There’s a line in Conversations With Friends where Frances’ doctor describes her condition as “complicated”. It’s tidy language for something that can quietly derail your teens and twenties.
I got emotional when I realised why the main character was passed out on the bathroom floor of her college house. She wasn’t drunk, she had endometriosis.
Last week, I saw a gynaecologist for the first time in nine years.
I was 14 when I collapsed at my brother’s hurling match, convinced it was appendicitis. In A&E, I was told it was period cramps. At 16, I was prescribed stronger painkillers. At 18, 19 and 20, I was moved between three different contraceptive pills. Each intervention felt like putting a plaster on a broken leg. What it didn’t feel like was curiosity about why a young teenager was fainting from menstrual pain.
Endometriosis is a chronic condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows outside it, triggering inflammation, scarring, severe pelvic pain, heavy bleeding and, for some, fertility problems. Diagnosis typically requires surgical investigation, most commonly a laparoscopy. According to the World Health Organization, it affects one in 10 women and girls of reproductive age, around 190 million people globally.
And yet, it is routinely dismissed.
That’s why Frances’ storyline in Conversations With Friends landed so forcefully. She is a college student, juggling lectures and messy relationships, while her body intermittently floors her. The series shows her crouched on a bathroom floor, fainting in public, grappling with the suggestion that her fertility may be compromised. It does not cut away. It does not dilute the discomfort.
For viewers in the West of Ireland, that visibility comes at a moment of tangible change. University Hospital Galway is set to become one of five new regional hubs for endometriosis treatment. At present, patients there are seen through general gynaecology outpatient clinics, where consultants can carry out diagnostic surgery and prescribe pain relief.
More complex cases are referred on, typically to Tallaght University Hospital or Cork University Maternity Hospital, currently the only two places a woman in Ireland can receive complex treatment for endometriosis.
For many women, that means long journeys, added expense and waiting lists that stretch patience thin.
Amanda Kenny, Head of Communications and Media with the HSE, has acknowledged that women in the West often face additional barriers, from travel distances to financial strain, when seeking specialist endometriosis care. She says the HSE’s Women’s Health Action Plan aims to improve regional access by building multidisciplinary teams, establishing specialist centres and investing in gynaecology services to reduce waiting times.
“To address this, the HSE’s Women’s Health Action Plan focuses on improving access in these regions by developing multidisciplinary teams, setting up specialist centres, and investing in gynaecology services to shorten waiting times.
“A key step is securing funding for a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with expertise in endometriosis to lead the team. Galway University Hospital has already received some funding and has hired a specialist physiotherapist, a clinical nurse specialist, and clerical support. Recruitment is also underway for a psychologist and a dietitian,” she said.
Those developments do matter. Because for years, my own experience existed in fragments: A&E departments, GP visits, repeat prescriptions. Sitting in a specialist’s office last week, I felt something unfamiliar, the sense that my question was finally being taken seriously.
Representation alone will not solve delayed diagnoses or surgical waiting lists. But seeing a character, and a young college student at that, articulate this pain on screen chips away at the silence that allows it to be dismissed. Chronic pain is not melodrama. It is not oversharing. It is not a rite of passage.
Nine years is a long time to normalise suffering.
If there’s one lesson in both Frances’ story and mine, it’s this: persistent period pain that disrupts your life is not something to power through quietly. Track it. Question it. Ask for referral. Because awareness, whether sparked by a television drama or a hospital reform plan, is only powerful if it leads to action.
And sometimes, being seen is the first step towards being heard.
Emma van Oosterhout is the Editor-in-Chief of Student Independent News for 2025/26. She is studying MA Journalism at University of Galway, and graduated in 2025 with a BA in Global Media and History. She is from Corofin, Co. Galway. Emma was previously a News Editor for the year 2023/24. She has written for SIN since 2023.