A mum who suffers from same 'little known' condition as Naga Munchetty has periods so heavy she goes through tampons every 20 minutes. Nikki Allford, 32, suffers from Adenomyosis, an extremely painful condition affecting her uterus.
The condition causes the lining of the womb to bury into the muscular wall of the womb. The severity of the symptoms varies wildly but often include heavy periods that last for a long time, severe period pain, a feeling of pressure in your tummy and bloating. For Nikki, who was diagnosed five years ago, but has been living with the condition since she was 19.
Nikki, who works in IT, said: “Since I was 19 I’ve been back and forth to doctors with symptoms and having surgery and being in constant pain. Around 2010 I was going to the doctor’s literally twice every week. I had extreme haemorrhaging and would often collapse on the floor in pain.
“I had to have surgery as it was just a mess in there and the doctor's thought I had ovarian cancer. The surgery was to see if I did have cancer, but I in fact had cysts on my ovaries but I did not get a diagnosis.
“It was great to see Naga Munchetty reveal she too suffers from Adenomyosis. I hope this gets more people talking about it and leads to more doctors getting clued up on what it means.”
Nikki says her experience with healthcare professionals has been extremely disheartening, with many completely unaware of the illness and others simply disregarding her previous diagnoses.
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She said: “I’ve been repeatedly told ‘do you mean endometriosis?' After I told one woman who I saw for an appointment that I had adenomyosis, she told me I was pronouncing endometriosis incorrectly.
“I don’t understand the reason behind why it’s not well known. There are millions of women suffering from this.”
During one appointment Nikki had with a doctor, he revealed he had never heard of the illness before and began Googling it on his computer while Nikki sat and watched. One of the sure-fire ways to get rid of the immense pain is to have a hysterectomy, which Nikki has requested time and time again, but doctor’s simply refuse.
She said: “I begged a doctor to have a hysterectomy when I was 29, but they say ‘what if you want to have more kids in the future?’”
Nikki, who is mum to three daughters - 13, eight and five - has been through seven miscarriages and does not want any more children.
She said: “I already have three wonderful children and I want to go and enjoy my life with them. You feel full all the time. You have this extreme bloating that is so intense it makes you look pregnant.
“I’ve been asked before when I’m expecting - when actually I’m just having a flare up. When I get period cramps, they are so intense they feel like labour contractions.
“And the bleeding is so heavy, I have to layer sanitary towels on top of each other and I get golf ball size clots. My mum calls it putting my ‘belt and braces’ on.”
Nikki, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, has set up her own support page for other women also suffering from this little understood illness.
She said: “I cry every day about it, but I think people are becoming more aware of it."
