Growing up I didn’t experience a ‘normal’ period. At the age of 13 I dreaded my period. Most months I would be left in excruciating and agonising pain. I experienced painful and heavy bleeding, blood clots, bleeding through sanitary products, I’d throw up and pass out from the pain. I was unable to move or cope with the mental and physical side effects that left me bed ridden for days at a time. I’d miss time from school, social gatherings and events due to the unbearable pain that would make me sick and collapse. I was left in bed unable to move for days and I even remember having to crawl to the bathroom and when I did collapse in public, people told me to: “Stop being over-dramatic.”

Getting a diagnosis was not easy to come by. It was an extremely painful and isolating process. For 10 years, I went back and forth to my GP who was unable to give me an explanation from the symptoms I experienced “It’s hereditary period pain’ or ‘Are you a hypochondriac?’ which stood in contrast to my reality and nobody really understood what I would endure month to month. I was put on medication, and birth control to assist the pain, which would mask the symptoms for a short while, only for the pain to come back even more unbearable than before.

After graduating from performing arts college in 2007 I moved to London to embark on a career in TV. Although I ate relatively healthy I still ate processed foods such as double deckers, Greggs cheese and onion pasties and Ben and Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough, and within a year I went from a size 8 to a size 12. During my time in London the pain I experienced when my period arrived was unbearable, I was unable to walk, unable to even assist myself to the bathroom, I’d take days off from my job from the pain I endured. This eventually led me to quit my job after I had a meeting where I was told to ‘Man up’ and ‘You don’t even look sick’ Eventually, this health crisis began to take its toll on my mental health. I was left with extremely low self-esteem, anxiety and even worse symptoms, I decided to leave London and take some time out.

During my time out, I lived in the French Alps where I worked as a chalet chef where my love for baking and cooking became apparent. I travelled and ate my way around Southeast Asia. Even though I took this time out for myself, the pain still continued and became serious in 2012.

Coming back from taking time away in 2012 I worked in a corporate environment and an emergency situation occurred on my commute. I felt pain in my left ovary that I had never experienced before. I felt like something had burst into flames that spread around my lower abdomen area and across my back. I collapsed and the next thing I knew I was being transported to the hospital by an ambulance. During my time in the hospital, I was X-rayed, had various blood tests, and was assessed by different doctors. One doctor said; ‘‘You’ve probably experienced a ruptured cyst’ and after that I was discharged. This left me deflated and I started to believe that ‘hypochondriac’ my doctor once described me as. I realised something had to give.

In the days that followed, I researched different gynaecologists, and came across Shrini Irani. I booked myself an appointment to see her. She assessed me, spoke to me with empathy and recommended that I go for food allergy tests and for an internal ultrasound scan.

When I went for that scan they detected some cysts on both ovaries, I was told they were relatively small roughly 1cm by 1cm. I was then asked to go for my first laparoscopy surgery a couple of months later. My first laparoscopy surgery revealed I had a cyst that was 10 times the size of the original prediction. My left ovary was damaged from the cyst, and some of my ovary was removed during surgery along with the cyst and the endometrial tissue growing around my fallopian tubes and womb area.

I went and had food allergen tests and my results came back with gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance and this is where the love for health and wellbeing began. I read anything about Endometriosis, researched the latest food trends, from juicing to practicing yoga, and through my health battles, and I became interested in the healing power of food. Although there’s no still NO cure for endometriosis, I found that when I eliminated all wheat, gluten, dairy, and processed foods, I noticed that some symptoms were eliminated and I began to control my symptoms that had impacted me over the last 10 years.

Food and travelling have always been two of my biggest passions so I decided to follow my inner compass and left the UK once again in 2014 and ate and traveled my way through Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and some South Pacific Islands. I eventually ended up living in New Zealand and I created a holistic approach to healing my body. I discovered more ways to nourish my body with foods that left me glowing and became passionate about connecting with others on what I had discovered during my journey.

During September 2016 I was diagnosed with pre cervical cancerous cells and underwent treatment that included laser therapy to remove the cells even though this was another test to my health and I found breathwork and meditation to really help my recovery. I really embraced these experiences as it eventually led me back to the UK in June 2017. During this time I got to spend the last year and half with my Dad who died from a lung condition in 2019.

All of these experiences contributed to studying with the Integrative Institution of Nutrition in 2018 to become a certified and registered health and nutrition coach which has only contributed & deepened my knowledge and understanding on the importance of why food is so important for endometriosis.

Since graduating in 2018, I’ve coached and worked with women on a 1 to 1 basis online, I’ve been able to share my journey through Instagram and online publications such as Metro Online, Fabulous Magazine, Thought Catalog, The Sun and the BBC.

I’ve been able to turn something that once had such a negative impact on my life, into a positive one. Although there’s still no cure for endometriosis, eliminating gluten, dairy and processed foods made a dramatic difference to help eliminate & control my symptoms. 

If you’re reading this I’m here to remind you to never give up on yourself or from getting a diagnosis, never settle for anything under your standards. You have no idea how fantastic your journey moving forward is going to be. Every tear, laugh, emotion and frustration will build you, not demolish you.