Aylesbury woman who suffered six miscarriages helping with study into Endometriosis
Video report by ITV News Meridian's Heather Edwards
A woman from Aylesbury, who suffered six miscarriages due to a condition called Endometriosis, is volunteering to work with doctors to find better ways of treating the disease.
Endometriosis is a chronic condition where uterine lining is found outside of the uterus.
Symptoms include tiredness, painful periods pain during intercourse, excessive bleeding, and infertility, yet many women go undiagnosed and suffer in silence.
That's because the condition that affects as many as 1 in 10 women in the UK, is still largely misunderstood.
Now Samantha Greig from Aylesbury is working with doctors at the University of Oxford and the John Radcliffe Hospital to research the disease.
She says: "I have fallen pregnant 6 times and and I have miscarried all six pregnancies; never got longer than 8 weeks. You live 24/7 in pain when you are bleeding, and when you start bleeding, the problem you've got is that you don't know how long it's going to go on for. You can be crippled in bed, you could be out and about and fall over in pain, because of the cramping that happens - it doesn't go away - its not a curable illness."
The 5-year trial Samantha is taking part in hopes to uncover what causes Endometriosis and develop better tests and treatment for the condition.
Christian Becker, Co-Directors of the Endometriosis Care Centre at the University of Oxford says that there needs to be more awareness of the condition.
He says: "Research is totally underfunded and awareness too so another outcome we would like to have after 5 years, is to have educated people more so people are more aware, and go to their GPs and gynecologists and say 'is it possible that I have endometriosis?' We have done studies here at Oxford and elsewhere that shows it can take 6 to 7 GP visits before someone says 'yes it is endometriosis', and that can be over 7 to 10 years and thats a lot of suffering for lots of women."
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