“Primary medical therapy is often offered at health centres but because of the poor understanding, this has led to adolescent girls waiting much longer compared to adults in seeking proper health care,” he said.
Embedding itself in areas such as the vagina, cervix, bowel, bladder or pelvis, it often then develops into painful cysts -commonly resulting in extreme abdominal pain, infertility, nausea, and irritable bowel symptoms.
There is no cure for Endometriosis, and even with surgery, the chance of the disease recurring within five years can be as high as 40 per cent The data collected in a study involving both rural and urban women in Kenya showed that a small proportion 6.4 per cent had heard of endometriosis, 3.8 per cent had had a family history of endometriosis while majority 70 per cent had no information and wished to receive more information.
A non-scientific survey conducted for this story produced similar outcome. 7 out of 10 women randomly interviewed had no knowledge of endometriosis. Wanjiku says that after diagnosis, she was lucky to get a job and could afford to buy insurance and seek the services of a gynaecologist. During her journey, she had 7 surgeries in the last 13 years and has had multiple surgeries in a year depending on how fast the endometrial tissue grows. She had difficulty getting an insurance cover.
“One insurance company told me that I was a risk. I had to wait for one year to get a cover and there was no way I was going to tell my body to wait for one year.” Describing her experience, Wanjiku defines the pain, taking painkillers and turning to alcohol numb the pain, saying that she still has struggles staying away from alcohol, especially on nights when she can’t sleep and sleeping pills are not working.
“Endometriosis has basically taken over my life and the older I get the more severe the pain gets, I can no longer dress the way I want, I don’t have a social life and I don’t even have time for a relationship,” saying she has lost 9 pregnancies in her past relationship. She is currently struggling with depression, severe pain, heavy bleeding, fatigue and low energy levels. She struggles to get out of bed, sometimes going to work for 5 days is a miracle.
“I am glad I work for the most understanding employer ever, my boss is the best. He has been my biggest supporter. My colleagues and the human resource team at Saracen Media have also been of great support.” Wanjiku, who is an office administrator at Saracen Media, added that she is grateful to her employer for the corporate insurance cover that has enabled get better health care.
