Delay in diagnosis of endometriosis: a case report of catamenial pneumothorax

I’d just like to say that I’m glad to finally see information on this condition being shared amongst medical practitioners. I suffered from this for more than 20 years before being diagnosed last year, and consequently undergoing the extremely painful VATS pleurodisis surgery. I saw so many doctors over the years and finally accepted the diagnosis that I had a hernia... although they couldn’t actually identify where the hernia was. I have no idea how many pneumothorax I had over those years, the symptoms of that were only mild compared with the pain I experienced of bulges of air pushing around my intercostal nerves and muscles that I had to push back under my rib. GPs would look at me very strangely when I’d try to talk to them about a mass moving around in my chest. I do not believe the condition is as rare as what I am constantly told. I’m sure there are thousands of females going to doctors being dismissed or misdiagnosed. I’ve had the surgery and things don’t move around anymore, but I still get pain in my chest for which I can’t seem to find any medical practitioner able to support me with. Unfortunately, that leaves me with seeking support from Facebook groups. I’m glad to see information finally getting out there, hopefully one day things may change.

 

Thank you.