TO mark the 25th anniversary of the National Endometriosis Society, Shuttle/Times and News reporter LISA HERITAGE has spoken to a sufferer in Hartlebury to find out more about the condition

GOING on holiday with friends should be a time of relaxation but, for Alison Elwell-Thomas, a dream trip to Tunisia turned into a nightmare when she was rushed to hospital with severe abdominal pains.

For the Waresley Road resident, this had become a way of life. The pain started the day before she was due to fly back to England, in 1994 and for three days afterwards she remained in hospital on a drip, diagnosed with suspected food poisoning.

Alison, knew, however, her condition was more serious. She had been misdiagnosed with various conditions throughout the years, including suspected appendicitis, and had struggled through her school and university years with severe period pains, tiredness and irritable bowel syndrome. It was six years later that endometriosis was diagnosed at Kidderminster Hospital.

The 34-year-old middle school teacher first realised there was something wrong at the age of 15. It was around that time she was thought to be suffering from ME, more commonly known these days as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

She said: "I was studying for my GCSEs and found it terribly frustrating. When my friends were out on the weekends I couldn't go out with them a lot of the time because I felt completely drained. The only way I could describe it was like I was coming down with the flu and I often felt sick."

She visited the doctors on numerous occasions, where she was diagnosed with various conditions and was admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis on three occasions.

The symptoms settled and she endured the pain to a lesser extent during her university years but they soon resurfaced when she started her first teaching post, in Bromsgrove, in 1994.

The same year, she went on holiday to Tunisia with her boyfriend, Richard - now her husband - and two friends.

She said: "The abdominal pain started the night before we were due to fly back. The ambulance arrived and all I wanted to do was go home.

"We were struggling to communicate but I was X-rayed and placed on a drip. I was losing weight rapidly but was able to return home after three days. The GP thought I had suffered a serious bout of food poisoning."

Alison had started to accept her symptoms as a way of life and it was not until she was admitted to Kidderminster Hospital with suspected appendicitis again in 2000 that a scan revealed she had endometriosis.

She said: "I had heard of this disease because a cousin of mine had recently been diagnosed but I did not know any specific details.

"I had surgery to remove my right ovary and cyst but, during the operation, it was found that I had severe endometriosis and had solid blood filled cysts the size of grapefruits on both ovaries.

"My bladder and bowel were also adhered to the pelvis."

Through surgery, the cysts were removed and her ovaries were reconstructed. The surgeon also managed to separate the bowel, bladder and pelvis.

Having married Richard the year before, she was anxious to start trying for a baby but was aware the endometriosis had caused some pelvic and tubal damage.

The news prompted her to look into IVF treatment and although the odds were stacked against the couple, she managed to conceive.

Just before Christmas, 2003, she gave birth to her daughter, Esme, weighing a healthy six and a half pounds.

Alison continues to struggle with the symptoms of endometriosis and now faces the prospect of more surgery, after her consultant discovered severe adhesions to the pelvis bowl and ovaries in January, this year.

She has accepted her symptoms as a way of life but joined the National Endometriosis Society to help raise awareness of the condition with the hope that, one day, a cure might be found.

She said: "I did some research into endometriosis and became a member of the association. It was then I learned that many of the complaints and symptoms that I had suffered from were related to endometriosis and perhaps, if I had earlier diagnosis, my condition would not be so severe. That is why it is so important to raise awareness not only with the public, but medical staff."

To find out more about the National Endometriosis Society, call 020 7222 2781.