Bindi Irwin reveals she was 'really sick' for '10-plus years': 'Doctors didn't know'
Bindi Irwin has shared more about her private health battle with endometriosis that went undiagnosed for over ten years. The 26-year-old has revealed the path to getting diagnosed was a very long one, with doctors claiming the pain she was suffering was all in her mind, or "part of being a woman".
Bindi shared in an episode of the A Life Of Greatness podcast that she was motivated to get to the bottom of her pain after giving birth to her daughter Grace in 2021. Speaking to host Sarah Grynberg, she said, "I went for 10 years undiagnosed because doctors really didn't know enough."
"They diagnosed me with a million other things like IBS or it's hormones or it's just part of being a woman and the symptoms continue to snowball.
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"I had every scan you could imagine. I had CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, blood tests. I was tested for every disease, tropical disease. Everything you could imagine because I was so sick for so long and just nothing came back.
"So doctor, after doctor would say, 'hey, it's just part of being a woman. There's really nothing wrong with you'. And I was just getting more and more unwell."
When a friend of hers received treatment for endometriosis and told Bindi her symptoms, the Wildlife Warrior realised that her symptoms lined up with her friend's.
Bindi went to the US for an operation, where the surgeon found "over 30 lesions".
"For me, if I hadn't gotten surgery, the next five years of my life would have been very make or break because I was having real problems, um, internally," she said.
She explained that she had "an enormous chocolate cyst" which was causing "agonising pain" as it had "adhered my ovary to my side" and was "attacking the inside of the ovary".
The fact that the cyst never showed up on scans delayed the diagnosis for so long. Bindi adds that she wants to create more awareness around endometriosis because it's a "really scary disease" that "takes years" to diagnose "because most of the time, it really doesn't show up on scans".
"It's something that needs to be discussed more and my heart breaks because there are countless people out there who are dealing with these symptoms and dealing with this disease that just goes completely undiagnosed for so long," she said.
"After a dozen doctors tell you you're crazy, you start to believe them," she said.
Bindi first went public with her health battle in 2023 after her surgery, when she told fans, "[The doctor's] first words to me when I was in recovery were, 'How did you live with this much pain?'"
"Endometriosis is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus," according to the World Health Organisation. "It can cause severe pain in the pelvis and make it harder to get pregnant.
"Endometriosis can start at a person's first menstrual period and last until menopause. With endometriosis, tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. This leads to inflammation and scar tissue forming in the pelvic region and (rarely) elsewhere in the body."
The cause of endometriosis is unknown and unfortunately, there is no way to prevent it. There is also no cure and it can only be treated with medication or surgery.
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Some people will not experience symptoms, but for those who do, it's often pain in the lower part of the belly.
WHO adds, "It can decrease quality of life due to severe pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety and infertility. Some individuals with endometriosis experience debilitating pain that prevents them from going to work or school."
Pain can also be noticeable during a period, during or after sex, or when going to the toilet.
Some people also experience:
chronic pelvic pain
heavy bleeding during periods or between periods
trouble getting pregnant
bloating or nausea
fatigue
depression or anxiety
Symptoms can improve after menopause, but not always.
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