'My body was broken and letting me down': YEP editor Laura Collins on her personal battle with endometriosis

“Don’t worry about it – periods are painful” and it’s “all part of being a woman”.

These must be two of the most overused phrases I’ve heard countless times as a young woman growing up.

I’m no medical expert but I do know my own body and I’m pretty certain that feeling of your insides being strangled by a piece of barbed wire isn’t normal.

It wasn’t just a dull ache for me. Every single month was a sense of fear and dread as I pre-empted the crippling pain I knew I was about to experience.

To me that excruciating agony left me curled up on the bathroom floor in floods of tears as it was unbearable to even go to the toilet. On my worst days it was a struggle to simply get out of bed.

My body was screaming out in agony each month – it was broken and it was letting me down.

Yet on the surface you would never guess the monthly all out assault that was taking place inside my womb. I didn’t want to show any cracks in my armour as my own body waged war against me.

I didn’t want to be seen as weak. I would just dust myself off, put on a smile and carry on as normal.

Except it wasn’t normal.

After years of feeling like I was losing my mind I finally had enough of being told that period pain is part and parcel of being a woman.

On average it takes seven-and-a-half years to be diagnosed with the condition.

There is no cure and treatment includes intense hormone therapy and invasive surgery.

It wasn’t until I had my laparoscopy when I was finally told that it wasn’t all in my head.

My trade as a journalist is all about seeking answers and making sense of the world for others, so not being able to get answers of my own was incredibly frustrating.

Swept with a wave of relief, I finally had the answers that I had craved for for so long.

The tears on the bathroom floor, the crippling stomach pains and the horrendous sinking feeling each month suddenly all started to make sense. But at the age of 22 how do you comprehend the scale of it?

More than a decade later I’m very lucky to have an incredible support network around me who pick me up every time I look like I’m about to falter and fall.

They are my crutch who are tuned to spot the moment I’m about to have a full blown hot flush from a mile away.

This month marks Endometriosis Awareness Month and an inquiry on the condition is due to start in front of MPs which will listen to the experiences of those – like me – who have to live with the tormenting condition.

It’s not a decision I’ve taken lightly to open up about my experiences – my personal life is my own – but I do hope that by sharing the horrors of my own battle with endometriosis, that even if just one other woman has the strength to say enough is enough then it will be more than worth it. Period!