Sheffield woman with four-month-long period told ‘have a baby’ to make her feel better

A Sheffield woman who once endured a period that lasted four months has opened up about how her periods wreak havoc on her life.

Izzy Hawksworth, 21, suffers from painful cramps, severe bloating and extremely heavy periods that can last anywhere from five days to several months. Almost every form of birth control she tried made her sick, and she once had a period that lasted an amazing four months while using the implant.

Izzy underwent ultrasounds, MRI scans and a laparoscopy – a surgical procedure used to examine a woman’s pelvic organs and abdomen – in an attempt to identify the cause of her symptoms. However, she tested negative for endometriosis, a condition where lining tissue grows outside the uterus, and adenomyosis, where it grows in the muscle wall of the uterus.

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Doctors also wondered if Izzy might have a chronic condition called pelvic congestion syndrome or uterine arteriovenous malformations, a rare cause of heavy bleeding. But she also tested negative for these conditions, leaving medical professionals baffled and Izzy feeling “alone” and like she’s the only person in the world dealing with these mysterious pains.

Izzy, a writer from Sheffield, said: “I feel quite alone in a way because no one understands how I feel. None of my friends or family have periods that are like mine, so I feel like it’s just me. this situation i am also petrified that i will decide that i want a child in the future but then i will have fertility problems because of all my symptoms.

“I feel like my period is ruining my life – I’m in constant pain and there’s nothing I can do to relieve the pain. Cramps even wake me up at night and I get so bloated that sometimes I look pregnant. it’s also really affecting my mental health – I’m constantly looking in the mirror crying because I can’t believe I’m going to have to go through this forever.”

“I try my best to live my life as normal, but it’s so hard when I have to walk everywhere with a hot water bottle on my stomach.” Izzy started having painful periods when she was just 11 and started using the birth control patch at 16.

Since then, she has tried several types of pill, implant and injection, but all have caused irregular bleeding and excruciating pain. After asking her family doctor several times for a referral to a gynecologist, she finally had to resort to private healthcare through her father’s insurance.

She said: “The doctors never listened to me about my symptoms. I was making an appointment with them because I was bleeding and they were just making me change the type of birth control I was on.

“I went for the implant and it absolutely ruined my life – I was on my period for months and never had a break. I felt like my pain was constantly being taken away, I would beg them for a referral and they wouldn’t -o. They only agreed to send me when they realized I’d tried every form of contraception available and couldn’t offer me anything else.”

Izzy has now been told that she needs to try to find a type of birth control that will help her manage her period. But she added: “I had an appointment with the surgeon and he asked me what my fertility plans were.

“I’m 21 years old, I have no plans to have a baby anytime soon. Basically I have to manage my symptoms until I decide to have a baby as they said my period might be better after that – but it just feels impossible to do, I don’t know how I’ll be able to survive another 10 years of such feelings, it actually feels impossible.”

Janet Lindsay, chief executive of Wellbeing of Women, says women have been dismissed with period pain for “far too long”. She said: “For too long women and girls have been dismissed despite experiencing severe pain and heavy bleeding that can disrupt their lives, relationships, school and careers.”

“They are not receiving the treatment, care and emotional support they need to manage these common but debilitating problems, despite the effective treatment options available. Our ‘Just a Period’ campaign aims to tackle the unacceptable normalization of heavy and painful periods and ensure that good information and education is available to anyone who needs it.”