April is Adenomyosis Awareness Month

There are some conditions in women’s health that still rarely get spoken about

Adenomyosis is one of them.

Many women know the word endometriosis.
Far fewer have heard of adenomyosis.

Yet for so many women, it’s the reason behind the heavy bleeding, the pain that can literally drop them to their knees, the swollen abdomen, the exhaustion, the back pain, the painful intimacy, the fatigue, and the quiet feeling that something has not been right for a very long time.

And still, they are often told it is “just a bad period.”

After years of working with women, I can tell you this

Women know when something is wrong.

The problem is often not that women are not speaking.
It is that they are not being heard.

What is Adenomyosis?

Adenomyosis happens when tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows into the muscular wall of the uterus.

Each month, that tissue responds to hormones just as the womb lining does it thickens, breaks down, and bleeds.

But because it is trapped inside the muscle of the womb, it can create inflammation, swelling, pain, pressure, and often very heavy periods. It can also make the uterus feel enlarged and tender.

It is estimated to affect around 1 in 10 women, yet awareness is still painfully low.

And yes, you can have both adenomyosis and endometriosis at the same time.

Many women do.

This is why women get confused

Endometriosis grows outside the womb.

Adenomyosis grows within the muscle of the womb.

The symptoms can overlap so heavily that women are often left trying to make sense of pain without language for what is actually happening.

Heavy bleeding.
Clotting.
Debilitating cramps.
Pelvic pressure.
Pain during sex.
Lower back pain.
Fatigue.
Bloating.
And the feeling of carrying something heavy in the pelvis.

My own reflection

Living with endometriosis changes the way you listen to women.

You begin to understand the emotional exhaustion that comes from trying to explain pain that cannot be seen.

You understand the hospital appointments.
The scans.
The waiting.
The years of carrying on because life still expects you to function.

Then menopause arrives and another layer begins.

Hormones shift.
Inflammation shifts.
Pain changes shape.

And suddenly women are trying to work out what belongs to menopause, what belongs to endometriosis, what belongs to adenomyosis, and what belongs to years of nervous system exhaustion.

This is why women’s health cannot be reduced to one symptom.

Everything touches everything.

My work now

This is why I write the way I do.

Because women do not arrive in neat categories.

They arrive carrying pain, grief, burnout, hormones, work stress, family responsibility, interrupted sleep, and years of being told to keep going.

Aromatherapy, reflexology, nervous system support, rest, ritual, education none of these replace proper medical care.

But they matter.

Because healing is not only about diagnosis.

It is also about being understood.

It is about regulation.
Safety.
Permission to stop minimising your own pain.

April is Adenomyosis Awareness Month.

And perhaps the most important thing we can do is this

Believe women sooner.

Listen earlier.

Stop calling suffering normal.

Because “it’s just part of being a woman” has silenced far too many for far too long.