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well and truly informed as to what this illness was. However, given that it’s such a difficult illness to diagnose, I wasn’t officially told that I had it until I was 25. This was when I had my first laparoscopy, which was the operation where they discovered that I had stage 4 endometriosis. That was a long, long journey. Early on, my journey involved a lot of visits to doctors, doing various ultrasounds and tests to try and get answers, which was extremely frustrating. So, it was kind of this light bulb moment when I woke up from the surgery and the doctors said to me, ‘You’ve got stage 4 endometriosis’. I was just like: Ah, finally! Now I know why I’ve been in pain all this time. Tell us about your role as ambassador of Endometriosis Australia. What prompted you to take this on? When I had my first laparoscopy and was told I’ve got endometriosis, I was sitting at home and recovering, and I thought: What can I do to help? I needed to be able to do something. I literally Googled ‘endometriosis charities in Australia’ and Endometriosis Australia was the first place that flashed up. I emailed the guys, introduced myself and said I’d love to be able to be a voice for them: ‘I work in the media, what can I do?’ And Donna \[Ciccia\], the beautiful brains behind Endometriosis Australia, got in contact with me. That’s how I became an ambassador. I’m heavily involved with these guys. My parents are as well – Mum having had endometriosis and Dad being there as a support. Our whole family is extremely passionate about raising awareness and getting the conversation started for Endometriosis Australia. So, if you’re reading this and you believe that maybe there’s something going on – that you might be a case for endometriosis – then get to that website! It’s a fantastic source for everything that’s available for you in Australia. There seem to be a lot of symptoms associated with this condition. What are the endometriosis symptoms that you experience? I have anxiety, which has built up over the years – just dreading that, oh my God, I’m going to get fired from my work because I’m taking all this time off sick, feeling. I do have a fantastic GP that I see, to deal with that. And I also see a psychologist. So, there’s the mental health side of things. I know there are women who struggle with depression extremely badly. You know, those people who can’t get out of bed – that’s a real hard thing for them to cope with. For me, I also get headaches sometimes and nausea as well. For example, the past couple of days I’ve been quite nauseous, and I’ve had the stabbing pain as well. How do you manage endometriosis? At the moment I’m really, really lucky in that my pain isn’t as bad as it was. I’ll get the occasional stabbing here and there. It kind of feels like somebody’s stabbing me in the belly. But I’m so used to it now that I just, you know, dismiss it to the side. In the past 12 months I’ve had really, really bad days, which floored me for six. But for the interim, I’ve just been blessed where it’s kind of lain dormant, so to speak, because I’ve had lots of surgeries. A lot of the pain I get now is from adhesions, which is from where the endometriosis was removed. The adhesions are now the thing causing me the most pain. They’re on my bowel and my uterus as well. So, it sucks when I have those moments of pain, but at least I know what it’s from. And if I take a paracetamol, that’s able to keep it at bay. You mention paracetamol. Are there any other products you use to help manage the pain? The wonderful thing for when you’re in pain is heat. A lot of people with endometriosis will take heat packs with them wherever they go, or a hot water bottle, because the heat will help to soothe your pain. And yes, paracetamol, and anything over-the-counter you can get. Unfortunately, I can’t take Nurofen anymore because I’ve got endometriosis complications – that’s another story. So, Panadol’s the only thing I’m able to take. There are alternative therapies you can try as well, such as acupuncture, which is another thing I swear by, and just taking time out to relax. I haven’t done it yet, but yoga is supposed to be wonderful, too. Has endometriosis affected your ability to undertake daily activities at all? If so, how? Absolutely. So, work-wise, dealing with 6 MINUTES WITH ... 25 endometriosis at first was quite difficult because it’s women’s business, so to speak, and I did have a male manager who didn’t quite understand what it meant when I was sick. However, over the years, things have gotten much, much better and I have an amazing team around me \[now\] who are really understanding and supportive. They know there may be a day or two where I need to take time out, because I do work in radio. I’m an announcer, so I need to be up and, bright and perky – you know, smiling. There’ve been days when I haven’t been able to do that, so work’s been extremely supportive in that way. My now husband, when we first started dating, came along with me to the specialist appointment (this is the very first gynaecologist I saw), and he \[the gynaecologist\] looked at us both and went: ‘Oh, well, you need to have a baby’. I was like: ‘Oh yeah, OK, we’ve been together only a couple of months – way to put pressure on!’ I’ve heard so many similar stories to this, of girls who’ve really struggled to get themselves into relationships because of endometriosis. The guys don’t understand some of the things these girls are going through and their needs at the time. What is the role of a retail pharmacy assistant in making recommendations to customers who might come into the pharmacy seeking management? I think it’s really important to understand that periods are painful for some people and it’s not quite as simple as, ‘Here’s some Panadol, you’ll be fine, go home’. If there’s someone who’s coming into the pharmacy constantly, then I’d say there’s probably more of an issue than just a really bad period. So, I think retail pharmacy assistants should be trying to get an understanding of this – that \[some\] women will potentially be in more pain than others, so how can they assist? And go from there. There’s a fantastic pharmacist that I go and see, downstairs from my work. She knows me on a first-name basis. She’s always able to help me out with what I need. I think it’s just about getting the awareness and the education into stores, and educating people. For more information about Endometriosis Australia, visit: endometriosisaustralia.org RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • MAY 2020