When the symptoms began interfering with studying for my master’s degree in January 2021, I contacted my GP for help. She referred me to an endocrinology consultant for suspected chronic fatigue. The consultant immediately ruled this out and referred me on to the immunology department for testing. But questions about the timing of my sickness spells got me thinking. The symptoms always arrived seven to 10 days before my period. Late-night googling led me to a breakthrough: a post on the HealthUnlocked endometriosis forum about “period flu.” I felt I had my answer. But even when all the immunology tests came back negative, the consultant resisted the idea it could be endometriosis, assuring me that my symptoms just didn’t line up. (After all, neither the NHS nor the Endometriosis UK website lists flu-like symptoms as indicative of endometriosis. So far there has been limited research into the connection between menstruation and flu-like symptoms.) As an experiment, we agreed I would take the combined pill back-to-back to skip my periods. As if by magic, the flu symptoms stopped arriving each month, although the fatigue persisted.
