A Co Armagh woman says living with chronic pain since the age of 12 has left her feeling like she has "no life really".
Tia McGeown said she is waiting for a second laparoscopic surgery to try and identify what is causing her the pain.
It is something she has been living with since the age of 12, but she has never been able to get a definitive answer on what is causing it.
Read more: Chronic pain patients condemn 'cruel' changes to treatment guidelines
"First of all when I was younger, I had really bad issues with my bowels," she told Belfast Live.
"I was actually afraid to go to the toilet, whenever I was a child, and I had to have a family relative in with me, I was that scared. Then from when I started secondary school and when I had my first period, I started getting really bad pain as well, which would have been around 2003.
"The pain got so, so much worse in secondary school, it started to affect me even walking from class to class, even my back was hurting."
The Lurgan woman said she only told close family about the pain she was in and over the years, she was prescribed laxatives, before health professionals told her her issues might be more gynaecological in nature.
She was given a series of contraceptives between 2009-11, in an effort to treat the pain, but they did not prove effective.
When breaks were taken from the various treatments, Tia had to deal with the pain that would ensue.
"It would be that bad where I wouldn't be able to move. It was roughly around 2014 the doctors sent me for a scan on my bladder because I was having issues with it too," she said.
"From that, I've had blood tests, procedures, scans - things have been ruled out, I've been tested for different conditions and illnesses."
Still though, there was no clear reason as to why Tia was suffering so much pain and in 2018, she underwent her first laparoscopic surgery to try and determine whether it was being caused by endometriosis.
"It found the bowel and womb were stuck together with adhesions - they were separated, but they couldn't see any endometriosis," she said.
"In that surgery too they put a coil in, but within six months my GP had taken it out as it wasn't doing anything either. I had a test on my bowel and went to see a specialist but everything was clear."
She said that she had been referred again by her GP for urgent surgery in November of last year, but had still not received a date, despite waiting more than two years from her original referral and has made a complaint to the Southern Trust.
Tia has seen other people that she knows get similar surgery in the meantime despite having been on the waiting list for less time than her.
"There's a second person I know who had surgery at the end of January and she's not even been waiting one full year for hers and that's the same surgery as mine," she said.
"It's not that I'm angry or jealous or anything like that, she needs it too, loads of people need it. It's the fact that I was put down as urgent at the end of last year.
"The booking office told us I could be waiting another year, it's frustrating because I have had these issues for so long but still have no proper, official answers."
The Southern Trust confirmed it is looking into a complaint and acknowledged that waiting lists continue to be an issue for the health service.
“Whilst we are unable to comment on any individual patient, we can confirm that we have recently received a complaint on this matter.," a spokesperson said.
"The complaint is being fully investigated before we send a comprehensive response back to the patient.
"We very much regret the excessive waiting times being experienced by our patients. Demand for hospital services across Northern Ireland continues to grow beyond the capacity that is currently available.
"Our staff have been doing everything they can in very difficult circumstances but many people are waiting well beyond what we would want for our patients.
"We continue to prioritise and treat patients by the urgency and severity of their illness in line with extant guidance."
Tia said she is trying to live her life as best she can amid the pain, but that there is very little that can be done to alleviate it, despite the Naproxen she has been prescribed recently.
"The other thing that seems to help is really intense heat - I have a heat pad that I put around my stomach, but it leaves me with blisters and burns on my tummy," she said.
"In between periods and ovulation the pain would go down into my legs, I would get headaches and I'd be sick, I can't sleep at night. My legs would feel really weak, like jelly."
Tia said her life has basically been put on hold while she tries to discover what is having such a debilitating effect on her and she is heavily reliant on others to get through the week.
"It's caused more depression - I'm 31-years-old and I'm pretty much relying on my mum and granny to do shop runs for me," she added.
"I can't do much, I very rarely leave the house, I might go to my granny's one of two days a week but that's on a good or good-ish day. I couldn't go out and get a job and hold it down, because the pain I would be in, I wouldn't be able to be there.
"It feels like I have no life really - mental health-wise, I want to be getting out and getting more walks with the dog and improving things that way too. But with these issues and the pain I'm in, it's holding me back and I haven't really got much of a life at all."
She said she has shared her physical health struggles on social media and has opened up about the impact it has had on her mental health, in the hope that she can show others that they are not alone.
"I would like to hopefully get some more answers on this," she said.
"Secondly, I'd like that if other people find themselves in this situation, I want them to know they're not alone, they're not on their own and they have support. I want answers for myself to get the proper treatment, but I also want to raise awareness that other people shouldn't suffer in silence.
"I just feel like the system is letting people down, because there are people suffering out there, they're not getting the help and support they deserve. It's heart-breaking, it's really heart-breaking."
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