'Endometriosis tests would have given me years back'

"I was told that my symptoms were just part of being a woman."

These are words that are likely to be familiar to scores of women who have suffered years of seeking a reason for their extreme pain and heavy periods, before finally being told they have endometriosis.

For years, the only way to definitively diagnose the condition - where cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body, external - was through a surgical procedure.

But this week it was announced that rapid, non-invasive, endometriosis tests would be made available on the NHS in England and Wales.

For Zoe Armstrong, 35, from Bristol - who lost two pregnancies, including an ectopic pregnancy that became "trapped" due to her endometriosis - a rapid test could have made all the difference.

She said it was "absolutely amazing" to hear that rapid tests could be made available on the NHS, having been told - like many - that her symptoms "were just part of being a woman".

While she might never know for sure, Armstrong, who now has a daughter, said a simpler test for endometriosis might have caught the condition before her pregnancies.

"There is a little bit of sadness because there are so many people out there who haven't been diagnosed yet, who think they have [endometriosis] and are in this loop," she said.

"Hopefully this will cut their waiting times down."

While Armstrong only discovered her endometriosis after an emergency surgery, others with the condition spent years looking for reasons for debilitating pain.

It took 21 years for Charlotte Hutchings, 36, to get her endometriosis diagnosis, after suffering symptoms from the age of 11.

Hutchings, who helps lead the Gloucestershire Endometriosis Support Group, said rapid testing could have made a "massive difference" to her life, and potentially could have avoided years of "countless doctors, hospital and A&E visits".