Woman, 21, who suffers period pains that leave her suicidal said doctors REFUSED to remove her womb

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Woman, 21, vows to raise £8,500 to fund a hysterectomy claiming she’s been left suicidal by agonising period pains that make her pass out

  • Kacey Read, from Brighton, was just 12 when she first experienced period pains
  • They left her involuntarily screaming, vomiting and sometimes unconscious
  • Doctors tried birth control methods to manage pain but refuse to remove womb
  • The 21-year-old is now crowdfunding to pay for the operation privately 

By Raven Saunt For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

A 21-year-old woman, who suffers with agonising period pains that leave her suicidal is trying to raise money to fund a private hysterectomy, after doctors refused to remove her womb because she ‘might want kids one day’.

Kacey Read, from Brighton, East Sussex, has experienced horrific period pains that leave her involuntarily screaming, vomiting and sometimes unconscious since the age of 12.

Doctors tried her on various birth control methods to manage the pain as a teenager but with no success, which has left Kacey suicidal and unable to hold down a job. 

The root cause of her severe pain has never been diagnosed and tests to identify potential endometriosis have been cancelled twice this year due to the pandemic. 

The experimental linguistics graduate says she’s begged doctors to remove her womb to stop the pain and help her mental state, but says they refused due to the fact she ‘might want kids one day’.

Kacey Read (pictured), from Brighton, East Sussex, was just 12 years old when she first experienced horrific period pains that left her involuntarily screaming, vomiting and sometimes unconscious

Kacey, who is now crowdfunding to pay for the operation privately, said: ‘Every doctor said I’d grow out of it. But nearly ten years on, I’m still getting cramps so severe that I pass out from the pain.

‘It isn’t just the physical pain I experience, but also the cyclical emotional dips I go through because of my periods. So I really don’t get a day’s rest.

‘I’m tired of it making me so depressed that I can’t get out of bed for a week. I’m tired of having to plan my life around it.

‘When I’ve asked about having a hysterectomy, I’ve been told by medical professionals that it’s not possible, I’m too extreme and that it would ‘destroy me as a woman’.

Doctors tried her on various birth control methods to manage the pain as a teenager but with no success which left Kacey suicidal and unable to hold down a job

Doctors tried her on various birth control methods to manage the pain as a teenager but with no success which left Kacey suicidal and unable to hold down a job

The experimental linguistics graduate begged doctors to remove her womb to stop the pain and help her mental state

But she said they refused due to the fact she 'might want kids one day'

The experimental linguistics graduate begged doctors to remove her womb to stop the pain and help her mental state but said they refused due to the fact she ‘might want kids one day’

‘I’m tired of doctors taking away my autonomy and telling me they can’t operate because I might want kids one day.

‘I’ve had suicidal thoughts because of this – it’s not about whether I have kids, it’s about whether I have any quality of life.

‘I’m an adult and I’ve made my mind up. I want this to end.’

Kacey’s extreme period pain is likely to have been caused by an underlying medical condition such as endometriosis or adenomyosis.

She has never been formerly diagnosed with either of these conditions, which are known to be incredibly hard to identify, with women often suffering for years before they are officially treated.

She is now fundraising for the surgery to be done privately and hopes to raise £8,500 for the operation and consultation appointments

She is now fundraising for the surgery to be done privately and hopes to raise £8,500 for the operation and consultation appointments

Kacey was due to undergo an investigative laparoscopy to see if she has endometriosis but the procedure has been cancelled twice over the past 12 months due to Covid-19

Kacey was due to undergo an investigative laparoscopy to see if she has endometriosis but the procedure has been cancelled twice over the past 12 months due to Covid-19

Kacey was due to undergo an investigative laparoscopy to see if she has endometriosis but the procedure has been cancelled twice over the past 12 months due to Covid-19.

She is now fundraising for the surgery to be done privately and hopes to raise £8,500 for the operation and consultation appointments.

Kacey said: ‘It will mean I won’t have to face four or five days of unbearable pain – and I won’t have to keep calling in sick.

‘In terms of my mood, it’s not an instant fix, but I’m hoping it will help. I think this is the perfect treatment. I can finally have autonomy over my body.

‘It’s not fair that I have to try and raise £8,500 just to be in control of my own life. I don’t want to be doing this, but it’s my only hope.’ 

What can cause extreme period pain?

Period pain is common and a normal part of a menstrual cycle. It is usually felt as painful muscle cramps in the tummy, which can spread to the back and thighs.

But, less commonly, more intense period pain can be caused by an underlying medical condition.

Pain linked to an underlying medical condition tends to affect older women usually within the 30 to 45 age bracket.

Medical conditions that can cause period pain include:

  • endometriosis – where cells that normally line the womb grow in other places, such as in the fallopian tubes and ovaries; these cells can cause intense pain when they shed
  • fibroids – non-cancerous tumours that can grow in or around the womb and can make your periods heavy and painful
  • pelvic inflammatory disease – where your womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries become infected with bacteria, causing them to become severely inflamed
  • adenomyosis – where the tissue that normally lines the womb starts to grow within the muscular womb wall, making your periods particularly painful

Doctors are more likely to be able to discover the cause of the severe period pain after carrying out further examination such as:  

  • urine or blood test
  • pelvic ultrasound – where high-frequency sound waves are used to produce an image of the inside of your body; it’s painless and will show any abnormalities in your reproductive organs
  • laparoscopy – under general anaesthetic, a small cut is made in your abdomen through which a fibro-optic telescope is inserted; it can be used to look at your internal organs, as well as take samples of tissue (a biopsy)
  • hysteroscopy – allows the inside of the womb to be examined using a fibro-optic telescope; it’s passed through your vagina and into the womb to check for abnormalities

Source: NHS