A 35-year-old woman says doctors ignored her crippling pain for 15 years and removed two of her organs before figuring out what was actually at the source of her issues.
Amber Williams, who lives in London, said years of agonizing pain were dismissed as “just periods” despite countless doctor’s appointments, repeated trips to the hospital, scans and major operations.
She was left without answers after having her appendix and gallbladder removed — only to later be told there had been little or nothing wrong with the organs.
“I was forgotten about for years and left in pain. If I hadn’t kept pushing, I don’t think I would ever have been diagnosed,” she said.
Williams first began experiencing severe period pain after starting her periods aged 11. By 14, her symptoms were so severe she regularly missed school. She said she was told painful periods were “normal” and got prescribed the contraceptive pill.
She remained on the pill for around four years but said it did little to relieve her symptoms — and caused unwanted side effects including weight gain and severe mood changes.
After stopping the pill in 2010, her pain continued to worsen. In 2012, at age 21, she went to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain and doctors suspected appendicitis.
Her appendix was removed, but Williams said surgeons later told her there was nothing wrong with it.
“I left without an organ and still without an answer as to why I was in so much pain,” she said.
Later that year, she was diagnosed with PCOS, now renamed PMOS. Williams said she was told it could affect fertility and was largely advised to lose weight, while her ongoing pain remained untreated.
Over the following years, she repeatedly returned to her doctor as her symptoms became increasingly debilitating. She said she was routinely advised to take painkillers and sent home, despite undergoing numerous tests.
She alleged that one medical professional even told her: “If you were really in that much pain, you wouldn’t have that much make-up on.”
In 2016, her health deteriorated significantly and she says she went to the emergency room around 12 times with agonizing abdominal pain.
Doctors diagnosed gallstones and pancreatitis, leading to surgery to remove her gallbladder. But she was later told there had been nothing significantly wrong with the organ.
That same year, she experienced extremely heavy bleeding, filling a sanitary pad every hour while vomiting and collapsing in pain.
During the hospital admission in August, Williams suffered a miscarriage, which she described as deeply traumatic.
The experience became a turning point in her fight for answers.
“When I was having my miscarriage, that’s when I realized even if you’re screaming and writhing in pain no one listens. You have to scream from the rooftops,” she said.
Around 2017, while researching her symptoms and speaking to women in online support groups, she first came across endometriosis.
She completed symptom checkers from Endometriosis UK and took the information to her doctor. Although she was referred onwards, Williams says the possibility of endometriosis was dismissed and she was allegedly told they were unlikely to find anything.
As the years passed, her pain spread beyond her menstrual cycle. She said some clinicians suggested her symptoms could be linked to her mental health and she was prescribed antidepressants.
The constant pain and lack of answers had a devastating effect on her life.
In 2025, after she and her husband had spent four years trying unsuccessfully to conceive, she sought help through fertility services. A fertility specialist listened to her concerns about endometriosis and referred her for further investigation.
In July this year, surgeons finally discovered extensive endometriosis and adenomyosis, with Amber’s ovaries fused to her pelvic wall.
She said she was finally given the validation she had spent years seeking.
“When I woke up from surgery, the surgeon looked at me and said, ‘You’re not crazy.’ I just burst into tears,” she said.
She now spends the first three days of every period in what she describes as “10 out of 10 pain” and relies heavily on pain relief.
Despite finally having a diagnosis, Williams fears the years without treatment may have affected her chances of having children.
It was only after she and her husband struggled to conceive that she was referred for further investigation, finally leading to a diagnosis of extensive endometriosis and adenomyosis in July this year.
Now unable to work because of the pain, Williams said years of being dismissed allowed the disease to progress unchecked.
“It’s ruined my life. I’ve lost years. I don’t have a career. I can’t work because I’m in too much pain. I don’t know what my life might have looked like if I’d been listened to earlier,” she said.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have children now because of the damage that has been done.”
Williams wants other women experiencing unexplained pain to keep pushing for answers.
“Don’t let them gaslight you. If you know your own body, you know when something’s wrong with you,” she said.
“Women’s health is still understudied, under-researched and undervalued. People think endometriosis is just bad periods. It isn’t. It affects every part of your life.”
