Franchesca Rafter, 34, spent seven years going "back and forth" to doctors with excruciating periods and painful sex before finally being diagnosed with endometriosis. The mum-of-one, who lives in Surrey, says there "just isn't enough care about women's health" after being prescribed the contraceptive pill at age 13 without further investigation.
Seven years of dismissed symptoms
From the age of 12, when she first started her periods, Franchesca experienced pain so severe she would have to "lie on the bathroom floor". After speaking to her mum about the pain at 13, she visited her GP and was prescribed the contraceptive pill to ease her cramping. Franchesca said this "barely helped", but she continued taking it on her doctor's advice. By about 17, she developed other symptoms, including digestive issues and pain during and after sex.
Over the next seven years, she visited several doctors while at home and at university. During this time, her condition became "debilitating" and she would call in sick to work because of the pain. In 2015, a consultant suggested she could have endometriosis and offered her a laparoscopy to diagnose the condition and remove any endometrial tissue found. She went ahead with the surgery, which took place in 2016.
Diagnosis and its impact
Surgeons found endometrial tissue in her pouch of Douglas, fallopian tubes and one ovary. "It was a relief… but I was quite sad for my younger self because there wasn't much information about endometriosis when I was younger, and they weren't willing to investigate my symptoms from the beginning," Franchesca said.
After her diagnosis, her consultant told her the condition could make conceiving difficult, prompting her to "re-evaluate" and end a relationship. When she met her husband, James, 35, he was supportive. When they later began trying for a baby, Franchesca suffered two miscarriages in 2023 — one at six weeks and one at nine weeks — and continued to experience painful sex.
Pregnancy and ongoing frustration
She did "a lot of research" into managing her symptoms and came across Intimina's kegel trainers, which she said helped her body "relax". After receiving support, she and her husband decided to try again in 2024. She gave birth to her daughter, Aubrie, in 2024, but her first period after childbirth was "excruciating". "It felt like revenge of the endometriosis because it was just so painful," she said.
She is now pregnant again and due in October 2026, and "continues" to be "frustrated" by the lack of research and treatment options for people with endometriosis. She said: "We [women] are ultimately the reason why the human race is able to continue, and even if a cure wasn't found, just more information and treatments to make it more manageable, other than contraception, would be amazing."
