Poppy Harris, 20, from Aberdeen, was just 13 years old when she started experiencing endometriosis symptoms, but it took another seven years before she was given the official diagnosis
A woman suffered seven years of agony before she was finally given a diagnosis.
Poppy Harris, 20, from Aberdeen, first experienced symptoms aged 13 after her period left her in excruciating pain. Her bleeding was so heavy that it soaked through her school skirt in less than an hour while wearing a pad.
Poppy, who is now studying at university, said: “I just remember being in so much pain and thinking, surely this isn’t for the rest of my life.”
Her first hospital visit came a short while later, but it took until earlier this year before she received a formal diagnosis of endometriosis, according to Aberdeen Live.
READ MORE: Symptom when you wake up in the morning and lasts all day could signal cancerREAD MORE: Nick Knowles issues shock update on wife’s health after hospital dash
Until then, she faced seven years of uncertainty, multiple appointments and being dismissed by doctors. She added: “It just felt like nobody believed [her]”.
She continued: “I got tried on the pill so many different times, I think I tried 12 types, and that’s cooked my head.
“I felt like I lost a lot of relationships I wanted to keep because I was just acting so erratically, my hormones were all over the place on top of my natural teenage hormones.”
Even following her diagnosis, navigating life with the condition is still challenging. Poppy is now in her fourth year of university in Edinburgh and works part-time in a salon.
She explained: “It’s a tiring condition. It’s not just the pain, it’s how exhausted you are. Some days I can’t get through a full shift. You rely on having understanding managers and hope they give you the time you need.
“Social life? Romantic relationships? It’s hard, and intimate things can hurt. You don’t want to feel like you’re putting a burden on anyone.”
She was also forced to give up competitive cheerleading, something she loved doing. She said: “I competed since first year at uni, but had to stop because I just couldn’t keep going. I’d need a week to recover every month. My stamina just isn’t the same, and that was sad to accept.”
Poppy said she has faced mixed experiences with health professionals over the years. Although she now has a supportive GP, consultant and surgeon, she revealed she has faced dismissive and even coercive attitudes in the past.
She recalled: “One gynaecologist tried to forcibly make me do a physical exam, she grabbed the cuffs on my jumper,” Poppy recalls. “I’ve only ever felt listened to and understood by my consultant before my surgery, my surgeon, and my GP. Out of all the people I’ve seen, that’s shocking.”
However, she still deals with uncertainty with her care. She is currently taking Dienogest, a hormone treatment which has only become available in the UK recently.
She said: “It’s only been on the NHS for not even three years. I asked about long-term effects and they couldn’t really tell me. I feel like a lab rat sometimes.
“That’s why something like a registry is so important. It could show what actually works for real people.”
She added: “If they could do a Spotify Wrapped for my life, my most used phrase since I was 13 would probably be ‘try this and see.’”
Because of her past experience, Poppy strongly backs the creation of a National Endometriosis Registry, which would track patients’ symptoms, treatments and outcomes across the UK.
She explained: “Right now, endometriosis care feels like guesswork. A registry would mean patients aren’t dismissed so easily. Doctors could see what treatments really work, and we’d finally start building the evidence needed to change things.”
She believes it could go further: “The registry should also capture mental health outcomes and hold hospitals and consultants accountable for the quality of care. No one should be left in pain for years with no answers.”
Jessica Smith, the campaigner behind the petition, said that Poppy’s story brings attention to issues within the system. She said: “A registry would give us the tools to stop this cycle, push for better treatments, and hold services accountable. It’s about making sure no one else has to lose their health, relationships, or independence before being taken seriously.”
Poppy explained that the idea of an endometriosis registry brings her hope. She said: “If it had existed when I was 13, maybe things would have been different. I just don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.”
Australia has already implemented a registry for the condition. The National Endometriosis Clinical and Scientific Trials Registry gathers detailed information about people’s symptoms, treatments and outcomes nationally.
To learn more and sign the petition, visit the website here.