"It's just part of being a woman. Deal with it."

If you've ever been told this about your period pain, you're not alone. For generations, women have been conditioned to push through debilitating cramps, heavy bleeding, and exhaustion. Told it's normal, told they're being dramatic, told to take a Panadol and get on with it.

But here's the truth: that level of pain is not normal. And it may be trying to tell you something.

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, and in light of that, we wanted to shine a light on a condition that has been overlooked and under-discussed for far too long.

Endometriosis affects roughly 1 in 10 women, yet the average time to diagnosis is still 7 to 10 years. That gap isn't just a statistic, it's years of suffering, missed answers, and in some cases, serious long-term damage to the body.

The Symptoms We Were Told to Ignore

From the very first period, many women with endometriosis are unknowingly experiencing symptoms. The problem? Those symptoms are almost always dismissed by doctors, family members, and eventually by the women themselves.

Common signs that are often brushed off include:

• Heavy or prolonged periods

• Severe cramping that disrupts daily life or causes you to miss work or school

• Pain during or after sex

• Chronic nausea, bloating, or digestive issues around your cycle

• Fatigue that feels disproportionate to what you're doing

• Lower back or pelvic pain that lingers beyond your period

• Pain when going to the bathroom during your cycle

When Georgie, a guest on The Cyclist Podcast, first started having periods at 13, they were heavy and painful. She was put on the pill (aka. the band aid) and told to get on with it. It wasn't until her late teens, when the pain became unbearable and sex became excruciating, that she pushed back harder. By that point, she had stage 3, borderline stage 4 Endometriosis. Her gynaecologist told her that had she waited just two more weeks to seek help, she could have lost her ovaries.

She was 19 years old.

Why Doesn't Endometriosis Show Up on a Scan?

One of the most frustrating and misunderstood aspects of endometriosis is that standard scans often miss it entirely.

Georgie had internal and external ultrasounds, blood tests, and other investigations before her first surgery, and everything came back clear. No sign of anything. Yet inside her body, endometriosis was on her bowel, her rectum, her pouch of Douglas, her ligaments and nerves. Everywhere, as she describes it.

This isn't unusual. Endometriosis cannot be reliably detected through ultrasound or blood tests. The only definitive way to diagnose it is through a laparoscopy - a surgical procedure where a camera is inserted to look directly at the pelvic organs.

This means that a clear scan does not mean nothing is wrong. If your symptoms are real (and they are), keep pushing.

The Culture of Normalising Women's Pain

The delay in diagnosis isn't just a medical problem, it's a cultural one.

Many of us grew up in households where periods simply weren't discussed. Where pain was expected. Where the unspoken message was: this is the price of being a woman, you're just being dramatic.

Georgie reflects that neither she nor her mum had any real framework for what was and wasn't normal when it came to women's health. Her mum's generation didn't talk about periods at all. And so, like so many of us, Georgie absorbed the idea that what she was experiencing, however awful, was just how it was.

This cultural silence has a very real cost. When women don't know what's normal, they can't identify when something is wrong. And when they do speak up, they're often not believed.

What Needs to Change

The endometriosis community has long been calling for better education, faster referral pathways, and more research. But while we wait for systemic change, there are things that can make a difference right now:

• Teaching young people about women's health early : not just the basics, but what symptoms warrant concern

• Normalising conversations about periods, pain, and pelvic health in families, schools, and workplaces

• Improving GP training so that endometriosis is considered earlier, not as a last resort

• Trusting women when they say something is wrong

  
  

You Know Your Body

If there is one thing Georgie's story makes clear, it's this: the women who get answers are the ones who refuse to accept "it's normal" as a final answer.

You are not being dramatic. You are not weak. Pain that stops you living your life is not something you should have to endure in silence.

If something feels wrong, it probably is. Trust yourself and keep pushing until someone listens.

Want to hear Georgie's full story? Listen to her episode on The Cyclist Podcast.

Podcast : The Brutal Reality of Endometriosis and Adenomyosis with Georgie - The Cyclist | Podcast on Spotify