For years, I thought I was just bad at having periods. Every month, without fail, I’d spend at least two days completely non-functional, convinced something was genuinely wrong with me. My mum told me it ran in the family. My GP told me to try the pill. A specialist I eventually saw told me, with a straight face, that some women just have more sensitivity to pain.
I was 29 when I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis. I’d had symptoms since I was 15.
And from everything I’ve learned since, my story is not unusual. Not even close. Endometriosis is a progressive chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in places it has no business being, and in Australia, it affects around 1 in 7 women. That is a significant chunk of the population walking around with a condition that frequently goes unrecognised for years, largely because so many of its symptoms get written off as just part of being a woman.
The problem is not just discomfort. Diagnosis is often delayed, with an average of between 6 and 8 years between the onset of symptoms and a confirmed diagnosis. Six to eight years. That is years of unnecessary pain, disrupted lives, and in many cases, damage to fertility that could have been avoided with earlier intervention.
So what should you actually be looking out for? Here are the symptoms that deserve your attention and a proper conversation with your GP.
Pelvic Pain That Goes Beyond “Bad Cramps”
There is period pain, and then there is endometriosis pain. They are not the same thing, even if they show up in the same place.
The best way I can describe it is this: imagine someone has filled your pelvis with broken glass and then told you to go to work. For the longest time, I genuinely believed I had a low pain threshold, because nobody around me seemed to be struggling this much. I started timing my social commitments around my cycle. I kept a heat pack at my desk. I told people I had “bad periods” as if that adequately explained why I occasionally had to leave meetings to go and cry in a bathroom stall.
Symptoms can include dysmenorrhoea (painful periods), menorrhagia (heavy bleeding), and abdominal, back, and pelvic pain of varying severity. The key question is whether the pain is disrupting your life. If you are cancelling plans, calling in sick, or spending the first two days of your cycle completely non-functional, that is not something you should be managing alone with Nurofen and optimism.
Pain from endometriosis is not always confined to your period, either. I experienced it throughout the month, particularly around ovulation. If it feels like it never really goes away, pay attention to that.
Heavy or Irregular Bleeding
I used to carry a full change of clothes to work during my period. I kept a spare pair of pants in my desk drawer and planned my commute around bathroom access. For years I thought this was just what periods were like for some people.
It is not. Heavy menstrual bleeding and bleeding between periods are both recognised symptoms of endometriosis. Soaking through more than one pad or tampon an hour is not a standard period. Bleeding through to your clothes regularly is not something to normalise, even if you have been doing it so long that it feels that way.
If your periods are so heavy that you are scheduling your life around them, or you are noticing spotting at unexpected times, both of those things are worth raising with your doctor. Write them down before your appointment, because it is very easy to downplay them in the moment when someone in a white coat is looking at you.
Pain During or After Sex
This is the symptom I was most reluctant to mention to anyone, including my GP, for a long time. It felt too personal. I worried it reflected something about me rather than something happening in my body.
Dyspareunia, meaning pain during sex, is a recognised symptom of endometriosis. It is not something you should expect or accept as normal. I spent years assuming the pain was psychological before a gynaecologist finally examined me properly and found lesions that explained exactly what had been happening.
I felt equal parts relieved and furious. Relieved because I finally had an answer. Furious because I had wasted years blaming myself for something that had a clinical explanation all along.
If you have been avoiding sex, dreading it, or quietly white-knuckling through it, please mention it to your GP. It is a medical symptom, full stop.
Bowel and Bladder Symptoms Around Your Period
This one confused me for years because it seemed so disconnected from everything else. I was treated for IBS at one point. I tested negative for UTIs more times than I can count. Nobody joined the dots.
Dyschezia, diarrhoea, constipation, and dysuria are all associated with endometriosis. Endometriosis can also be found around the bowel and bladder, not just the reproductive organs, which is why so many women spend years being treated for the wrong condition entirely.
The pattern is what matters. My gut symptoms flared reliably around my period, every single time, and in hindsight that was not a coincidence. That was information. Tell your doctor specifically when your symptoms happen, not just that they happen.
Bloating That Seems Disproportionate
“Endo belly” is a very real phenomenon, and it is nothing like ordinary bloating after a big meal.
I remember going from feeling completely fine in the morning to looking visibly pregnant by the afternoon, with no obvious dietary reason. It could be painful as well as confronting, and it came on suddenly enough that I started avoiding certain clothes and certain social situations just to manage it. Abdominal bloating is a recognised symptom of endometriosis, and for me, it was one of the stranger parts of the experience because it was so visible and so hard to explain.
If you experience severe bloating that appears on its own schedule, particularly around menstruation, note it down alongside your other symptoms. It is another piece of the picture your doctor needs.
Fatigue That Does Not Make Sense
Not tired. Not a bit run-down. The kind of exhaustion that makes you cancel things you actually wanted to do, that sits behind your eyes all day, that does not shift no matter how much sleep you get.
I spent a long time attributing it to my job, my anxiety, not eating well enough, not exercising enough. I blamed everything except what was actually happening. Fatigue is a recognised symptom of endometriosis, and it makes sense when you understand what is going on in the body. Chronic pain is exhausting. Systemic inflammation is exhausting. The mental load of managing a condition that keeps getting dismissed is exhausting.
Looking back, I was running at a significant deficit for most of my twenties and calling it normal. I genuinely did not know what feeling well was supposed to feel like.
Anxiety, Depression, and Mental Health Impacts
I want to be careful here, because the connection between endometriosis and mental health gets used to dismiss women far too often. “It might be stress.” “Have you considered therapy?” These are not substitutes for a proper investigation.
Anxiety and depression are both recognised among the symptoms associated with endometriosis. Chronic pain has well-documented effects on mood, sleep, and overall mental wellbeing. And being told repeatedly that your pain is normal, that you are sensitive, that there is nothing to find, takes a cumulative toll that is hard to overstate.
Research has found that diagnostic delay most commonly happens because of dismissal and disbelief from medical professionals. I internalised a lot of that dismissal. I stopped advocating for myself at various points because it stopped feeling worth it. If you recognise that spiral, it is worth knowing it is a documented part of the endometriosis experience. You were not imagining things.
Trouble Conceiving
I was lucky in that fertility was not what finally brought my diagnosis to light, but I know for a lot of women it is. And it is a brutal way to find out.
Around 1 in 3 women with endometriosis have trouble getting pregnant. Endometriosis can affect how eggs develop, how they are released, and the overall environment for conception. According to fertility specialist Associate Professor Anusch Yazdani, 50% of women diagnosed with endometriosis face fertility challenges.
Earlier diagnosis genuinely matters here. The sooner it is identified and managed, the better the outcomes tend to be for women who want to conceive. Which makes those years of delay feel even more costly.
What to Do If You Recognise These Symptoms
See your GP, and be specific. Write your symptoms down before you go. Include when they happen, how severe they are, how long they last, and how much they affect your daily life. Do not edit yourself to seem reasonable. The full picture matters.
In Australia, the average time between symptom onset and seeking medical attention is around 2.9 years, with a further 4.9 years from that first appointment to a formal diagnosis, and most people see five doctors before getting there. That timeline is improving, but it is still far too long.
If you feel like you are not being taken seriously, you are allowed to push. Ask for a referral to a gynaecologist. Ask about pelvic ultrasound. Ask specifically about endometriosis by name. You know your body, and you deserve a doctor who treats that knowledge as credible.
There is currently no known cure for endometriosis, but there are treatments that can genuinely help. Finding out sooner gives you more options, more time, and more say in how this condition fits into your life.
I spent 14 years not knowing what was wrong with me. I would not wish that on anyone. Stop accepting pain as normal. You deserve better than that.
