She was in agony since age 13. Then a hospital diagnosed her with endometriosis

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Some women have waited years to be diagnosed with endometriosis after being told by medical professionals the pain they are feeling is normal menstrual pain. The agony-inducing condition can cause permanent scarring and infertility. (Illustration by Émilie Robert/Radio-Canada)

 

(Julie Landry/ CBC News) — Kim will never forget the moment the specialist touched her arm and believed her.

She had been living with excruciating pain for more than half her life, yet, she says, a long list of doctors had either misdiagnosed or dismissed her condition.

It was only when she was treated at a special unit of B.C. Women’s Hospital in 2017 that she felt understood.

“For the first time someone from the medical community was telling me: ‘Not only do I believe you but I also have successfully treated other patients. Let’s give it a try and if it doesn’t work, I will not abandon you,'” she said.

Kim, 34, has endometriosis, a condition that is still widely unknown even though it affects one in 10 women around the world and more than a million in Canada, according to advocacy group EndoAct Canada. (…)

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