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Bindi Irwin has opened up about her battle with severe endometriosis and recalled how difficult it was to get doctors to take her condition seriously. 

The 25-year-old conservationist, who shares daughter Grace Warrior, two, with her husband Chandler Powell, said that she was living with horrific pain which was initially dismissed by medical professionals.

‘I was tested for everything. Every tropical disease, Lyme disease, cancer, you name it. I had every blood test and scan imaginable,’ she told People magazine.

‘You don’t know what’s wrong with you, and then when people tell you “It’s all in your head” or “you’re hormonal” or “just have a cup of tea, lay down,” you end up feeling so desperately alone.’

The daughter of the late Steve ‘the Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin said she even began to doubt herself until August last year when she collapsed into a fetal position. 

The scare finally led to a test for intra-abdominal diseases, which revealed she had endometriosis.

Bindi Irwin has opened up about her battle with severe endometriosis and recalled how difficult it was to get doctors to take her condition seriously

Bindi Irwin has opened up about her battle with severe endometriosis and recalled how difficult it was to get doctors to take her condition seriously 

Endometriosis is an often painful condition in which the tissue that lines the uterus also grows outside the uterus. 

There are a wide variety of symptoms: pain can affect areas ranging from the abdomen and lower back to the pelvis and vagina.

Other symptoms include painful sexual intercourse, abnormal menstruation, nausea, bloating, and pain with bowel movements.

‘After years of doctors and various people telling you there’s nothing, you really start to believe it. You wind up in this strange space of self-doubt, fear and insecurity,’ she told the magazine.

After finally finding a doctor who would take her seriously, Irwin underwent successful surgery earlier this year, during which surgeons found 37 lesions and a cyst on her ovary which were removed, and emerged with a new lease on life.

The Wildlife Warrior, 25, said that she was living with horrific pain which was initially dismissed by medical professionals

The Wildlife Warrior, 25, said that she was living with horrific pain which was initially dismissed by medical professionals 

Her surgeon from the Seckin Endometriosis Center in New York City removed a total of thirty-seven lesions and a ‘chocolate cyst’ – a term for a cyst filled with menstrual blood.

‘I feel like I have a second chance at life, I feel brand new. It’s not like a light switch, but every week I feel like I’m able to do a little bit more,’ she said.

Back in May, Bindi offered fans an update on her recovery, reassuring them she was doing well after surgery.

The reality star hosted a Q&A on Instagram and was asked by her followers about her struggle with the debilitating condition.

Bindi said she even began to doubt herself until August last year when she collapsed into a fetal position. The scare finally led to a test for intra-abdominal diseases, which revealed she had endometriosis

Bindi said she even began to doubt herself until August last year when she collapsed into a fetal position. The scare finally led to a test for intra-abdominal diseases, which revealed she had endometriosis 

WHAT IS ENDOMETRIOSIS? 

Endometriosis is present when the tissue that is similar to the lining of the uterus (womb) grows outside this layer and causes pain and/or infertility.

There are a wide variety of symptoms – pain can affect areas ranging from the abdomen and lower back to the pelvis and vagina. 

Other symptoms include painful sexual intercourse, abnormal menstruation, nausea, bloating, and pain with bowel movements.   

The only way that the diagnosis of endometriosis can be made is to undergo a laparoscopy and have a tissue sample taken.

There is no cure, but treatments such as hormones and excision surgery are available.

Source: Endometriosis Australia

She was happy to report that after a long, hard road she was finally getting better.

‘It has been a very long journey and a lot of challenges to get to this point. I’m very thankful to be on the other side of the excision surgery. I can officially say I’m finally feeling better,’ she said.

Bindi went on to say she had been living in constant pain for years, and it wasn’t until her daughter Grace Warrior was born in 2021 that she began looking for answers.

Bindi has spent her entire life in the spotlight as the daughter of celebrity wildlife conservationists Steve and Terri Irwin.

Steve, known to millions around the world as ‘the Crocodile Hunter’, died on September 4, 2006, at the age of 44 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.

Bindi was just eight years old at the time.

Following his death, Steve’s family, including his children Bindi and Robert, widow Terri, and son-in-law Chandler, have continued his wildlife conservation work at Australia Zoo, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Irwin underwent successful surgery earlier this year, during which surgeons found 37 lesions and a cyst on her ovary which were removed, and emerged with a new lease on life

Irwin underwent successful surgery earlier this year, during which surgeons found 37 lesions and a cyst on her ovary which were removed, and emerged with a new lease on life 

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This post first appeared on Daily mail