Woman with ‘debilitating’ chronic pain waits decades for endometriosis diagnosis

Tara DeMerchant is speaking out about her recent diagnosis of endometriosis after having it go undiagnosed for almost 30 years. The 44-year-old says for years, it was brushed off as just being her period. She hopes that speaking out will create more awareness.

After struggling with debilitating pain her whole life, Tara DeMerchant is grateful to finally have answers, but angry it took almost 30 years to get help.

The 44-year-old from Bala, Ont., which is an hour north of Barrie, was recently diagnosed with endometriosis.

DeMerchant says she struggled with pain since she was 14, self-medicating with cannabis to cope with pain that only got worse as time went on.

“It’s debilitating. I have days where I can’t get out of bed. I puked for weeks at a time, and I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” she recounts.

For years, she says doctors brushed off her pain as just being her period, despite it last lasting the whole month in some cases.

“The pain about nine years ago became daily. I couldn’t get any help. I was refused treatment at least twice. I had a doctor put his finger in my face and tell me that I was doing this to myself and that no doctor was going to help me, and that was the only thing he was right about because no doctor did help me after that,” DeMerchant remembers.

She says that, in some cases, doctors tried to blame cannabis use for her symptoms.

“At least four doctors told me that since the legalization of marijuana, they’ve seen an up spike with this kind of illness, and I tried to tell them it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

The Endometriosis Network Canada reports that the average delay in diagnosing endometriosis in Canada is five and a half years, but it can be as long as 20 years in some cases. In the case of DeMerchant, she says it took almost 30 years.

Endometriosis is a debilitating chronic condition that occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus implants abnormally outside of the uterus to form lesions, cysts, nodules and other growths.

The condition can lead to those with it experiencing chronic pain and internal scarring, as well as infertility and other medical complications.

DeMerchant says she started pushing for answers and saw multiple doctors before one in Bracebridge finally took her concerns more seriously about a year back.

She says that the doctor wrote a letter saying endometriosis needed to be investigated as a possible reason for her pain by a specialist.

She then went to the Royal Victoria Regional Health C