Australian actress Jordy Lucas spent a decade with undiagnosed endometriosis

An Australian actress best known for her role in Neighbors has opened up about her ongoing health battle with an invisible illness that left her suffering in silence until she was finally diagnosed.

Jordy Lucas, 32, revealed that after landing her dream role on the Aussie soap as a teenager, she started experiencing unbearable and irregular periods.

However, due to the common misconception that painful periods are normal, Ms Lucas’ concerns were dismissed by doctors.

The actress recalls an episode where she was rushed to hospital after finishing a scene for Neighbors because she had been bleeding for weeks.

“I felt like I was going to faint,” she said News.com.au.

Ms Lucas, best known for her role in Neighbors (pictured), started experiencing symptoms after landing her dream role on the Aussie soap

Once again her pain and bleeding disappeared and Mrs Lucas was prescribed the contraceptive pill.

To some extent, the pill helped her control her symptoms, and she continued taking it for several years, including during her time in America.

In 2020, she made the difficult choice to stop taking the pill after suffering from migraines and discovering that the contraceptive had only masked her original symptoms.

She started experiencing chronic pain and heavy periods again, but was still turned away by the doctors because nothing looked abnormal on the ultrasounds.

Even though her symptoms were a textbook example of endometriosis, a disease that an estimated one million Aussies will suffer from in their lifetime, she found it difficult to diagnose.

On average, it takes an Australian seven years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, often because the pain is written off as menstrual cramps.

Mrs. Lucas did her best to continue with her daily life, but the pain became increasingly debilitating and her heavy periods left her anemic.

Ms Lucas (pictured) was dismissed by doctors and prescribed the contraceptive pill as a way to mask her symptoms

It was during this time that she realized she was lucky to be working as an actress as she would not be able to keep up with the pressures of a nine to five job.

She was eventually given the green flag to undergo keyhole surgery, but admitted she was paranoid. Doctors would find nothing wrong and label her as melodramatic.

However, the medical team were able to confirm in May 2023 that Ms Lucas had endometriosis, and she burst into tears with relief at being ‘validated’.

‘I had to fight for years to be taken seriously; by the time I was taken seriously I was in stage four and all [internal organs] had merged,” she said.

Ms Lucas underwent excisional surgery to remove excess endometrial tissue in January 2024 and shared pathological findings from the procedure in February.

‘Extensive, deeply infiltrating endometriosis, adenomyosis and ovarian cysts. Things that definitely didn’t belong together were literally stuck together,” she said.

‘I feel vindicated, but I am also extremely angry. Angry that this diagnosis took more than ten years. Angry because I was made to feel like a drug-seeking hypochondriac.

“What I’m most angry about is that I started questioning myself, my own body, my own pain.”

Ms Lucas (pictured) underwent excisional surgery to remove excess endometrial tissue in January 2024 and described being ‘angry’ that her diagnosis took so long

Since her diagnosis, Ms Lucas has shared her endometriosis journey online in an attempt to overcome the ‘shame’ and ’embarrassment’ she used to feel.

She also encourages women to advocate for their health and trust their instincts.

“I hope I can help women better advocate for themselves during the diagnosis and treatment of this horrible disease,” she said.

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