A woman who has periods lasting as long as four months was finally diagnosed with endometriosis after seven years of being “brushed away” and told it was “all in [her] head”. Ebony Dowdell, 19, first went to a doctor aged 12 because she felt “ill all the time” and had “really painful, heavy periods” and was immediately placed on contraceptive pills.
She tried several different contraceptive pills after struggling with her mental health and was even referred for a psychological assessment after being told “it’s all in my head”. She was finally referred to a gynaecologist after seven years of symptoms and was diagnosed with endometriosis through a laparoscopy procedure. Now she is fundraising £5,000 towards a private £12,500 surgery to remove more of her endometriosis as she is still in pain – after being refused further treatment on the NHS because she is “too young”.
Ebony, a one-to-one learning support assistant from Southampton, Hampshire, said: “I’ve also always had pain, especially in my stomach at the beginning. The pain is awful. I get shivers all over my body. My body goes into shock and my blood pressure drops.
“They just said it was bad periods. Everybody goes through it. You’re fine. They brushed me away.”
Ebony has always struggled with her period. She said: “I had really heavy painful periods.
“I didn’t stop bleeding for four months. They said they can’t do anything because I was young.”
Instead, Ebony was placed on the pill at age 12, but after six months, it led to detrimental effects on her mental health, so she was told to just try a different pill.
She said: “They said I’m not allowed to be seen by anybody until I’ve been on every single pill and every form of contraceptive.”
Ebony turned this down and says she was referred for a psychological assessment after being told “it’s all in my head”.
She said: “I was constantly bleeding. I used to get really bad bouts of vomiting. I still have days where I can’t walk on my legs. Pain radiates all over lower stomach to legs – it’s a shooting pain.”
She wrote complaints to her doctors’ surgery, saying: “I need to be seen. Something is not right. I cannot live like this.”
Finally, seven years after her symptoms began, she was referred to a gynaecologist in January 2024 and was diagnosed with endometriosis through a laparoscopy procedure in July 2024. She said it was bittersweet to finally have a diagnosis.
She said: “I was delighted that I had it right and I had finally been diagnosed and knew what it was. But I also have a chronic illness and it’s not going to get better. Unless you’ve had it or you’ve witnessed someone with it you don’t really understand the toll that it takes.”
Ebony was hopeful that her symptoms would improve, but two months after the surgery, her health began to deteriorate again. She says she has visited A&E countless times since September 2024, and once waited 15 hours only to be told that there was nothing they could do and she would have to just “deal with it”.
Ebony said: “The effect that it has on my life is insane. I’m 19 years old and I can’t live. I haven’t once been seen by a specialist through the NHS, I’ve always been brushed away.”
In November 2024, she found a private endometriosis specialist after the NHS refused to send her to one because she was “too young”. The private specialist has found the endometriosis is still behind her uterus, could be on her bladder and has caused her ovaries to be completely fused to her womb.
Ebony said: “After the first appointment I said ‘you’re going to be the one to treat me because you’re listening to me’. I’m just so happy to finally be listened to. This isn’t something that people should just have to live with. It ruins people’s lives.”
Ebony now needs to find £12,500 to undergo an excision surgery – which will cut out the areas of endometriosis. She has £5,000 in private family donations, has started a GoFundMe to raise an extra £5,000 and hopes to get the rest from her savings.
Ebony said: “It is heartbreaking that the hospitals near me offer it under the NHS, but they won’t treat me for it. I know that’s the case for a lot of people, especially if you’re young.
“I’m just hoping not to be in as much pain every day. I’m hoping to get my life back and not have to be looked after. The people around me are so supportive, I couldn’t ask for anything better, but I feel like such a burden to people all the time. I’m excited to live a normal young person’s life without having to worry about being ill all the time.”