UPDATE: |’I started bleeding from my belly button – it took five years to find out why’ News

Ceri Bruinsma, 43, says she experienced years of ‘pushback’ from medical professionals before finally getting a diagnosis

A mum was given a shocking diagnosis after she started to bleed from her belly button. Ceri Bruinsma, 43, finally received answers for her years of debilitating symptoms after being referred to the gynaecology experts at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

The mum-of-two’s ordeal began following the removal of her contraceptive implant in 2020. Ceri started to experience bleeding from her belly button, which was heavier during her menstrual period, until she began to pass blood clots.

Other symptoms she experienced included swelling to her stomach, weight gain, extreme fatigue and pain.

Ceri said: “I’ve always had erratic and extremely painful periods, not being able to get out of bed. That was just a normal period for me.

“When I got a flare up before my periods, I’d be lying on the bathroom floor with pain. I couldn’t walk for a few days after.”

Before being referred to Liverpool’s Women’s Hospital, Ceri claims she experienced pushback from doctors who told her that endometriosis is too rare to be the cause of her problems.

She was instead prescribed antibiotics and sent for a CT scan to understand her symptoms, reports the Liverpool Echo.

However, an MRI in 2022, showed umbilical endometriosis, a rare form of the disease affecting only 0.5-1% of women with the condition.

Endometriosis tissue had formed in a hernia ‘sack’ behind her belly button, with the cause of the hernia unknown.

The 43-year-old has an appointment in May to discuss the surgical treatment required to remove the endometriosis tissue and repair the hernia, five years on from her initial GP appointment.

Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body.

Later stages of the condition can cause ‘frozen pelvis, a condition where endometrial scar tissue joins pelvic organs together, causing them to lock in place.

Endometriosis affects one in ten women in the UK, with an average diagnosis of the condition taking over eight years from initial GP appointments for symptoms.

The mum was offered hormone replacement therapy to place her into an early menopause in an attempt to manage her symptoms while waiting for surgical treatment.

Ceri said: “Don’t let them convince you that these things are normal. A lot of people have been told that periods are meant to be painful. That’s not true. You’ve got to become like a lawyer, with your case and the evidence, and show you’ve done the research.”

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