My GP called me attention seeking – I waited 22 years for a diagnosis
Share:
Lots of people say that your first time might hurt ‘a bit’. But when I lost my virginity at 17 it was agony. It felt like everything inside me was burning and being pulled apart. I remember tensing my whole body, gritting my teeth, wanting it to stop.
![[Amy Roberts: I thought it was normal for sex to be painful]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233568384-f072-e1734453148371.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
And the moment my boyfriend finished, I thought: ‘I never want to do that again.’. I have of course had sex since, but it has always been an ordeal rather than a pleasure. I have always experienced anxiety or dread at the prospect of sex, if it gets to that point of feeling like I can’t make another excuse to a partner.
![[Amy Roberts: I thought it was normal for sex to be painful]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233568371-59a6-e1734453301744.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
For years I wondered why I couldn’t enjoy sex in the same way my friends did but it was only in 2019, after turning 35, that I got my answer: I have endometriosis. My symptoms started with my first period at the age of 13. Not only was it incredibly heavy – leading me to wear multiple sanitary pads because I was scared of leaking – but I wound up bed bound for days due to severe pain both in my pelvic region, lower back and when using the toilet.
![[Amy Roberts (head only) lying in a hospital bed with tubes going into her nose (Picture: Amy Roberts)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233568372-46c4-e1734453002108.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Each month the symptoms were the same and I soon began to dread my period’s arrival. Knowing this wasn’t normal, I decided to speak to my GP with my mum. At that first appointment I was told I wasn’t special, and that painful periods were a part of life. But I knew something was wrong.
![[Amy Roberts: I thought it was normal for sex to be painful]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_233568365-f4ab-e1734453539491.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
