I was in pain for 10 years – until I left the UK
Share:
Looking at the sun glistening on the water, I braced myself as a wave roared towards me. I paddled, then jumped up onto my board, feeling only exhilaration as I surfed the wave to the shore. Six months prior, this would have been unimaginable – I would have been lying in bed screaming in pain due to severe stage 4 endometriosis. My torturous symptoms not only affected my fertility and organs but my daily life.
![[Emma Kemsley: Leaving the UK improved my health]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234686165-5b6e-e1735816272763.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Moving to Spain has changed everything. For the first time in over a decade, I am pain free. I can exercise without collapsing, eat without rushing to the toilet. And instead of surviving on a concoction of pain medication, mountain hikes, boxing classes and weekly surf lessons form my new routine.
![[Emma Kemsley: Leaving the UK improved my health]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234686167-b7c4-e1735733627852.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
For 10 years since the age of 17 I visited the GP every month with excruciating pain during my period. I was always told it was ‘normal’. As time progressed, the pain became unmanageable. I missed work, was bed-bound and even vomited or blacked out from the pain.
![[Emma Kemsley: Leaving the UK improved my health]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234686257-ba3a-e1735816397452.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Then, in 2013, I was rushed to hospital with severe abdominal pain. A scan revealed I had a 15cm ovarian cyst. I was given a laparoscopy – a procedure where a thin tube with a camera is inserted into the body – which confirmed stage 4 endometriosis, the highest grade of the condition.
![[Emma Kemsley: Leaving the UK improved my health]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234686164-740d-e1735816481606.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
My fertility had already been compromised; I was 27. Endometriosis is a condition where cells like the ones in the lining of the uterus are found elsewhere in the body. It usually affects the ovaries and fallopian tubes but can also be found on organs such as the bowel and bladder. Sadly, it affects 1 in 10 women and takes an average of eight years and 10 months from the first GP visit to get a diagnosis.
![[Emma Kemsley: Leaving the UK improved my health]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234686170-ae98-e1735816563646.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
