A woman has shared her pain after waiting almost six months before getting a cyst the size of her fist removed from her ovary.
Natalie, 28, says the pain was so debilitating she was left bed-bound and unable to work.
The freelancer, from London, suffered severe period cramps and heavy bleeding as a teenager leading her to get diagnosed with anaemia.
She was put on the combined pill to manage the pain, but when she was offered to move to Canada for two years in 2019 she decided to switch to a hormonal IUD.
Natalie says she wasn't sure what the process would be like while she was abroad so thought this would be the easiest option.
Natalie told the Mirror: "I used to get stomach pain similar to cramps but I dismissed it.
"I think we dismiss that pain either because something tells us to or because we fear we're going to be told we're over dramatic.
"That pain would happen intermittently every few months and then by mid-2020 it was every day and I was struggling to get up the stairs for work.
"It wasn't until my partner and roommate at the time encouraged me to go to the emergency room that I did and knew something was wrong."
The medical staff gave her an ultrasound in October 2020 and told her it looked like there was a mass on her ovary but would need an MRI to confirm it.
Natalie said: "I was going to the ER all the time and only given extra strength paracetamol and sent home.
"In Canada, they don't offer opioids so I ended up using a stronger Ibuprofen - and I later learned that kind that I was taking ended up eroding my stomach lining."
When she got the MRI in November 2020, it confirmed she had a cyst and it was eight centimetres wide.
Natalie said she had to stop working in October because of the pain and described how the hospital wasn't looking to remove the cyst until January.
She said: "That whole time I stopped working, I could barely get out of the house, I couldn't stand up for long periods of time, it was a complete lifestyle change.
"Every time I went to the hospital I was told they could remove the ovary and you can function on one and suddenly the potential loss of one of my ovaries was difficult to hear because I am open to having children."
By the end of December, her visa was coming to an end and the surgery to remove the cyst had not been scheduled.
She decided to move back to London in hopes she would have better luck with the NHS.
During this time, non-life-threatening surgeries had been cancelled due to Covid-19.
Natalie said: "I am really poorly at this point - I can't sleep because of the pain and I had to be on top of when I took my painkillers.
"It was a constant cycle of numbing pain. Before I was very active and biked around and now I didn't even have the motivation because I was in agony."
She continued: "I was in too much agony to work from home even from a mental health perspective.
"I had to pander to my body and my pain - but I had to go by what my body was doing and going through a mental and physical clash. There was nothing I felt like I could do."
It wasn't until Natalie saw a consultant at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, that she felt heard.
By the time Natalie got a second MRI, it had grown to 10 centimetres.
Natalie finally got the cyst removed in March 2021, but the surgery didn't go as planned.
Natalie said: "It was meant to be keyhole surgery it ended up being the equivalent of a c-section."
She didn't know about the c-section until she woke up, but was grateful they were able to remove the cyst while keeping her ovary in. Natalie was able to return to work in July 2021.
Nearly a year on, Natalie is still recovering from the surgery.
Natalie said: "I still can't be as physical as I used to be, but I was able to start working again and I saw that as the silver lining."
She hopes in sharing her story others - especially women - will be encouraged to advocate for themselves.
Natalie said: "I can empathise with the medical staff because they had so many things going on and we were in a pandemic and they had so many things stacked up against them.
"However, this isn't something you just give two paracetamol for, and there were so many things that could have gone wrong with this issue.
"It would have been nice to get some comfort after relaying my story over and over and still being told 'well there is nothing we can do'."
Natalie added: "I also feel women of colour get dismissed by their pain and I'll never know if I was viewed in that filter but I have to take that into consideration.
"The size of my cyst and the pain it was causing it could have been cutting off my circulation to my ovary, and then to be told that I'll be fine because I have another one."
She continued: "Mentally the experience drained me, it was something so ongoing that even though I had support and people in my life and it was still an isolating experience.
"I don't remember a lot of what happened between October to July, it all blurred into the same day. I couldn't have a routine and I was so disheartened by what was happening.
"The mental health aspect is something I was dealing with, it was one thing after another. It was either resilience or blissfully ignorant that got me through it.
"And I don't know if I've had time to process the really scary parts of this experience."
Natalie added: "There is no one in this world that can know your body as you do, so take the time to listen and if it doesn't feel right then pursue it."
"They won't make it a big deal if you don't and it is better for it to be nothing or solvable than something serious.
"I feel like this is especially for women. I found loads of women have gone through something similar and felt dismissed.
"I would say don't take no for an answer.
"My life from July 2020 to today has changed so much and it's heartbreaking to accept when there is something you are no longer able to do, but you still need to seize the day."
A recent survey commissioned by Hana, a contraceptive pill, found that 44 per cent of women choose a contraception method based on not having to attend a doctor’s appointment - similar to Natalie's story on why she chose to switch her contraception.
The survey included a sample size of women between the ages of 18 and 45.
Alison Slingsby from, Hana, said: “This research shows that women are feeling confident in themselves, they are embracing their sexual desires and are clear on their ambitions for the future. Contraception plays such an important part in their life choices, their sexual identity and freedoms."
