I was sent home by doctors again and again before the shocking reason behind my ‘mysterious’ and painful symptoms was discovered – here’s what I want every woman to know

Danielle Russell She suffered from unexplained symptoms for years before doctors were finally able to give her condition a name.

The 28-year-old has suffered from sinusitis all her life – and even having her tonsils removed or nose surgery at age 18 couldn’t quell the daily headaches and constant strain on her immune system.

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

Things only got worse when the stay-at-home mom noticed a painful lump on her hip in August 2023.

“I have struggled with my health my entire life,” Danielle told FEMAIL. ‘My immune system is barely working. If someone around me is sick, I notice it immediately.

‘But I have two small children and suddenly I couldn’t smell when they needed a change. That’s when I knew something was wrong.’

The Sydney mother was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis and a desmoid tumor on her hip, but her journey of discovery was long and arduous.

‘The process was extremely scary, 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 C-sections during my pregnancies? Is it my fault?’

But there was nothing Danielle could have done to prevent her health problems.

“I first noticed a lump when I got out of the shower and it happened suddenly,” the mother recalls.

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

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

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

But the doctors at the scan weren’t sure what the growth was either, but they did find a cyst on Danielle’s ovary.

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

‘Six weeks later I went back and my ovarian cyst was still there, along with my lump. That was the first time a doctor said the word ‘endometriosis’ to me, but I soon realized that I had been suffering from the disease for years.’

Danielle had experienced pain during intercourse for years, but her doctors wrote it off.

‘I had been in pain for so long that I thought it was my problem. I thought it was my fault and that the pain was something I had to deal with. It never occurred to me that anything was really wrong.’

When the young mother first went to a specialist, they refused to entertain the idea that she had endometriosis because she had none of the typical symptoms.

Danielle had no trouble conceiving and never complained of particularly painful periods, but the latter was due to the fact that she had already had the Mirena IUD inserted, 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 against the back of my uterus and was shocked. We could see a lot of adhesions and cysts in the area.”

Danielle’s painful sex finally made sense: Cysts continued to dissolve and re-form along her ovaries, making the act unbearable.

The endometriosis, surprisingly, also caused her jaw pain.

‘The pain often makes me clench my jaw, which only makes things worse. Some days I can’t eat or talk, and opening my mouth feels completely impossible.’

Danielle’s diagnosis opened several doors to her mental health.

“The best part was the confirmation that I wasn’t crazy,” she said. ‘I know my body, I knew something had to be wrong. The feeling that that was normal could not exist.

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

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

Danielle’s doctors did not want to prescribe her the medication because of her age and said they would like to keep an eye on it as it was not currently growing.

‘I’m really lucky that I have a supportive family and that I have been able to get all the medical help possible. “I have people to take care of my kids when I have to go to appointments,” she said.

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

‘I really need to lie down with a heat pack for a few days. There’s not much else I can do.’

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

She hopes that treating the lesions will reduce the pain her tumor causes her, as doctors believe her hormones are causing flare-ups in her hip.

‘In a way, the lump popping up was a blessing. It got me the diagnosis I needed to have the surgeries to fix it.

“Even though I’m still in pain, I’m grateful that I know what the problem is and that there are plans to address it. I’m no longer stressed.’

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 helpful – 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, then it will have been worth it.’