Specialist care for ongoing chronic pain sufferer

Hey lovelies,

My name is Rachel, I am 20 and this is a summary of my year...

For the past year I have been suffering with ongoing, constant unexplained chronic pelvic pain. This pain never goes. It has greatly damaged my quality of life and makes everyday a struggle.

As much as the NHS have helped me, they are not equipped to deal with specialist cases - this issue is also heightened by how underfunded research into women’s intimate health is and how misunderstood it is in the UK.

I’ve seen countless doctors, been on countless meds and have been told all of the following:
• “I should just forget about the pain”
• “you’re just going to have to live with it” (I can’t)
• “try having sex” (impossible)
• “So you’re sure you couldn’t be pregnant?” (Out of the question)
• “Go home and have a drink”
• “It’s probably just an STD” 
• “Have you tried paracetamol?”
• “You must have been raped?”
• “It’s all in your head, we can’t help you”

In short, there’s nothing left that they can do for me - I’ve exhausted all my options via the NHS. The wait lists are up to 6 months long, and every month I wait is another month where the pain diminishes my mental health and my ability to cope. 

Asking for help is not something I hoped to ever have to do, because I always hoped the pain would stop before I had to. But I can’t work, I can’t get government support and now I do need help.