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I wrote a blog about endometriosis and PCOS to help myself and others
Expressing herself through her writing comes naturally to Sophie, and she’s agreed to share her story and extracts from her blog so that other women tackling these challenges will never feel alone.
Sophie's story
Sophie, 33, knew that things weren’t right from the moment she started her periods.
It was agony. She’d be lying on the floor or vomiting. She had to take time off school.
Doctors put her on the pill and told her it was normal. “That’s just your period,” they’d say.
Blog extract: My journey to motherhood through IVF, PCOS and endometriosis
“When I was 15 years old, I collapsed whilst walking home from town. I cannot describe the pain and panic I felt simultaneously, but it literally knocked me off my feet. I frantically rang my mum and was soon on my way to hospital.
“After scans and tests, the nurses told me that it looked as though a cyst had burst on my ovary. They said, ‘You probably have polycystic ovaries. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot that can be done about that. It’s just something you will have to live with’.
“I remember the night spent alone on the ward like it was yesterday. A million thoughts racing through my head. The ones that stand out most are, WHY can nothing be done? WHY do I have to live with it?
“Over the following 15 years I lived with crippling pain and was often housebound due to my heavy periods. I knew it wasn’t just PCOS, but nobody listened.
“It took eight years of tirelessly advocating for myself and countless hospital trips to be taken remotely seriously. I had a laparoscopy in 2015 and endometriosis was diagnosed and excised. Finally, I felt like I was getting somewhere.”
Sophie and Dan's fertility journey
Sophie and her husband, Daniel, 34, live near Cheltenham. They met in Greece in 2016 and the holiday romance blossomed into a new life for them both.
Anticipating that getting pregnant would be hard, they started trying for a baby eighteen months after they met.
Sophie says, “My GP was amazing. NHS rules where I live say you have to be trying for two years but he referred me for tests well ahead of that.”
The couple were eligible for two rounds of NHS-funded IVF and were referred to TFP Fertility Oxford.
“After so long trying, we were finally in the office of the consultant. But I saw the tell-tale look on her face. I knew this wasn’t going to be good news,” recalls Sophie.
She was informed that her endometriosis was back, her ovaries were polycystic and her tubes were damaged.
Her egg reserve was also lower than expected for a woman of her age.
The consultant advised that the couple embark on fertility treatment as soon as possible, as time was not on their side.
Sophie says, “I was feeling sadness, frustration, grief and anger.
“Then my wonderful husband stepped in to be the voice of reason, as he has done so many times.
“He said, ‘Sophie, a low egg reserve score is better than nothing. It’s going to work for us, OK?’”
Two cycles - and two babies
Sophie recalls a feeling of relief that, now treatment was underway, she and Daniel were being cared for by people ‘who got it’.
“We were met with such grace and patience by the clinic staff,” she says. “To finally be taken seriously and to be listened to was amazing.”
“The girls at the clinic were very caring and understanding. They never discredit how you are feeling. Their approach is: this is what is happening. This is what it means. We are here for you. Here’s our number. Phone us or come back whenever you need to. They know it can be scary.”
For her first, NHS-funded, cycle Sophie was given a short protocol course of medication to stimulate her egg production.
She produced a very high number of eggs - 29 - which meant her body needed time to recover ahead of the transfer, so a frozen transfer would be necessary.
The clinic team decided that as her cycles and ovulation were frequent and normal, she wouldn’t need any medication after the transfer (such as progesterone, which prepares the lining of the uterus for the embryo).
“So, the embryo was transferred and my body did the rest,” she says.
Sophie and Daniel’s first son, Luca, was born in November 2020.
Eight healthy embryos remained frozen, so three years later, the couple returned to TFP Fertility Oxford for their second round of IVF. This time it was self-funded. As the first round of IVF had been successful, NHS funding wasn’t available for the second.
Once again, no medication was needed after the embryo transfer.
And once again, the couple conceived – and their second son, Oakley, was born in May 2024.
“We have closed that chapter of our lives now,” says Sophie. “We are two babies and done and I feel the greatest relief that I can close a painful chapter in my life."
The couple’s remaining embryos have been donated to research, to help other families in the future.
Blog extract: After the first embryo transfer
“I always promised to be open and honest in this journey in the hope that somebody else may feel a little less alone with it all. And to be honest putting my thoughts onto this blog and having people reach out is really helping.
“I am petrified that this might not work. I am equally as excited and scared that it will.
“As I had a ‘natural cycle’ frozen embryo transfer, there were no stimulant drugs involved so there was no risk of medications causing a false positive. Because of this, I have to admit we tested early - the wait was simply too much for us to handle.
“I felt every emotion you could imagine in those 10 minutes, but the thought I remember having the most was that no matter what happened next, I had been pregnant (and known about it) and this baby was so loved”.
"Women have to be their own advocates."
Sophie remembers so many occasions when medical professionals have dismissed the pain caused by her medical conditions and advised her to go home and put her feet up.
She says, “We are told we are hysterical. I hate that I am just shrugging when I say this, but, as women, that’s what we do.”
“When you’ve got endometriosis and then have to navigate the minefield that is infertility, it takes over your whole life.
“Some people aren’t comfortable sharing their story. For me, I just needed to get my words out onto paper."
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