"So It's Like a Painful Period?" Living with Endometriosis: My Journey

Samantha Marie Walkden
Health communication · 2023 · vol. 39(12) , pp. 2950–2954 · doi:10.1080/10410236.2023.2296189 · PMID:38111219 · W4389958772
Other OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This essay recounts a personal journey of endometriosis diagnosis, highlighting medical gaslighting and societal dismissal of menstrual pain, arguing patients must fight for validation within an archaic system.

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Abstract

This essay details the author's personal process of being diagnosed with endometriosis, including her experience of medical gaslighting and societal attitudes toward "period pain." Many people who experience excessive menstrual pain report dismissive attitudes and/or trivialization of their symptoms, from both the public and health professionals. The author recalls conversations from throughout her diagnostic journey, which evidence the ingrained beliefs and attitudes of gendered observations of pain. Ultimately, the author contends that the "burden of proof" is with the patient, being forced to continually fight for their right to be heard in an archaic medical system. The people experiencing this condition are experts-by-experience, who are continually providing knowledge about endometriosis, and self-advocating to rewrite the societal narratives concerning menstrual pain. The goal of this essay is not to blame or cause discomfort, but rather to raise awareness and encourage everyone to talk more openly about menstrual related issues. The following prose is written as a first-person account of my experience with this condition, drawing on appropriate support from academic literature.

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Condition tags

dysmenorrheaendometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (34)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

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License: CC0 · commercial use OK