A young woman from Norwich claims her debilitating endometriosis symptoms were dismissed for a decade, with doctors repeatedly attributing her pain to her weight or “just a bad period.” Tehyana Johnson, 22, expressed a profound wish that “someone would have just listened” to her pleas for help.
Ms Johnson’s ordeal began with painful periods, heavy bleeding, blood in her urine, full body pain, and vomiting, symptoms she says were consistently ignored by medical professionals. From 2014 onwards, she recounts being “fobbed off” and believes she has undergone more than 250 consultations in the past three years alone, all while her condition worsened.
She eventually self-diagnosed herself with endometriosis – a condition where tissue similar to the womb lining grows elsewhere in the body – before receiving an official diagnosis in July 2025. This came after a laparoscopy, a keyhole surgery, which revealed extensive endometriosis with lesions and scar tissue on multiple organs, including her bowels.
While the diagnosis brought a sense of vindication, Ms Johnson feels much of her suffering could have been prevented. She is now campaigning for earlier diagnosis of this “invisible” and currently incurable condition.
“I’d been fobbed off for so long and told that this isn’t what’s wrong with me, so when I was diagnosed, I almost felt vindicated because I was right – but I was angry,” Ms Johnson told PA Real Life. “I was doing the research into what’s wrong with me and I was right every single time. But this is something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life because everything we have tried so far hasn’t worked. I wish someone would have just listened to me in the first place.”
According to the charity Endometriosis UK, it takes an average of more than eight years from the first GP visit to receive a diagnosis for endometriosis, a condition affecting 176 million women worldwide. Symptoms vary but can include pelvic pain, severe period pain, heavy bleeding, and pain during or after sex or when urinating.
Ms Johnson’s symptoms began at age nine with heavy bleeding, leading to an iron deficiency diagnosis. By 12, her condition escalated to include nausea, vomiting, and such severe cramping that she would be “off school, in bed for days.”
“I couldn’t move and I’d just curl up into the foetal position,” said Ms Johnson, who works as a regional assistant for a social care company. “That would go on for days… but when we went to see the doctors when I was about 14, there was no investigation and they just stuck me on the pill.”
Despite the pill stopping her periods, she experienced “phantom pain” and occasional light bleeding, along with back pain dismissed as “growing pains.” Her symptoms continued to worsen, leading to hospital admissions where she felt her “body was on fire,” yet she claims she was still “ignored.”
“I would go to hospital, and they would say, ‘are you sure it’s not just a bad period?’,” she explained. “They’d tell me to go back to my GP and, effectively, ignore me, and then my GP would say, ‘if your pain is that bad, you need to go to hospital’.”
In 2023, Ms Johnson was finally referred to a gynaecologist but faced a year-long waiting list, during which her symptoms severely impacted her ability to sleep, walk, and study. A change of GP surgeries led her to a locum doctor who recognised the severity of her pain, prescribed codeine, and escalated her referral.
However, in 2024, after seeing a male gynaecologist and undergoing clear ultrasound and MRI scans, she was again told she did not have endometriosis. Instead, her weight was cited as the cause of her symptoms.
“He spent the whole (appointment), telling me it’s because of my weight… and he said to me: ‘Your weight is my ideal weight as a 6ft 5in man’,” she recounted. “Trying to explain (my symptoms) to someone who has already decided what he thinks is the answer, he just wasn’t listening.”
Convinced something was profoundly wrong, Ms Johnson began her own research while at university. “I wasn’t going into my lessons because I couldn’t get up, I didn’t have any support, so I started Googling my symptoms and looking at WebMD and I came across endometriosis,” she said. “I just thought, wait a second, this is what’s been going on with me for the past 10 years.”
Later in 2024, an unplanned pregnancy became a suspected ectopic pregnancy, which Ms Johnson claims doctors also dismissed. A private scan a week later identified a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, leading to an emergency hospital visit. Although she suffered a partial rupture, the pregnancy later “dissolved” without surgery.
After advocating for a laparoscopy, considered the “gold standard” for diagnosis, she endured another year-long wait. During this time, her symptoms intensified, including severe abdominal pain, nausea, bladder spasms, bowel dysfunction, and debilitating sciatica.
“It’s traumatic. I’m on the floor, I’m screaming, crying, and the pain lasts for hours,” she described.
In July 2025, Ms Johnson finally underwent the diagnostic laparoscopy. Upon waking, she was informed of the extensive endometriosis. While some tissue was removed, she was told not all could be safely excised due to its widespread nature and location.
“They said there are lesions which look like they’ve been there for about 15 years, and I’ve got massive scarring on basically everything,” she stated. “At this point, I’m thinking, you’ve left it so long that now there’s not a chance that (treatment) will work.”
Ms Johnson continues to experience “flare-ups” but uses a TENS machine for pain relief and is pushing for more referrals. She may require further surgery or, in severe cases, a hysterectomy, but for now, she is dedicated to raising awareness and advocating for better education and support.
“Always advocate for yourself and fight for yourself… but you’re not alone as there are millions of us with this condition and there are support groups,” she urged. “I’d say to GPs, think about if this was your child or your wife or your partner, you’d want them to be heard. Medical professionals need to educate themselves and be willing to be educated again.”
During Endometriosis Awareness Month, intimate wellness brand Intimina highlights that diagnosis takes an average of eight years and 10 months. Dr Susanna Unsworth, a women’s health expert for Intimina, commented: “Too many women are still told that severe period pain is ‘just something they have to live with’. But pain that stops you going about your normal daily life is not normal and should always be assessed. If your periods are affecting your quality of life, trust your instincts, seek medical advice and keep advocating for yourself. Women deserve to be listened to when they say something isn’t right.”