t afford to go privately for excision.
My story is not unique. One in 10 women have this condition. Endometriosis is not bad periods, it’s a full body inflammatory disease. So little is known about endometriosis, we still don’t know why it happens or how to cure it.
There’s very little research I just want my life back, like all the other people living with this condition. The endometriosis community online, especially TikTok have been my safe haven, and the “endo warriors” have often given me better pain management advice then the doctors.
A lot of them who have had children describe the pain as worse than or on par with labour. I don’t know how to even begin to describe it other than horrific. Hopefully together we can make the much needed change to improve our care.
To have a look at the petition visit https://c.org/BpntXBYc77
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