A woman who suffered from heavy periods for 24 years has finally received a diagnosis after a scan revealed a growth in her womb the size of a baby's head. Siobhan Cousins, 39, from Sunderland, began experiencing heavy periods at age 14, missing school due to pain and soaking through countless tampons. She often looked pregnant and estimates spending nearly £14,000 on sanitary products. Doctors dismissed her symptoms as bad luck, and no treatment stopped the bleeding or passing of palm-sized clots.
Symptoms Dismissed for Years
The symptoms, including severe bloating and nausea, only subsided during her pregnancies with sons Leon, now 12, and Andre, now 11. However, the bleeding and pain returned with a vengeance after each birth. On one occasion, she bled so heavily in a public toilet that it looked like someone had been shot. Countless GP visits proved futile until last year, when her stomach swelling made her appear heavily pregnant. She struggled to breathe and eat as her diaphragm compressed.
Diagnosis and Surgery
A doctor referred her for an MRI scan, which uncovered a fibroid the size of a baby's head and a uterus enlarged to three times its normal size due to adenomyosis. Siobhan pleaded for a hysterectomy and finally had the surgery on February 28, 2026. She says she has now got her life back. The fibroids, womb, and Fallopian tubes were removed, ending her 24-year ordeal.
Impact on Daily Life
Siobhan battled severe periods from puberty, missing school, abandoning exercise, and changing tampons at least six times daily while carrying spare underwear. She recalls a doctor telling her mother, nothing is working, and being dismissed as just one of the unlucky ones. She accepted the heavy irregular periods, pain, and bloating for years, often lying in an empty bath to bleed. Her only relief came during pregnancy, but the condition returned worse each time.
Advocacy and Diagnosis
In 2024, Siobhan began meticulously recording her symptoms, from tampon usage to clot sizes. After a harrowing episode in February 2025 where she nearly bled out by the motorway, she took her period diary to a doctor. A gynaecologist referred her for CT and MRI scans, revealing a large pedunculated fibroid with internal bleeding and adenomyosis. These caused excessive bleeding, severe inflammation, and difficulty breathing and eating.
Life After Hysterectomy
Siobhan and her husband Andy Cousins, 56, were shocked by the diagnosis. Despite considering a third child, she immediately requested a hysterectomy. While awaiting surgery, she was placed into medical menopause, experiencing hot flushes and night sweats, now managed with HRT. Since the operation, the swelling has disappeared, and she has dropped two dress sizes to a size eight to ten for the first time in over 20 years. She says she feels like a brand new me, no longer living in joggers or stretchy waistbands, and believes she was medically gaslit by those who dismissed her symptoms.
