Her Discussions by Dr Faye - How I Took Control of Endometriosis and Inflammation

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

Sophie Richards endured excruciating chronic pain for 5 years before finally getting an answer. After a medical misdiagnosis and the wrong surgery, she was forced to quit her job and felt completely dismissed.But as soon as she found doctors who listened and understood her endometriosis and inflammatory symptoms, everything changed. She knew she had to share her experience, and now has an audience of over 700k people.In this episode of Her Discussions, Sophie opens up about her endometriosis diagnosis, the inflammatory journey she’s faced, including the solutions and lifestyle changes that have helped her manage the pain and symptoms.This chat is for the girl who’s ever felt dismissed by a doctor, struggled with chronic pain, or had her women’s health concerns ignored.If you listen / watch, let me know your thoughts 🫶

I'm 24. I'm on my own. I'm hysterical. I'm super drugged up. So it was like, die or sign my ovaries away. Sophie Richards injured excruciating pain for five years before finally getting an answer. People go like, oh God, you've been through so much. Like such a sad story. I'm like, no, no, no. This is the picture of every woman with a chronic health issue that can't get help. I had the wrong surgery. And I was told that my options. were to have a baby. I was about to drop out of uni.

Can we just pause a second? As soon as she found doctors who would listen, she knew she had to help other women. And today, she has an audience of over 700,000 people. I ended up doing a placement year in London, went to the GP. She told me three things that changed my life. So she said,

before we get into the chat with Sophie, I would be so, so, so grateful if you could hit the subscribe button or leave a five-star review. By leaving a review or subscribing, we are able to make this podcast bigger and better helping you live a happier, healthier life. It's a simple action, but it can go a really long way, helping us secure the best guests and have powerful conversations around women's health that we really need. So just click down there. Thank you. I want to take you back to a time before investigations and doctors and an unarmes.

answered questions. Who was Sophie then? So Sophie then, so we're talking pre-17, because that's when I got my period and that's kind of when my life changed. Pre-then, very normal. Like I'm Welsh, grew up on a farm, would sometimes do some farm work, but I was terrible at it. So I was always useless. Very, very stressed, always been very stressed, especially with school because I was quite obsessive about like being the best, doing the best and working super, super hard. But just like very normal life had a weekend job at Clark selling shoes, which I actually really enjoyed. Like, I loved it other than some of the shoes were questionable. Yeah, I bet you weren't using your staff discount on those. No, I wasn't rinsing it, no. But yeah, very normal. Like, normal life. I had

like some health issues when I was younger, like tiny, tiny, like super constipated all the time. But other than that, genuinely normal life. Probably have you worked on a farm, well, lived on a farm and I worked on a farm. I actually really enjoyed it. Like, I think farming is really cool. And I am such an advocate in, like, supporting farmers more. Because I feel like so many people are anti-farmers. And I'm like, do you understand, like, everything you eat is from a farm?

Like, it makes no sense. But, yeah, I think people don't realize that I actually have, like, a very agricultural, rural background. So then what point did you realize that your body was slightly different to your friends? Yeah, it was literally turning. Like I was 16 turning 17, got my first period, which I was so excited about, by the way, because like it's just a right of passage. I don't know if you were like this, but growing up, like, you know when people start wearing deodorant, like the spray deodorant? And I just thought it was so cool. I was like, God, they've got deodorant cans.

It was kind of like now you'd think like that's a really nice perfume. I was like that. So I can't wait for the day that I sweat so that I can wear deodorant too. It was the same as periods. Like my friends would come in with like pads and tampons and like they would like talk about it being uncomfortable. and it was more annoying. They used to talk about periods, they were like,

ugh, God, I'm going to be in one period again. But there was never any, like, pain. So when mine came, I had my first one and it was okay, like it was quite exciting. Second one came and I was like,

ooh, that was pretty painful. And then the third one came. And I actually just thought I was really unwell. I thought I must have the world's worst stomach bug because it was literally like I'd swallowed a, cheese grater and it was just tumbling in my stomach and I was just like I just thought I must be

really unwell and I happened to be on my period because again my experience of periods was always education from being younger of like oh it's a bit sore put hot water bottle on it maybe a little paracetamol here or there not what I was experiencing so I kind of didn't put two and two together so went to the doctors they asked if I was on my period I said yes and they were like oh it's just painful periods like you're fine kind of brushed it off next month came happened again but it was just getting more and more intense and the the symptoms were really like coming outside of my period as well so not only was my period getting heavier I was like literally soaking through tampons and pads but also like I was getting migraines and I'm like fucking hell I'm 17 why am I getting migraines every

month and then I was tired like all my friends like oh should we do this should we do that can we go here. And I was just like, I'm going to have to tap out of that. Like, I'm exhausted. And I just kept thinking, like, is it stressed because I'm, you know, doing my A levels and obsessed about getting all A's or is it my period because it does happen every single month? But the doctor's telling me it's not my period. So I have to listen to them. It's not that. And it was a very confusing time. And I just remember thinking this is happening every month and it's not happening to my other, like my friends around me. Like they're not having the same experience as me. So it was pretty much like after three months of getting my first period.

Oh my gosh. And you went to go see the doctors like immediately or was anything holding you back from from seeking help that first time? Do you know what? No. Like I genuinely didn't go the first time I had it. So like the second month because I was so new to periods. It wasn't a thing. But growing up for context like we've always had health issues in the family. So like genetically I am, it's not an ideal picture for me. So like my mum was undiagnosed celiac for like 30 years. So she was like. like chronically anemic, very ill, very fatigued throughout like my early childhood years. And so I kind of saw her experience of going to the doctors and saying like, and also visibly looking like death. Like she looked awful. Bless her, Susan, she wasn't having her glow up then. And was very visibly ill and the doctors were just like, there's nothing wrong with you. And then eventually finding out through seeing a specialist, like, she's a full on celiac and now like shouldn't share a toaster with anyone. So I kind of had experience of like

people being ill, doctors not believing them, year-long process, finally having an answer. And very similar with my brother, like he was very ill when he was younger, had a very rare condition, autoimmune condition, where he had blisters all over his body. And they were like, oh, it'll go away. And like, he almost died. Three years later, had a swollen lump on his neck, went to the doctor. They were like, oh, it's nothing wrong with him, had cancer. Like, touchwood, he's fine now. But I've grown up historically with a lot of family members. having a lot of problems and their experience with doctors never being positive. So when it came to me having like my own problems, I was very much ready to be like, this is not going to be

simple and it wasn't. The difference I would say was that I wasn't scared to go to the doctors, but I was very scared to talk about the problems because I would happily talk about acne. I would happily talk about a broken leg. I would happily talk about all these other things. but to tell someone my periods are really painful, my stomach is really painful, sex is really painful, I'm bleeding loads, sometimes from my bum, those symptoms were things that I found uncomfortable to talk to doctors about, but also uncomfortable to talk to my friends and my family about, whereas their conditions were like very easily talked about, sympathised with other people had experienced it, whereas this was like, I don't really want to tell anyone that I've got these issues,

So I wasn't necessarily scared to go to the doctor, but I was very scared to talk about my symptoms because I just found them really embarrassing. And like, I find it so weird now because I talk about sex, periods, blood and poo, literally a billion times a day with anyone who's willing to listen. But back then, even my first period, like trying to tell my mum that I'd come on my period and I needed pads and tampons, I had to tell my sister who then told my mum, who then gave me this like Tesco bag. and it was like witnessing a drug deal of like no one make eye contact like passing this bag over a bloody pack of pads do you know what I mean? Yeah. So it was just very, very taboo for me at the time and still is to be for a lot of people. Have you seen Sharon Gaffka? She did the reel where she just walked along her like her office holding her tampon not doing the trick.

The jumper, the sleeping. Yeah, where you put your tampon up your jumper. And like I saw that and I thought it was hilarious because I completely agree. agree, like, why are we smuggling our period products around? Like, we're doing a drug deal. But then, what, the next week, I then come on my period in work. And I'm like, oh, my God, where can I hide this? Yeah, yeah. There's no way I'm walking out with this. No, I know. And the jumper thing was something I remember the nurse telling us, we were in year six. So, like, how old are you when you're like, 10, 11? And she was like, a great thing you can do is because you've got jumpers, you can just pop it up

there, go to the toilet. And I'm like, why were we educated from such a young age to be embarrassed and humiliated by something that we have no choice over. We get periods every month. So what? Like, they're a positive thing. But yet we're being told that you should hide it. And also if you can at any opportunity, take a pill that stops it and takes it away because that's much safer. Because otherwise, you are guaranteed to have a baby. And you're like, nope, also not true. Like so much misinformation. Yeah. It's when people who are in a position of power are also stigmatizing it, when your brain is so absorbing, that obviously has such a huge impact. And the reason that I, kind of my first introduction to more like women's health, sexual health, reproductive health

was my mum was like the school nurse who she would do these talks and all the other school nurses always separated the boys and the girls. Yeah. And my mom was the only school nurse who was queen, who would always, who would say, no, the boys are going to learn about periods. We're going to talk about periods in front of the boys as if they are the most normal thing in the world. They're not to be ashamed of. And I think that unfortunately is quite radical. Obviously, your family having a lot of negative experiences with doctors and negative experiences with their health helped you so keep going and keep pushing with doctors. But how did you find, I don't know, how they managed when you were really struggling at those points of the

month, do you feel like they fully understood what it was like? Yeah, dad, not so much, but more because of, I have a very close relationship with dad, love him, our relationship gotten a lot closer in the last few years. I think with parents, sometimes you can have parents who are like kid parents and you have some periods who are like adult parents. Yeah. My dad is an adult parents. So now we get along because we have adult conversations. He asks me about my business now because he recognizes that it is a job now. So now we have like a really good relationship. But back then, it wasn't something that I would ever talk to him about. Mum was very different because I had been ill when I was younger. My brother had been very ill. So,

So she, and she's very maternal. So for her, she was very almost angry through the process because she was like, right, what doctor can we go and see? Like, how can we do this? How can we do that? And she, there was one surgery, which I was really, well, almost didn't have. I was very unwell, passed out on the way to an exam, got taken to hospital. And someone examined me, who I thought was a doctor or a nurse, had examined me and said,

there's nothing wrong. And my mum just said, we're not leaving, like something is wrong, do a blood test. And the blood test had showed up that there was basically an infection and I had a cyst on my ovary that had burst. That was the problem. But it had also twisted my flopian tube. It's why I passed out. And then it turns out it was a midwife that examined me. So without having my mum there to advocate for me, I never would have had that surgery. And like, God knows what would have happened because I was really unwell. So I think she struggled because she couldn't physically help me herself. Like she wasn't a doctor. But she was like very fierce, very much in my corner and was like, I'll do anything to take this away. So you had that surgery, which was your ovarian cyst burst in. How long was it after that that you actually finally got your diagnosis? Two years. So I went to the doctor when I was 17. I had that surgery when I was 19. So it was two years. Genuinely two years, but I would honestly say going to the doctors every other month, if not every month. Like I didn't give up like I was going. Had that surgery. And what is funny is, well, absolutely not.

But after having the surgery, they said really casually, you had some adhesions, but that's quite common. And for people listening or watching that don't know what they are, it's when your organs are glued together. And just kind of said it like that. And had I have known what I know now about endometriosis and how having adhesions is very common with endometriosis, we could have explored that option way sooner. But they just said that the cyst was my issue and that everything else would go away. So it was the summer just before going to university. It was like, that time. So went to uni, partying away, drinking, eating chips and lasagna for like breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacking on like chocolate in between. And I just had genuinely no concept of like

nutritional health and how that that was driving my symptoms as well. But the conversation very interestingly changed when I went to university versus the conversation when I was at school. So at school it was, it's painful periods, maybe IBS. There's nothing else wrong with you. Like just, and especially because I was like later getting my period, they were like, you just need to get used to it. Everyone else has had time to get used to it. When I went to university, it was like, how many sexual partners have you had this month? Which again, for someone who was like, I could really struggle to like talk about sex. It was my best friend to be totally different. But like, with a doctor, I'd be like, ugh, I don't want to talk to him about it. And I was like, none. Like,

I'm in too much pain to have sex. And they were like, mm-hmm, okay, we'll do a chlamydia test anyway. And I totally understand doing testing just to be safe. But I had almost 17 SDI tests at university. 17. 17. And they were all negative. Oh, yeah, yeah. And also what was worse is it caused relationship problems for me because I ended up getting

a boyfriend pretty early on in uni and he was my only partner throughout university and my only sexual partner throughout university. So we were having this conversation, say, you know, six months down the line, how many sexual partners, one, my boyfriend, have you been faithful? Yes. Has he been faithful? Yes. Okay, here's a chlamydia test.

And I was like, what's the fucking point of asking me these questions if you just want me to keep doing these tests? And so it was another two years after that that I was just like really close to dropping out of university because I don't think people understand the toll that chronic health takes both physically and emotionally. Like it takes everything from you. So it will take your energy because your body is so busy fighting itself that you don't have the energy to show up like everyone else. So you're tired. You're then tired from other people's opinions of like, why haven't you come to a lecture? like everyone else can come to lectures and I'm like yeah but I don't have everyone else's body like mine is different to yours so you're tired of other people's opinions and then you're also just tired of your own life because you're like I'm bored of like not having fun anymore I'm bored of missing out

and anyway was just like I'm going to give it one last swing at going to the GP and it was this new well I didn't know if he was new he was new to me I'd never seen him but he was this really lovely guy and I make a point of saying guy because so many people say male doctors are awful male management are awful. The best doctor I've ever had and the best manager I've ever had have been male. And I told him my symptoms and he jumped up out of the chair, was really excited, went to get his like little folder back, ripped out this thing. And it was literally like he'd won bingo. He was like, I think you've got endometriosis. And I had like, this was going back now. Like, what, seven years? No one had heard of endo then. Like, ever, I could barely say it. And he said,

it's oh it's either you've got two wounds or no womb but we'll figure it out or refer you to the gynecologist and that was the first time I'd ever heard of it and I had my surgery I was very fortunate the waitingness was quite short so like six months later had my surgery yeah and was diagnosed endometriosis so five years after I first started saying like something seriously wrong and I'm lucky like the average diagnosis time for endometriosis is eight to 10 years and growing as well it's not getting any better there's so much that I want to unpack Jesus yeah it's wild isn't it Oh my God. So the SCI testing thing, and I'm like a huge advocate for A, not making any assumptions based on whether someone who's got one partner, two partners. I think it's really important to never take someone's faithfulness for granted because God forbid, imagine if your partner was cheating on you resulted in your infertility. And it happens like it does. Exactly. And I think that, so I'm such a huge advocate for destigmatizing STI testing. even getting STI testing if you're in a stable relationship,

even if your man is the loveliest person in the world, still getting those tests because I think obviously so many STIs are so easily treated, but so many of them don't have symptoms and when they don't have symptoms, but they can be doing damage. And then if your fertility is affected in the long run, then that is heartbreaking for something that is so easily tested. But oh my Lord Almighty, how? Oh, did no one look on your records and go, this woman is a 17 test?

That is a waste of NHS resources at that point. What? Yeah, but it's the perception of a young girl at university. Like, she just must be sleeping around. 17. Yeah. But also for like context with chlamydia, like the crossover of symptoms is very, very similar. So like deep pelvic inflammation, pain, sometimes discharge changes.

So I totally understand the first few. few tests. I'm like, you've got it, you've got to tick the box. This is why I've never understood, okay? So you'll go, you'll be told you need to get this test. The results will come back and then based on that decision, you move forward in a different direction or whatever. Yeah. But that just never happened. It's the same as like having, I was talking to a friend recently at a blood test and the blood test came back. Everything was super low for where she was in her cycle. And the doctor just said, oh, I'd expect this to be like double where you should be, but it's probably fine. And I just thought, what was the point of the test? Because you've

just done the test, it's given you a result that is showing something is not right, and you've chosen to just intuitively go, what happens all the time? There was a Swiss study, and I think it was 50% of women weren't satisfied with the medical care that they got. And I feel like so much of that that comes down to egos getting in the way where they don't acknowledge their limitations, and I think that that can be incredibly dangerous. Isn't it so much nicer to have someone sat in front of you saying, I don't know the answers and being open and honest, but I'm going to pass you on to someone who might be more helpful. A hundred percent. Like that is the issue. Like I always get told and you must hate doctors. They're amazing. They saved my life so many times. They've really sat me down and like try to understand

the context of my life and in what areas it's impacting it versus the person who like you said might not know the answer but for the sake of like closing a case and being like at least I've like labeled them as something incorrectly diagnosed them which just kicks the can. down the road so much. And I think that the best doctors that I've worked with have been the doctors who are not afraid to say, I don't know this. The other point I did want to touch on

was you said about male doctors versus female doctors. And I think that is so, so, so interesting because I feel as though the most sexist experiences I've had a lot of the time have been with female doctors. And I think so much of it stems from I suffered, so you're going to suffer as well. Yeah, 100%.

And it's something that I will never forget. One of the worst experiences I've had with the doctor was with a woman who didn't look in the eye. She was just that classic. You know, you see the TikToks all the time of people recreating their GP experiences. And it's someone be like, mm-hmm. And they're just like on the computer typing away. It was her.

And she's like, yeah, well, my last period was a nightmare as well. I tried this painkiller. With things like endometriosis and a lot of conditions, they're related to your cycle. because they have a cycle, not the endometriosis, but the cycle part of it, they go, well, I've got that too. I just get on with it. Whereas sometimes I feel like with men,

because they don't have periods, then they go down the route of, well, all I've learned is that this is what a period should be. What you are reporting to me is this is an abnormal feeling to have, and so something might be wrong. I personally can't say that I've had a worst experience with men or a worse experience with women. Like, it's been pretty 50-50.

But I'm really passionate about supporting men through this thing of trying to help women as well because I think sometimes they're put into such a, between like a rock and a hard place of being like they want to put their voice in but don't want to say anything wrong. Because I do feel like some women are so like ready to jump on men being like, you don't understand. And it's like, okay, well, they don't experience it. So they're not going to understand. But like let's help them. Something I would love to know what's going through their heads of like doctors, managers, everyone is when someone is in front of you saying like, I'm in pain, I can't do this. what makes them go, they're not in pain and I don't believe them.

Because that is what happened to me and so many of the people all the times that you go to the doctor and you say I'm in agony like I can't cope with this pain. And it's just this immediate eye roll prescribed painkillers like come back next month. And there were times when I felt like my body wasn't coming back next month because I genuinely felt like I was going to die. I was in that much pain. And I just thought you're not, you're not believing me. Like I know you're not believing me and I just don't understand why. And it was one of the videos that I saw you post on socials.

And I was like, I've never resonated so much with something more in my life when you were saying like, I think it was about you were like shadowing an appointment. And this girl had come in and said she was in loads of pain. And the doctor was like, oh, you've just got to watch out for those ones. It's that, that opinion that can kill people. And that's the thing that I'm like, I just don't understand it. The most incredible experience I had being a doctor is feeling stupid every single day. Every single day I walked into work and I was smacked across the face by things I did. not know. And I think you can either take two approaches. You can be humbled and recognize that you will never know everything, but you should keep trying. Or you can put a shell around yourself and act like it's the outside that is the issue, not your inside. So I think that is what people do. And I think it's an attitude that unfortunately, like, permeates across some people in medicine where if they're presented with something they don't fully understand, it's easier emotionally for them to say that someone isn't like truly experiencing it rather than trying to understand it better. Yeah. And also if you believe something so strongly, even if someone is right in front of you

discounting what you believe in, it's so hard to turn away from that. Like it's exactly what I had with my way of eating. The only thing that I found that gave me pain relief was following a ketogenic and fasting lifestyle. I'd go through long periods of time without eating. I'd do long periods of time, low carb. And it was the only thing that I could get to stop my inflammation. I had a whole ton of symptoms that I did not want that came with all of that. But I was in so much pain with my inflammation that those were the only things that were working until they stopped. And I got to a breaking point where I was like, I can't find any doctors to help me. I've tried a dietitian. We did low FodMap, didn't really work. And I was like, I am literally just free-balling it through life right now.

And I ended up doing a women's health practitioner course because I quit my job because I was like, this is too stressful. It's making my endo worse. Did the women's health practitioner course. And it kept talking about how good carbohydrates are for you and how for some women fasting can be the worst thing you do for your hormones. And it was this like really uncomfortable, gritty feeling of watching these lectures being like, this is the opposite of everything I thought. was true. And so I did the whole ego death thing of like, do you know what? Clearly what I'm doing isn't working. Clearly the knowledge that I've learned through random people online is not helping me. I've got this educated person doing lectures, training me to become a hormonal health practitioner.

I'm going to use myself as a guinea pig. And it was only when I stopped believing the old truths that I had was when I actually found change. I stopped fasting. I started eating carbohydrates, it's plenty of them and started doing that and I was like oh my god if I just wouldn't have stopped myself or like been in like my own way I would have found the truth sooner but you have to admit that you're wrong to do that and that can be very painful and some people never do it so even though I look back at myself and I'm like still feel so scared I'm like at least I got there at least I did but it's hard it is hard and some people go their entire lives never admitting that they can be wrong we'll come on to the

solution that you found, which, like, I actually find so, so, so interesting. I want to take you back to getting that diagnosis because obviously getting a diagnosis is not, it's an answer, but it's not a solution. Where was your life at that point in terms of how was endometriosis impacting your relationship, your career, or just your life in general? At the time, I was, I was super close to dropping out of university, which was a really foreign concept for me, because, again, I was, like, doing really well in school. I got really good A-levels.

I was doing really well at uni. So the concept of me dropping out of university, everyone was like, what the hell is going on? And I was like, I don't think you understand how ill I am. And the concept of not only dropping out of university, but, like, what am I doing next? Because if I'm too ill to go to lectures, like, I can't get a job.

I'm going to have to move home with my parents. And I really didn't want to do that. it was awful and then my relationship-wise, like, couldn't have sex because it was so painful. And I'm not saying sex is everything and sex doesn't just mean penetration. But my libido was rock bottom because my hormones were all over the place. And also just that entire area in my pelvis was so sensitive. And like nothing is more unsexy than being in pain. Like you just don't want it.

And my, I always like thank my lucky stars. My ex-boyfriend was amazing. Still is amazing to this day. Lovely guy. So I never ever had sexual pressure from him. The people that I speak to online, it like breaks my heart when they message me going, what would you do? My boyfriend saying he's going to leave me because we can't have sex.

And I'm like, fucking leave him because you will inevitably have challenges throughout your life. Like, this isn't the only thing he's going to have to put up with, you know? But it was really hard. And I just like became very upset and angry all the time. And then when I got my diagnosis, it was such a bittersweet moment. So we're on surgery number two by this point. They remove some more cysts. They say that they found a tiny, tiny, tiny bit,

which they kept telling me was tiny in after surgery, saying basically nothing next to your pouch of Douglas. And, you know, it's lasered off and you're good to go. But it was chronic and it will come back. But like that's that. And I was made to feel like the pain that I was experiencing wasn't warranted with the amount of endometriosis that they found, which is so wrong on every level.

because one, the amount of endometriosis you have does not dictate the amount of pain. There are people with stage one endometrosis that are in excruciating agony and bedbound all day every month. There are some people stage four endometriosis that don't know they even have it until they may be struggle with fertility. Not everyone with endos struggles with fertility, but some do. So that I should never have been shamed then. But on top of that, I had the wrong surgery.

Which again, like saying it out loud, you're like, you, God, you must have just had a really unlucky life. No, like probably during this conversation right now and during people watching this episode or listening to it, someone with endometriosis will be on an operating table having the wrong surgery. There are two types, ablation and excision. Ablation is lasering the ender, exision, ripping it out the route. Excision is the goal standard. It's going to keep your symptoms away more than ablation. In both situations, ender will grow back, but excision is the best one. However, you need to have an endometriosis specialist do that surgery and we don't have enough of them. So the second option is ablation and it

grows back really quickly. I was never told that information. I didn't know that there were different types of surgery and I think informed consent is very, it's crucial everywhere. But when someone is literally entering your body, I would have liked to have known that there were different options. So I had ablation, so I had the wrong surgery. My pain came back four months later and I was told that my options were to have a baby because my doctor thought pregnancy, cured endometriosis. And although you can have a hormonal reset after pregnancy, not everyone does. And for some people, it gets worse. So that was not an option. I just can't believe that we're even suggesting to bring a human life into the world to treat an illness. Is that where we have

to? If that does not epitomize how we just view women's bodies as vessels that and the limited research that we have, that someone would suggest, what, how were you 21? 21. They would suggest. Have a child earlier than you are ready to because we don't have we don't have anything else. Yeah. And also like for context, I was in too much pain to have sex. I was about to drop out of uni. I was a student so had no money. So I was like, what position is that baby going to be in born in that environment? Like it would have been horrendous. And then the other option was a hysterectomy. And I was like, well, that's going to be my only option getting rid of my womb and I'll never have children. But at least I won't have pain. So historyxomy was like a year's away because the waiting

list on the NHS was really long, which I thanked my lucky stars for in this situation. Because I ended up doing a placement year in London, went to the GP just to get my oromorph, which is like tablets morphine because you have to get it prescribed every month. And she... You would take auramorph every month? Every month. Every month. Like it was bad.

I went to the doctor and she was the first... Yeah. Can we just pause for a second? You would have auramorph every single month? Every single month. Yeah. What? Yeah, it was really bad.

How much do you remember how much they send you away with? No, I'll have to look though because I've got photos of everything that I used to take. Because I remember texting my friend being like, why am I 21 and this is my life? And it was just like a cupboard of medicines. And I, for context, I'm like massively into natural healing. So I, every time I took these tablets was like, I hate having to do this. And going to that GP to get that prescription, she changed my life. So she just looked at me, looked at me like a human for the first time ever and said,

God, you've gone through a lot, haven't you? And I just like burst into tears. Like I was hysterical because I was like, I was like, I don't know how to talk about my feelings. I was like, yeah, it's been a pretty tough five years, whatever. And she was like, I've got a friend who's an endometriosis specialist. She was like, you might have to pay to see her privately, but I reckon she'll put you on the NHS list after that.

What a great hack. Paid 250 quid to go see this consultant. And she told me three things that changed my life. So she said, first of all, I'm really sorry. You've had the wrong surgery. You've had ablation, not excision. Secondly, a baby does not cure endometriosis, which I was like, fuck, thank God, I didn't have a baby then, because at the time I didn't want one. And the third one was that hysterectomy doesn't cure endometriosis.

It can help a sister condition, adenomyosis, which is similar to endometrosis, but it's just in the womb lining. I don't have adenomyosis, so they would have got rid of my womb, and I still would have had the same issues. And also having a hysterectomy so young has so many other health implications. of you not having that estrogen, like as much as estrogen can cause issues, not having that estrogen for what, 20? A menopause, you're going through early menopause. There's so many other medical, like, side effects to that.

And it wouldn't have solved that. No, absolutely not. And also, I wasn't educated when I'd kind of made the decision that a hysterectomy would probably be long term the best option. I was never told, you should freeze your eggs. I was never told the consequence of getting it out in terms of menopause, which again, in that practitioner course that I studied, I was like, oh my God, I would have had brittle bones by the time I was like 30. This is insane. Never told

any of that. So I ended up having more surgery with her. I ended up having two more laparoscopies. And I just, I'm telling myself I refuse to have another because I will never need one. I'm putting it out to the universe. I will never need one again because everything I do now keeps all the symptoms away. And in that surgery, when they looked, something that they did before, which I thought was really cool. They told me, they gave me a mark a pen and they said, tell me all in your abdomen where you're having pain. And I literally did X marks the spot. And in the surgery, they said that everywhere I had put across was tiny bits of endometriosis. They were like, imagine you've like flicked a paintbrush and it's like gone like scattered. So that first surgeon

who did the wrong surgery also didn't even look in the rest of my abdomen to see because he thought endometriosis could only be in the deepest, darkest part of your bowel. So you know I was like bleeding from my bum every month. The worst part of my endometriosis was rectovaginal. It was in between the wall of my rectum and my vagina. So it was literally like someone had stitched endometriosis in between. So after that surgery, some of my symptoms went away. So I didn't get this bum pain.

I wasn't bleeding for my bum anymore. And I had an ovary stuck. So that felt much better like I could bend down without having pain. So that was lovely. But none of my inflammatory symptoms went away. And that is something that I manage exclusively through lifestyle. and if my lifestyle goes back to how it used to be, all my symptoms go away.

So surgery was very helpful. I'm very pro-surgery for endometriosis, the right surgery with the right surgeon. But lifestyle keeps 90% of the symptoms away. So I've got a community question, which was from someone who they wanted to know how you would recommend advocating for yourself to have an excision rather than an ablation

because their doctor is pushing for an ablation. So first of all, if people find it really difficult to go to the doctor and have these conversations, I always say write down your points on a piece of paper. And if you can summarize it to half an A4, I think that's like the sweet spot so that you don't get overwhelmed with all this information. And the best thing to do is have your facts, do the research of why you want excision versus ablation and put the question back to your doctor and say, is there any other reason why you want me to have ablation over excision? Because it's very black and white. Excision, is better for you as a patient than ablation. So what are all the reasons that you shouldn't be doing it? And the answer is there aren't enough specialists and you can get a quicker surgery with ablation. But you end up on the operating table more. Like I think it's Frankenstein situations that we're still doing it.

Because also I've had four surgeries. So I don't just battle endometriosis. I battle internal scarring now that will always be there forever. And people are very trigger happy to go into surgery thinking it's going to fix their problems, not knowing that they can nick your bowel. you can end up with a bowel bag. Like you can have problems with your bladder afterwards if they nick your bladder, which happens.

Like there are risks and complications. So if you're going into surgery, you want to go into the best surgery, which is excision. So you've mentioned that you're hoping that this is the last time you're having. A procedure and the lifestyle changes, you're hoping will keep those symptoms at bay. Yeah. Can you tell me a little bit about those lifestyle changes that you've made? Yeah, so I was actually on route for surgery number five. And I was like, there's got to be another way because all of these surgeries were meant to be fixing the problem.

And I was like, but I'm still bloating all the time. Like I'm knackered all the time. Like my moods are all over the place. And I was like, there's got to be another answer. And through just my own research was looking into anti-inflammatory ways of living because this term inflammation kept coming up. because I used to call it bloating, and I'd be puffy. Like my face would be puffy, my arms would be puffy. One minute I would be lean and defined and trim.

And then the next minute I'd be like this bloated version of myself. But sometimes it was like five hours in between these two people. But these two people were different size clothes. Like one was a size eight, one was a size 12 to 14. Like it just didn't make sense. I'm also fascinated by education. I've always loved learning, loved biology at school, loved university. and I was like, do you know what?

The best way to get to grips with this is if I actually learn how to teach it. And I was looking for courses on inflammation, on hormones, all of this. And then was chatting to someone called Zoe Antonia. She's amazing. She's a PCOS. Yes. Yeah. So, prior to meeting Zoe, I was going on this endometriosis retreat.

Again, my life was just raising awareness on endometriosis. I didn't have anything else to give. I had no answers because I was still struggling with it. But I was like, this is my life. try and avoid getting the wrong surgery. That was like my message. Met her and she was doing this women's health practitioner course and I was like, I want a bit of that. So had decided that I was going to quit my job at this retreat, signed up to that course and it changed my life because it taught me about hormones. It taught me about the menstrual cycle and how there's four phases to it.

Like basic things that I now laugh at that I didn't know before and people still don't do now, rightfully so because we're not educated in schools. And then all of a sudden this concept of like food triggering it and how there's specific types of food that can do that. But there's also other inflammatory things. And so through training to become a women's health practitioner to help other people, which I actually signed up to the course not really knowing if that's what I wanted to do. I just wanted to learn the information to fix myself because I thought no one else is fixing me. I've been to see every specialist and no one's doing anything. So I thought maybe it is in my daily life, which again was a sore thing because you don't really want the blame to be on yourself.

You don't really accept, especially when you've had a diagnosis, you're like, no way is my pain being brought by this food because I'm eating the health bars. I'm eating the healthy cereal. I'm doing all of this. And then I actually looked at my lifestyle, looked at everything that I learned in this course. And I was like, oh my God, I should have been doing an anti-inflammatory diet. And that is what kind of started my journey and my career as well. It's weird. they both went hand in hand, not by accident. I was struggling in my career when I was struggling with my pain. And when my pain went away, my career boosted.

Like, that is why we should be supporting women in the workforce. Like, I could do a whole podcast on it. But anyway, the first thing that I actually needed to do was something called AIP. It's called the autoimmune protocol. Very, very extreme anti-inflammatory diet that people with autoimmune conditions or conditions similar. So endometriosis is classed as a similar. autoimmune condition, it attacks full body inflammation. And I was like, well, I get full body inflammation. Maybe this will help me. The other two extreme diets that people might have heard of,

a low Fodmap, I've done it, didn't massively work for me. Like, yes, if I eat too much garlic or too much broccoli, I get a bit gassy, but had no impact on my pain. And then the histamine, and I didn't massively resonate with the histamine diet in terms of the symptoms you need to have for that diet to help. Whereas the AIP was like, do you have full body inflammation? Do you have payment with all of this, et cetera, et cetera. And I was like, yes. I was like, I'm going to go for it. Like, I'm going to go all in. Did the AIP. And at the time, I just quit my job and had started my blog, which used to be called the Ender Spectrum and is now my name, Sophie Dot Richards, and was doing like a fun day by day vlog because I was like, I don't fucking know if this is

going to work. So like, let's do it together and it'll be a fun thing. And as the days went on, I was like, I feel amazing. Like, I feel like I'm 16 again without. my period. And I couldn't believe it. But what was insane was that the people watching my videos were commenting being like, your face has changed. Like your face has completely changed. My body completely changed. And I was gaining weight all the time, gaining it, losing it, gaining it, losing it, and being like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, am I just eating too much? And then on the AIP, I was eating more calories than I've ever eaten. Because on the AIP, you go completely unprocessed. Everything has to be one ingredient. But on top of that, which is where

it gets extreme, is that you eliminate foods that are potentially in front of, you're not. for people. I say potentially because these are all healthy foods. For some people, they are triggers. Nightshades are a type of fruit and vegetables, so like white potatoes, peppers, chili, coffee, you can't have any nuts or seeds on it even. Coffee is a seed, so you can't have coffee on it. It's very extreme. You do it until your symptoms go away. For me, it was 30 days. You aren't supposed to do it for any more than 90. And then the painful bit starts, which is where you reintroduce one ingredient every three days to see if it's your trigger. So I started like my favorite foods, coffee.

Thought that would be an issue, nothing. Started gradually going on, nothing, nothing. And really harmless, I was like, oh, there's chili flakes on this cucumber salad. And I was like, oh, I'll just pick chili today then. I don't like spice. So I never have chili. Had chili within an hour, I had a migraine.

Within two hours, my stomach was bloated like I was nine months pregnant. And then I started spotting. like bleeding. Gosh. And I was like, fuck off. Is it chili flakes? I was like, this, this can't be I don't have it. And then I realized every Sunday, I go for brunch at the same place, I have eggs, avocado and toast, basic girl brunch. Love. And they put chili oil on it. Oh my gosh. And I was like, it was the chili. So it wasn't just the chili. I then, as the experiment goes on, was realizing that essentially ultra-process foods, chili chickpeas are my issues. And I never would have found that out had I not have done the AIP. Now at the end of the AIP you take your lessons from it.

So what was for you and what's not? Because a lot of people get wrong with the AIP that you stay in elimination phase. So I bring mine, I did this last year. Like it's been over a year and I still get people being like, you've put black pepper on your food because that's something you're not supposed to have during the elimination. I was like, yes, because there is life after the AIP when you've learned all your lessons. That is kind of why I then ended up writing the anti-inflammatory reset, because there are so many limitations to the AIP. And I don't think the AIP should change. It's a food-focused protocol.

It's very specific. Not many people should do it and you should speak to a doctor before doing it because it's very restrictive. So if you have any history of disordered eating, absolute no. But also it doesn't take into a consideration what I call the inflammatory pillars.

So food it considers, yes, but it doesn't talk to you about how much protein you should be having, how many carbs, how many fats, none of that. It's just what food you shouldn't eat. Doesn't talk about gut health. really. Yes, you are impacting gut health because you're reducing inflammation, but you're not learning how to nourish it. It's not part of the protocol. You've then got things like detoxification,

sleep, stress, exercise, everything. And it doesn't cover that. And I was learning through the course and through the wider research that the AIP changed my life, but there are so many other things that I still struggle with like skin where I know it's not food related now, but that's because there are other pillars like stress, which I am permanently stressed and trying to work on it. And I It was like there needs to be, one, a resource for after the AIP, but two, a resource for basically 99% of the population that don't need to do the AIP but still struggle with inflammation. And I was like, everyone just needs an anti-inflammatory reset. We need to understand these six pillars and do a reset. And then that's when I started writing it.

I was talking about it on socials and it's now becoming a book. Which is really exciting. So exciting. You did point out a really important thing about the AIP. about disordered eating. It's not for everyone. I should also point out a lack of evidence is not evidence in itself, and I'm a firm believer of that.

But they haven't done studies specifically endometriosis. No. But there's really exciting evidence with rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune thyroid, and the link between endometriosis and then experiencing another autoimmune condition is 50, 80% more likely. Yeah. So although there's not studies directly into its impact within endometriosis,

that are really exciting studies for adjacent conditions. Yeah. The other thing that I want is to highlight was you mentioned speaking to a doctor, ideally doing it with the dietitian. Yeah. And making sure that you're not getting any deficiencies from doing it. So for example, if anyone is a vegan or a vegetarian and goes, hey, I'm going to get your AIP guide. Are there vegan or vegetarian recipes in there? I'm like hard no. Because your protein sources as a vegan or vegetarian are going to be your grains, legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds, all of which you can't have on the AIP. And so if we're thinking about the reason you do the AIP is to find your inflammatory tickers

to help your gut, all of that stuff, and especially when you think about hormones that they're literally made of proteins and fats, fats you're covered with, it's fine. But you're not going to be having enough protein. so you're going to end up making your health worse in the process of trying to make it better. So it's absolutely not for everyone. And that's why I think the anti-inflammatory reset is such a good resource for those people where it's a lot softer, it's not extreme. And like you said, it doesn't put you into those deficiencies.

Because I'm really lucky I was being educated on hormonal health and I was able to do that. But for the average Joe, who especially isn't conscious of things like protein, it's something that you should, like we said, go and see a doctor to talk about. first. And you say the word extreme, but I think that we've become so accustomed to not taking note of actually what we put into our body. And I think we can all benefit from just taking a moment to be a bit more mindful and recognizing and taking note of what we put into our body, because I'm so, so, so guilty for shoving a meal down, even if it's processed or unprocessed, whatever I can eat the quickest if I'm in a rush. And then if I was to get bloated later on, or

I was to not feel my best. I would have no idea what had done that. Yeah. And anything I think that just helps us take a bit more of a moment and take note of our lifestyle is important in this day and age. Yeah, 100%. And I think that is one core theme that is the same in the AIP and the anti-inflammatory research, which I'm really proud of,

is that the extremity for me with the AIP is more. You're avoiding things like white potatoes, black pepper, coffee, chili, all things that actually have plenty of healthy things. things for them. Whereas the anti-inflammatory reset, I'm very curious at how it's taken when it comes out because I think it's going to make a lot of people go, gosh, this is extreme, no ultra-processed foods. There's different resets. And we talk about being mindful and 80, 20 and all of that. But I always say for a period of time, give yourself a challenge of doing completely ultra-processed foods free. That's the biggest piece of feedback I've had from the AIP because think about

snacking. Okay, I'll snack on some meat or something. I'll get that. And then you turn the packet over, to realize that I challenge everyone right now to go into a supermarket and look at the meat, the only one you will find that isn't super, super processed in terms of gums, sweetness, sugars, all of that will be prosciutto because good quality prosciutto will just be ham and salt. Everything else, look at the chicken, has stuff in.

Why do we have that? Like, we went for breakfast this morning, picked up a chia seed pudding thinking, oh, lovely, lots of fibre. Looked at it, Xantham, gum, sweetener, this, that and the other. And I thought, it's unnecessary. This is coconut yogurt, chia seeds and mango on top.

Why are you doing this? Like, it's unnecessary. And so I love your point of saying how, like, things sound extreme. But what's actually extreme is how bad the food is these days, that doing ultra-processed free, i.e. just eating normal ingredients is seen as extreme these days. It's wild. And the dates are coming out about ultra-processed food. I was having a conversation with one of the doctors in work literally yesterday.

and we were saying how we thought it really will be the smoking of our generation because we there's also so much big food marketing behind us that's telling us it's not as bad for us as it is. God, it's awful. Yeah. I wanted to talk about when you had one of your surgeries, I believe you had to sign in your consent that they could take out your ovaries. How on earth did you manage that in your early twenties. Yeah, it was awful. This is like the one that gets me crying. So if I start crying, just bear with me. So I was in Yorkshire at the time, very far away from home because it was locked down and I was like, I don't want to live at home and I got my dream job and they'd moved me to Yorkshire. So very stressed, had no concept of lifestyle,

thought I was eating healthy but actually everything was ultra-processed because it was like health bars, all of that stuff. And between what I was eating, lack of movement and extreme stress, I was just having flare-ups every month. And they were getting worse and worse and worse. And then this one time, my flatmate was away, so I was on my own. We were coming to the weekend, having a really bad flare-up. And I would just knock myself out with painkillers and sleeping tablets. Like, it was the only way I was going to get through it. And it was not abnormal for me to pass out on my period but this one particular time it got scary because I was like I don't remember getting to the bathroom and I've got this big bump on my head and I was like I must have like they was sick

on the floor and I was like I must have passed out and been sick and I was like I think it's getting to that point where I should probably call someone but I was almost embarrassed and people will understand this if you've been rushed to hospital where you say your problem is endometriosis or painful periods or you're on your period and you're passing out and they just roll their eyes and they like might give you an IV paracetamol drip or something like that's a it because they just don't believe you and it happened so many times and I also hate going to any and waiting just to have that so I just thought now I'm going to say at home called 101 so like non-emergency the next thing you know I'm in hospital being told that I need to have surgery

immediately because they think something seriously bad is going on because also they could visibly see my stomach was like out here and before going in I had to sign this piece of paper that basically said that I wasn't holding them liable and that I was waving my rights for them to basically remove my ovaries, womb and tubes if they needed to in that surgery because they thought that maybe I'd had another twisted cyst and something was really, really wrong. And I totally understand that you have to do that before going to surgery. But the context of me signing that form is like, I'm 24, I'm on my own, I'm hysterical, I'm super drugged up. I have no idea what's going on. But again, I was in so much pain that I was

like, you need to like fix this. So it was like, die or sign my ovaries away. so like it's a easy choice that you're going to make. But when I woke up, it was, I can't talk and cry. It's very frustrating. That's right. We'll take a moment. It's all good. It was one of those moments that like I woke up and I had no, like, no idea if I had.

Oh my God. I had no idea if I had my ovaries. And you know how like nurses can't tell you what's happened? You have to wait for the doctor. So it was half an hour of me being like, Like, I have no idea what's going on. And like, you're obviously like in pain after surgery and whatever. And like, thankfully, still had my ovaries.

And it turns out that I had an infection from my endometriosis, which had triggered appendicitis. And they were like it was on the verge of bursting. So when people say, oh, it's just a painful period or a low pain threshold, I'm like, I sat at home and self-medicated through extreme appendicitis. Because I was like, it's fine. they're just not going to believe me. So I think like you realize how extreme that picture can be.

But I am not like, people go like, oh, God, you've been through so much. Like such a sad story. I'm like, no, no, no. This is the picture of every woman with a chronic health issue that can't get help. Like I'm nothing special. This happens all the time. So after that, I was like, that's it. I'm getting my eggs frozen.

So I quit my job because I was on a good. salary, but nowhere near like throwing 20 grand to egg freezing. So I got a job with a company that did a signing bonus. It was a 10 grand signing bonus. And the catch was yet to stay there for a year. So I was like, brilliant. I'll go there and I'll just stay there and suck it up for a year. So moved to London, got my eggs frozen and it was the best decision that I ever made. Because even if I conceive naturally, one, I never know if I'm going to have another emergency surgery again. And I never know if they're going to take my ovaries again. But two with endometriosis, there is a fertility impact. Like it can happen. I think they say it's 50% of people will struggle. So at least I've got

younger eggs that should perform better later on if I need them. But I always look back and think, like, you know when you just want to be like, fuck you to all the doctors that I said before this, should I be thinking about freezing my eggs? And they were like, you're young. You're young. Why? And I'm like, yes, I was 24, but I was still being told that they were going to take my ovaries away. So I would empower everyone to have this conversation if they can with the doctors. What I also want to say is it comes from a deep place of privilege that I was able to do a job at that time

that gave me a signing bonus that paid for one round and went to the bank of mum and dad to pay for the other because it never would have happened and it's like my lifetime goal is to get egg freezing free for people with endometriosis. In like rare cases they get it. So definitely like chance sent to speak to a doctor but it is absolutely not like the given.

God, I don't know where to go from that. We're over it now. It just gets me every time. Yeah, yeah. I just cannot for the life of me imagine being 24 and having that question puts you. Because even if it is a potential risk, no matter how small, that's just so much to process when you're by yourself. Especially when, I think, especially when you were, I was single at the time. And like, that's another big thing for people who struggle with women's health issues specifically is you have this, not only this pressure. of like you should have kids as young as you can just in case you can.

But it's like, all right, well, what am I going to do? Like, find the first rando on the street and sleep with them in hopes that I get pregnant. Like, it's a lot, a lot of pressure. But I think that is why I'm so passionate about not only raising awareness on women's health so that people feel like they can have these conversations, but also share my life. And I'm really grateful that I started my page as an awareness page because if people want, they can go back and look at my life then

because I was very much that person crying online every day going, this is a shit life. I didn't start with a before and after. Like I started in my before for six years and then I found like the anti-inflammatory answer and that is why I will scream it from the rooftops and I will write as many books as I can about it because it changed my life

and I see people message with their before and afters and not just how they're feeling but like especially as one woman got pregnant and she've been trying for years and she DM'd me. She messaged me in July being like, I'm six weeks pregnant. I haven't said to anyone yet

but I just wanted to let you know. And then she sent a message the other day with a picture of her baby being like, this is from anti-inframtery living. Like nothing was working before. Obviously I know there are so many variables, but she's so much happier now and like does it. And I just love it.

I just love it. So I feel very lucky. I actually feel lucky to have experienced it all because I think unless I would have experienced it, I never would have found this life. And ultimately it's end, like ended up in me doing this full time as a job, which is like the best thing in the world.

Like I'm so grateful for it. And I would never have had that without all the crap. So I'm grateful for it, but I think it needs to end for everyone else. So you left your job. You now have an audience of over 700,000 books coming out. And I believe as we are speaking, the trailer for your podcast is going to come out soon. What are the next steps?

What do you think is missing from the conversation around women's health? The main thing that I think is missing, is that you have pages like mine that are talking about endometriosis and now I obviously talk about inflammation because I don't have any endosyms anymore, which I'm grateful for. But there are a lot of people that won't resonate with my life because they don't have the illness that I do or whatever. And I think there's this bigger picture around women's health and a community,

which is why I started found. I wanted it to not only be everything that I found useful, but what other people found useful. And I think we need a space where we pull women together, regardless of what condition they're going through because what you will find, and I'm sure you'll have had this as a doctor, is that yes, people have PCOS versus endometriosis

versus adenomyosis, but at the end of the day, we're all struggling with very, very similar issues, which is conditions that we live with day and day out that's specific to women's health when there is no research to help us. So more empathy from doctors is something that we need to look at,

believing people is a big thing, and opening up that conversation, which like my podcast is doing, founders doing this podcast is doing more people like you who are willing to to speak up especially I think what is very unique about you is you have that medical background and there's often an us versus them mentality when it comes to doctors and chronic health community but we're all on the same page we all want to get better and we all want people to help and so it's about finding like that common ground and I do think awareness is where it starts having having open conversations

What I love about your content is it often feels like medicine versus lifestyle online. You're either anti-vax, anti-medication, don't want to be touched by a barge poll from a doctor, or you are begging doctors every single month to be taken seriously and you think that the solution can be found in a pill. And unfortunately, given we don't have the answers, science doesn't have the answers yet, it has to be a holistic approach. You go to the people who just want doctors to give them the answers and they don't recognise the personal responsibility that we all have to give our bodies a fighting chance.

Yeah. But then you go to a lot of the health content creators online who just believe in lifestyle and they're spreading misinformation and not the research back. Yeah, the juice will cure you, blah, blah, blah, blah and it's rubbish. Yeah. There's so much, so much you can do at home yourself. That is like taking that responsibility. But beyond that, if you're not able to fix it with things that you're doing at home, go and see the doctors.

That's what they're there for. That's what the NHS is there for. So, yeah, the merged approach, I think is definitely the best. Yeah. And going either end for extremities is never the answer. Never the answer. And I think it's difficult in social media where polarising opinions are often rewarded. And often you can become so trapped in these holes, it's very difficult to recognize that often the best answer is in the, the middle ground. Yeah. Well, look at Liver King. Liver King was organ meats are everything. I've got this community behind me. People were eating the same as him to find out he was on steroids the whole time. Like it's, it's wild, isn't it? So yeah, never trust everything online. No, I think that's a good, a good one. Before we finish up, we have a little question that we are going to be asking all the guests. Sophie, what do you wish? Every woman knew by the time they were 25.

That advocating for yourself can be one of the most powerful things you do, not only for your health, but every aspect of your life, and to never accept one answer as the only answer. I love that. That's brilliant. Thank you so, so much. Thank you for having me on. I'm 24. I'm on my own. I'm hysterical. I'm super drugged up. So it was like, die or sign my ovaries away.

Sophie Richards injured excruciating pain for five years before finally getting an answer. People go like, oh God, you've been there so much. Like such a sad story. I'm like, no, no, no. This is the picture of every woman with a chronic health issue that can't get help. I had the wrong surgery. And I was told that my options were to have a baby. I was about to drop out of uni.

Can we just pause a second? As soon as she found doctors who would listen. she knew she had to help other women and today she has an audience of over 700,000 people. I ended up doing a placement year in London, went to the GP. She told me three things that changed my life. So she said,