End-O, not the end of a career | Victoria Williams | TEDxOpenUniversity

The way we’re working isn’t working for people living with endometriosis. They are faced with balancing employment, chronic illness and sustaining some element of a home and social life. The severity of fluctuating and invisible symptoms leads to shortened or interrupted careers with financial consequences. Menstrual policy could support the career trajectory of people with endometriosis by providing the opportunity to work from home, create comfortable working environments or take paid leave when they need to. Menstrual policy allows people with endometriosis to build towards their future career aspirations, breaks the taboo that dangerously normalises pain and adds to diagnostic delays, and helps legitimise invisible conditions at work encouraging others to seek support rather than suffer in silence. After all, end-o shouldn’t mean the end of a career. After completing a BSc at King’s College London, spent seven years working in the digital industry while living with the invisible condition, endometriosis. Now a PhD student at The Open University researching the experience of endometriosis in the workplace and the influence of menstrual policy. Organises workshops and retreats to support people living with the condition. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@acoe2012ac]

This hit home. Even when feel ok to try to talk about it, men and women alike tell they’d rather not hear about it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@IMG530]

Listening to her is both validating and healing. Thank you!

[@brighterdays7437]

So validating and very spot on.. hits home 😢 thank you so much for being a voice for us women with endometriosis ❤

[@katherinebejerano5623]

Thank you for bringing awareness to this 🙏🏼

[@michaelam5786]

This is crazy what women go through. I went through this already in highschool and nobody believed me. I had to sit there in the class getting cold swests back pain and fainting. I still havent been properly diagnosed. Every doctor just pushes me to get birth control as a solution. The scans are clear so they cannot do anything for me

[@stephanierich383]

So sorry you have to deal with that! I was on two birth controls after lap surgery and the birth controls didn’t help at all. Hope you find a doctor that takes your concerns seriously.

[@michaelam5786]

@@stephanierich383 thank you for sharing your story and kind wishes! Recently I was lucky and met a doctor who instantly knew what was going on, and without any doubt or further explaining she referred me to a endometriosis specialised clinic here in the Netherlands

[@Priya88888]

What is the cause of it ?plz tell me ...I m also suffering from the same

[@ashleyjones1415]

Retrograde menstrual flow is the most likely cause of endometriosis. Some of the tissue shed during the period flows through the fallopian tube into other areas of the body, such as the pelvis. Genetic factors. Because endometriosis runs in families, it may be inherited in the genes.

[@Priya88888]

@@ashleyjones1415 thank you for replying ❤️

[@sherpeters]

They don't know why we get the illness,
Why is quite frustrating to be honest.