A single mum-of-two who suffered excruciating pain during her period has taken the drastic step of being sterilised - at just 32 years old.
Chrissie Hadfield first started suffering from painful periods and ovulation pain when she was 20 years old, after the birth of her oldest child.
Each time her period came, she describes feeling a pain like a hot blade in her abdomen, leaving her doubled over in pain and unable to stand.
She would also develop thrush each month and had poly-cystic ovaries - one of which was inflamed.
After two difficult pregnancies with her 13 and eight-year-old children, she decided she wasn't going to have any more kids.
And when her youngest was born, she ended up in hospital with ovulation pain. She was given morphine to manage it, but doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.
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She said: “Over the next 10 years, doctors put me on every form of contraception you can think of.
“They thought the contraception would help control the bleeding and help control the pain but none of them did. Anything hormonal literally wiped me out."
She added that her period pain was so bad, she was once given drugs only given to women in labour.
Eventually, she had a non-hormonal coil (IUD) fitted, but this made her periods irregular and meant she could be bleeding for 12 days out of the month.
"I could also feel myself ovulating. It felt like a metal ball on fire rolling down my abdomen and every now and again it would shoot spikes. It was extremely painful."
When she reached 30 years old, Chrissie decided enough was enough and, knowing she didn't want to have any more children, she asked her GP about sterilisation.
But she claims her request was met with difficulty and was told it would be tricky for a single woman of her age to have the operation.
“I had to show that every form of contraception does not work for my body, the hormonal contraceptives give me mental health problems and my body rejects the non-hormonal coil," she said.
“I had to keep the copper coil, so I was on some form of contraception, but I was developing bacterial vaginosis and thrush every time I had a period, so I was given antibiotics every month.”
Chrissie was also worried about the long-term damage taking so much medication each month would have on her body.
She explained: “Being on this much medication is unnatural. Each cycle, I was developing cysts on my ovaries and tubes and a scan showed I had a right inflamed ovary.
“So, the thought of having sterilisation to me was a dream and a way out from all the medication and no more contraception. Hopefully an end to my pain.”
The difficulty she experienced with her GP was repeated when she told people she wanted to be sterilised.
In a Facebook post, she wrote: "Back in February I expressed that I had been put on a list to be permanently sterilised. Not just because I didn't want more children, it was mainly for health reasons.
"But I expressed how other people's opinions were the reason I was keeping it quiet because everyone was so vocal about their own concerns."
She added: “I haven’t given into this decision lightly, so negative comments about my age or situation haven’t helped. I know sterilisation is final, I know how old I am, and I know I have made the right choice.
“I have made this decision for myself. It seems to be natural for a man to have the snip, but a woman taking ownership of her own body is frowned upon.
"Even to the point I was told yesterday by another woman during my pre op assessment... you know your partner could get the snip instead?
"I’ve had men not even knowing what a fallopian tube is and women telling me I'm making a mistake because ‘what if I meet a man who wants kids'?"
Responding to these comments, Chrissie says people aren't conscious of what she wants and needs, given that she's suffered excruciatingly painful periods for 12 years.
"People just hear sterilisation and jump straight away to judgement. Especially as I was single when I started this journey," she wrote.
But finally, last month, she had the operation to remove her right fallopian tube and part of her left.
“Does it make me less desirable because I can't bear children? Does it make me less than a woman? Will it make me seen as a short term partner instead of a long term partner?
“What will people think? Will people pity me because of my situation? Will I regret it? But you know what, I feel relieved, and I feel empowered.
“Finally, a step to try and ease the pain I have been experiencing for years. All that worry was about what other people thought again. But I have a boyfriend who is amazing," she wrote.
She encouraged people not to judge what others do with their own bodies - and remember that there's a lot we don't know about what others are going through.
Do you have a real life story to share? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com
Now in recovery, Chrissie's pain hasn't fully gone away, but it's more manageable. Now, she wants to promote equality around fertility issues.
She said: “We are approaching 2022. These should not still be issues women are facing to take control of their own bodies.
“Nearly every woman has quoted to me, ‘my body my choice’ and I feel empathy for all the women who have thanked me for speaking up about my own experience, as it has given them confidence to speak up about their own.
“Being sterilised shouldn’t make me any less of a woman, if anything it gives me the ability to be more human.”
