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It's emotional for Tassie woman Olivia Shekleton to put into words just how much pain she has experienced over her lifetime.
As a teenager she would complain to her mother about the deep pangs she would feel in her pelvic region, describing it as "a lead balloon in my stomach". Her periods were extremely painful, and she would have to take multiple days off sick per month.
Doctors gave her the best temporary fix they had, without doing the necessary investigative medical work. They put her on the pill at age 17.
"I was sexually active, so the contraception part of being on the pill was relevant. And for the next decade, it alleviated the symptoms — specifically the intense pain and the really heavy bleeding," she tells Mamamia.
By age 30 — after 13 years of being on the pill — Olivia made the decision to get off contraception.
"I had met my partner Rob in my mid-20s, and we were engaged and set to get married very soon. We wanted to start trying to have children, so coming off the pill was a no-brainer."
"But what followed was 10 years of hell."
Watch: women share their stories with pain. Post continues below.
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