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13th November 2024
05:00pm GMT
We’re growing up in a very different Ireland from the one our mums and grandmothers were used to. We’re finally able to raise our voices, but are people really listening to us enough?
Irish women are stronger than ever before but the people in power continue to dismiss us and ignore our issues.
One thing that’s never been taken seriously enough is our health. We made an immense difference when we repealed the 8th but we still have so far to go.
One woman who knows how that feels is Sarah Jane Allen. Sarah has faced major health struggles in her three decades and is living with PCOS, Endometriosis, and Adenomyosis.
Sarah has opened up to Her.ie about the reality of living with these three debilitating conditions and why doctors fail to listen to women, even when they raise their voices.
She has been suffering from symptoms since the age of 9 but a lack of education and tabboo stopped her from seeking help in her younger years.
Sarah’s mental health hit an “all-time low” in 2015 and that’s when she knew it was time to get answers.
“I did not stop until a doctor looked at me and listened to me and took me seriously,” she said.
“I remember hearing it was linked to infertility and alarm bells went off. It felt like a death sentence like my life was over, but I now know that isn’t the case. It can be so scary getting that diagnosis especially when you’re just told and then discharged.”
As relieved as she was, facing negative bias from doctors is unfortunately a common occurrence for Sarah.
“I am met constantly with a negative bias from doctors saying I’m hysterical and questioning why I need painkillers or if there’s anything else going on.”
“Doctors often tell me it’s just part of being a woman. Put a band-aid on it and take the pill then come back to us in a few years when you want to have a child and that’s the problem. You should be dealing with this before someone wants to have a child because it could be too late by then,” she stressed.
Sarah said women are so used to hiding their symptoms because doctors are constantly dismissing their pain and their issues.
“We present as if we’re fine healthy young women but you don’t know what’s going on inside our bodies. For so long we’ve had to pretend that we’re not in pain, we’ve had to get up and go about our day-to-day lives but you don’t see what goes on behind closed doors.”
Sarah’s symptoms are impacting her day-to-day life, but treatments have failed to improve in recent years.
“There should be some sort of tablet or medication we can take that will help us go about our day-to-day life,” she stressed.
“Ask what we need as patients. Not every patient has the same story. If we’re not being listened to how can they make the changes that are necessary for us? They’re not asking what we need.”
Sarah is sharing her story to raise awareness and to ensure other women don’t feel alone in their struggles like she did as a teenager. She said doctors try and make women feel like “everything is in your head” but that’s not true.
“No one can advocate for yourself better than you. You’re facing those hurdles with doctors telling you it’s all in your head. Doctors can tell you time and time again that they don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you’re suffering for a reason.
"You shouldn’t stop until you find out what is causing that pain," she said.
Sarah is now on medication, has pain relief, and has a doctor who believes her.
However, she had to travel to the UK to get the Endometriosis treatment she needed.
“There are so many women in Ireland that are going to Romania, the UK, America, wherever they can to get treatment they need their conditions. That’s not normal. We should be going down the road to Limerick, Dublin, Galway, we shouldn’t be getting on a plane.
“I hope for future generations that they don’t have to get on a plane to get the standard treatment that they need in their country. We are humans at the end of the day. Something has to give.”
Sarah Jane Allen is one of thousands of PCOS, Endometriosis, and Adenomyosis warriors facing these hardships every single day.
As she perfectly put it, Irish women deserve better healthcare and they certainly won't stop fighting until that change is made.
