This is when regular trips to the hospital began, frequent trips to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. The doctors would consistently push her to the side, finding any possible excuse for these clear symptoms. She heard it all, displacing diagnosis in place with potential urine infections, kidney stones or another abdominal infection. Despite the obvious symptoms, she was never considered for a potential endometriosis diagnosis because she was ‘too young'!

These regular trips continued, yearly trips spent laying in hospital beds, sometimes staying days and nights just to be discharged while still living in pain but never received a diagnosis.

Moving into late adolescence she recollected the pain continued to worsen, she was in so much pain that it would cause her to vomit. Taking regular pain relief became a normality to try live day to day, though some days it wouldn't even take the edge off the pain.

At the age of 17, the symptoms and hospital visits continued as if it were normal and routine. Slowly she fought visit by visit where she would have both external and internal ultrasound testing to search for Endometriosis on her ovaries. Her specialist also performed a hysteroscopy, where a thin camera is used to examine the uterine cavity.

At the age of 21, Olivia was finally officially diagnosed with endometriosis after nearly 10 years seeing numerous doctors across multiple hospitals around the country. After several visits with consistent severe symptoms Olivia was finally recognised and diagnosed with Endometriosis.

The initial treatment plan to reduce the pain was to get an IUD, with her first attempt to have an IUD inserted happen in the hospital's gynaecologist room with just two nurses.

During this procedure, Olivia experienced a cervical shock causing her to fall unconscious and no heartbeat reading for a few seconds. When she woke up, she remembers being surrounded by eight doctors and nurses working on her. Olivia elaborated “still to this day, this is one of the most traumatic experiences.”

A little time passed after this traumatic incident before Olivia went for more scans, doctors identified cysts growing on the ovaries which then proposed a reattempt to deliver treatment. Surgeons conducted a keyhole surgery where Olivia was put under local anaesthetic where the IUD was able to be put in place.

Since this procedure has taken place, Olivia hasn't noticed any support to reduce pain or regulate a period cycle that the IUD was supposed to achieve in the nearly four years she has had it.

At the start of 2024, Olivia moved to Melbourne, Australia. Despite the change she still has returned to the emergency department for her Endometriosis on several occasions, with some of these trips caused by a cyst rupturing. At one of these visits, she was referred to a women's health clinic where she was given an opportunity get a more detailed diagnosis. Olivia paid $500 to get a higher quality and timelier scan through this clinic, where they found more cysts not just on the ovaries, but attached other nearby organs. With this scan doctors diagnosed Olivia with D.I.E (Deep Infiltrated Endometriosis). One of these cysts is located on her spine which is crushing against a nerve, causing sciatic nerve pain to the left side of her body. She's been forced to live with this pain since December 2024, as unfortunately the surgery to remove this cyst can be high risk and there are not many doctors or surgeons trained to carry out this dangerous surgery.

In recent years Olivia has considered seriously attempting to have kids as a temporary solution to deal with the continuous pain. Although this potential solution won't resolve Endometriosis long term, it is an option that she can have greater control over.

Reflecting on Olivia's Endometriosis journey so far, it took years to get answers and results, but she illustrated more frustration to the fact she wasn't being heard or listened to since she was 11 years old. Since the very first symptoms it has been a struggle for her, now being 25 years old she still lives with the struggle every day.

During Olivia's experience with Endometriosis the major differences in patient care are noticeable between the New Zealand and Australian Healthcare Systems. From her personal experience, she felt significantly more supported during the diagnosis period from healthcare professionals and the system itself. Olivia felt during her experiences in hospitals in Australia her condition was treated more serious by hospital staff compared to her experiences in New Zealand.

This process was evidently faster in terms of diagnosis and convenient referrals to gynaecologists, and the D.I.E diagnosis illustrates a more developed system to treat this chronic disease. She noticed the quality and access to scans is significantly better in Australia, and the results and consultations around these seemed much more streamlined. Their care was centred more case by case with specific variables compared to a generalised overall Endometriosis care that New Zealand hospitals delivered.