Doctors sent me home again and again before the shocking reason behind my “mysterious” and painful symptoms was discovered – this is what I want all women to know.

Danielle Russell He spent years suffering from unexplained symptoms before doctors were finally able to put a name to his condition.

The 28-year-old has had sinus problems her entire life, and not even having her tonsils removed or a nose job at 18 eased the daily headaches or the constant strain on her immune system.

Warning signs started ringing in Danielle’s head when her jaw began to hurt and she suddenly lost her sense of taste and smell for a few days each month in early 2022.

It only got worse when the housewife noticed a painful lump on her hip in August 2023.

“I’ve struggled with my health my whole life,” Danielle told FEMAIL. ‘My immune system is barely functioning; If someone around me is sick, I will catch them immediately.

“But I have two young children and suddenly I couldn’t smell when they needed a change – that’s when I knew something was wrong.”

Sydney’s mother was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis and a desmoid tumor in her hip, but her journey to discovery was long and arduous.

‘The process caused me a lot of anxiety, the uncertainty almost drove me crazy. I kept thinking: why me? Why does my body always fail me? She said.

‘Is it because I had cesarean sections during my pregnancies? It’s my fault?’

But Danielle couldn’t have done anything to prevent her health problems.

“The first time I noticed a lump when I got out of the shower it suddenly appeared,” the mother recalled.

‘I forgot, but I realized it was still there a week later and it hurt a lot. I felt something underneath and my husband told me to go to the doctor because he thought it was a muscle tear.

‘My GP (general practitioner) had no idea what it was and sent me for a scan.

“He said it could be a muscle tear, a cyst or something else entirely.”

But the doctors who performed the scan were also not sure what the lump was; however, they found a cyst on Danielle’s ovary.

Ovarian cysts are common and usually not a cause for concern because they resolve on their own, but doctors wanted to monitor Danielle’s health because of the lump on her hip.

‘I came back six weeks later and my ovarian cyst was still there along with my lump. That was the first time a doctor mentioned the word “endometriosis” to me, but I soon realized that I had had symptoms of the disease for years.’

Danielle had experienced pain during sex for years, but her doctors ruled it out.

‘I had been suffering for so long that I thought it was my problem. I thought it was just me and the pain was something I had to deal with; I never thought anything was really wrong.’

When the young mother first went to a specialist, he refused to consider the possibility that she had endometriosis because she did not have any of the typical symptoms.

Danielle had no problems getting pregnant and never complained about particularly painful periods, but the latter was because she already had the Mirena IUD inserted, which is a treatment for endometriosis.

Two months later, Danielle went to a special women’s ultrasound clinic for another scan of her ovarian lump and cyst.

‘The stenographer placed the scanner at the back of my uterus and was shocked. “We could see a lot of adhesions and cysts around the area.”

Danielle’s painful sex finally made sense: the cysts kept dissolving and reforming along her ovaries, making the act unbearable.

Surprisingly, endometriosis also caused her jaw pain.

‘The pain makes me clench my jaw a lot, which makes everything worse. Some days I can’t eat or talk and opening my mouth seems impossible.’

Danielle’s diagnosis opened several doors to her sanity.

“The best part was the vindication that I wasn’t crazy,” she said. ‘I know my body, I knew something had to be wrong. There was no way I could feel like that was normal.

“I then had to see an oncologist about my lump and after another scan and biopsy, the doctor diagnosed me with a 4cm desmoid tumor in the connective tissue.”

Treatment of the tumor usually consists of medications that are also used for breast cancer, which causes menopause symptoms and diarrhea.

Danielle’s doctors did not want to prescribe the medication because of her age and said they were happy to keep an eye on her because she was not currently growing.

‘I’m very lucky to have a supportive family and to be able to get all the medical help I can. I have people who can take care of my children when I need to go to appointments,’ she said.

Danielle revealed that she has been more tired since the tumor appeared than when she was pregnant or dealing with a toddler and newborn.

“Some days I just need to go to bed with a heat pack; there’s not much else I can do.”

The mother has three upcoming surgeries scheduled for her sinus problems and endometriosis.

She hopes treatment of the lesions will reduce the pain caused by the tumor because doctors believe her hormones cause flare-ups in her hip.

‘In a way, the lump that appeared was a blessing. He made me get the diagnosis I needed so I could do the surgeries to fix it.

‘Although I am still in agony, I am grateful to know what the problem is and that there are plans in place to fix it. I’m not stressed anymore.’

Danielle began sharing her story on social media in hopes of finding other women who could relate to her pain.

“There are so many people with the same symptoms as me and it made me feel a little less alone,” she said.

“Everyone has been so supportive, and if I can help just one woman realize that what is happening to her is not normal and that she needs to see a doctor, it will have been worth it.”