"A Hard But Enlightening Journey" with Neha Chudasama
By Neha Chudasama
At QENDO we believe that sharing your story is both an act of vulnerability and incredible bravery, your story can help empower others to speak up and be heard, and we as a community are listening. At QENDO we are part of a global community of those affected by endometriosis, adenomyosis, PCOS and infertility, and so we are so excited to bring you stories not only from Australia, but from warriors across the world, because our support, resources and advocacy is for everyone. Today we’re hearing from the UK and from endo warrior Neha Chudasama, who describes her endometriosis journey as hard but enlightening. In this blog she talks about the challenges of talking about a taboo subject in her family, as well as feeling alone and isolated before receiving her diagnosis.
Hello world, My name Neha and I have been suffering with endometriosis for 9 years now, my journey has been hard but very enlightening.
For 5 years i suffered alone, no one believed me. They just thought i was overreacting and that I didn’t want to go to school, college and uni because of how many days I would stay at home. I was born in the UK but I am ethnically Indian, and within our community and culture it is not necessarily accepted to talk about gynaecological and fertility conditions. This has been a big hindrance to my life as it also led me to fall into deep depression and anxiety, which I am still coping with now. My family was unaware of such conditions so they did not realise how serious my pain was. However I do not hold any resentment to anyone that did not believe me because I accepted that they did not know about such things - if no one ever taught you, how can you know? If anything it has fuelled me to educate and create more awareness for my condition and how much it can affect your mental health.
I got my first period when I was 14 and from the get go I had extreme period pains, back pains, nausea, heavy bleeding and migraines. By the age of 15 I was on a course of hormone pills and codeine, My body’s crippling pain was passed over as bad period pains, no one believed me when I said that I knew there was something wrong, My doctors were the worst for that - they put me on so many different hormone medications and treatments but nothing worked. I had plenty of ultrasounds, even transvaginal scans, where my doctor told me that I did NOT have endometriosis.
I wish I pushed to see a gynaecologist sooner than I did, because i found out that ultrasounds of any kind CANNOT rule out endo. When I was 19 I finally had a laparoscopy which diagnosed my endometriosis, I was so relieved! After 5 years of not knowing what was wrong with me I finally had an answer. It wasn’t just relief that people finally believed me!!!
I am now on hormone pills and strong painkiller whilst I wait for my second surgery date as the past 6 months have been so bad that I have been bedridden. Endometriosis continues to present me with challenges.
But I will continue to fight, raise awareness, inspire and be inspired because…
Neha’s Journey to Diagnosis
I AM 1 in 10
Neha is passionate about raising awareness and educating others about endometriosis - real talk, real stories and real advocacy.
You can follow her journey on Instagram at @_endoaware_
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