MY ENDO WARRIOR STORY
I remember lying curled up on the couch in excruciating pain.
I was eleven.
I didn’t know what was happening to me. I just knew something wasn’t right. I kept going back and forth to the bathroom, instinctively feeling like it had something to do with what my body was trying to do.
Eventually, the bleeding started.
My first period.
And the thought that went through my mind was:
Is this what it’s going to be like every month?
The fear was immediate.
And as it turned out… that fear wasn’t unfounded.
What followed was a decade of worsening symptoms.
Severe pelvic pain. Heavy bleeding. Fatigue. Digestive issues.
Every cycle became more debilitating than the last.
I missed school. A lot of it.
And when I wasn’t in pain, I was trying desperately to catch up - academically, socially, emotionally. I stopped committing to things because I never knew if I’d be well enough to show up. Cancelling plans became normal.
I felt like people thought I was unreliable… or exaggerating.
“It’s just a period.”
“Every girl goes through it.”
But deep down, I knew this wasn’t normal.
Eventually, after seeing multiple doctors, I was diagnosed with endometriosis.
I was also told something that stayed with me for years:
That I would likely struggle to have children.
I tried everything I was told might help.
Conventional treatments. Pain medication.
Natural therapies - herbs, acupuncture, dietary changes.
Some things helped a little. Others had awful side-effects. But nothing came close to resolving it.
And at one point, I completely lost trust in the care I was receiving. My body was sort of being managed… but not truly understood. I was mostly dismissed and left feeling terrible about myself.
After surgery didn’t fully resolve my symptoms, and I was still relying far too heavily on pain narcotics and opioids just to function, I reached a turning point.
It was then that I decided: I need to understand this for myself.
So I did.
I immersed myself in the research. I studied endometriosis deeply. I explored what was happening beneath the surface - not just symptom management, but root causes. I even completed a research thesis focused on endometriosis!
And I began experimenting carefully on myself.
Nutrition. Lifestyle. Different therapeutic approaches. There were failures and there were successes.
Bit by bit, things started to shift.
My symptoms improved. My energy returned.
My body began responding in a way it never had before. I finally felt like myself again - I got my life back!
And then something incredible happened.
Despite everything I had been told…
I fell pregnant.
After one heartbreaking loss, I went on to have my son… then my daughter… and later, identical twin girls!
Something I was once told might not be possible, became my reality.
That journey changed everything for me.
Because I realised something important:
Women are not lacking willpower or the ability to ‘suck it up and get on with things’.
They are lacking the right support, the right understanding, and the right plan.
And while working as a Registered Nurse in Emergency Departments, I saw this pattern over and over again firsthand - women presenting with pain, fatigue, and complex symptoms that were dismissed or ’managed’ without ever addressing the root cause.
I went on to further study. This time to formally study Naturopathy, Nutritional Science, and Western Herbal Medicine - building a clinical framework that combines evidence-based research with a root-cause approach.
Alongside this, my paid research work across obstetrics, General Practice, rural health, and aged care deepened my understanding of complex health conditions and reinforced the need for a more comprehensive, whole-body approach to care.
Over the years, I’ve helped many women with endometriosis improve their symptoms, restore their energy, conceive and feel like themselves again.
In practice, this has meant helping women reduce pain, regulate their cycles, improve fertility outcomes, and feel more in control of their health again.
Now, I’ve come full circle.
Endometriosis is where this journey began for me at 11 years old - and it’s where I now choose to focus much of my work.
Because I know what it’s like to:
- Not be believed
- Be told it’s “normal”
- Feel like your body is working against you
- Wonder if things will ever change
- Suffer greatly
And I also know that with the right approach…
Women can be believed, listened to, and supported in a way that allows the body to heal.
You don’t have to spend years figuring this out on your own.
There are answers.
And when you address what’s driving your symptoms, your body can begin to respond.
Pain can ease. Energy can return. And you can start to feel like yourself again.
