Bindi Irwin recently shared new details about her road to being diagnosed with endometriosis — and her story will likely resonate hard with the many women who have experienced medical gaslighting.
This isn’t the first time Irwin has opened up about living with endometriosis. In an Instagram post shared a few months ago, she shared that she lived with debilitating symptoms of the condition for 10 years. During that time, Irwin went through countless doctor’s appointments, scans, and tests before she was finally diagnosed.
10 years of pain is too long
Bindi Irwin's endometriosis experience is a frustratingly common one.
Many, many women seek answers for years before finally being diagnosed with endometriosis. In fact, according to Yale Medicine, women with endometriosis suffer for 10 years on average before securing a diagnosis. Chalk it up, in part at least, to our societal tendency to dismiss women’s experiences and pain.
In those ten-ish years spent chasing answers, women are often going through physical hell.
“I’ve struggled with insurmountable fatigue, pain & nausea. Trying to remain a positive person & hide the pain has been a very long road,” Irwin wrote when she shared the details of her diagnosis. “A doctor told me it was simply something you deal with as a woman & I gave up entirely, trying to function through the pain.”
“How did you live with this much pain?”
This is heartbreaking… and heartbreakingly common.
“Every part of my life was getting torn apart because of the pain. To cut a long story short, they found 37 lesions, some very deep and difficult to remove, and a chocolate cyst,” she wrote, and added that after her surgery, a doctor asked her, “How did you live with this much pain?”
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Did you know that getting an official diagnosis of endometriosis takes an average of 7 to 10 years from when symptoms first start? That’s nearly a decade of living with pain and uncertainty, often because many providers still mistakenly normalize pelvic pain and unexplained infertility and don’t immediately refer to specialists. But here’s the hopeful part: new non-invasive testing options, like the MyReceptiva test, are changing the game. This test looks for a protein marker linked to endometriosis inflammation and can offer critical clues without surgery, helping women advocate for themselves and get personalized care faster. It’s a reminder that menstrual and other pelvic pain is *never* just something to “suck up.” Your pain is real, and you deserve to be heard and supported every step of the way.
“Validation for years of pain is indescribable,” Irwin wrote.
That validation is so important, especially in light of recent details Irwin shared regarding her experience, which can only be described as medical gaslighting.
But here’s the thing: that validation shouldn’t take a decade and a surgery to arrive. New, non-invasive tools are changing what’s possible, like the MyReceptiva test — a simple, surgery-free diagnostic test that looks for a biomarker linked to endometriosis inflammation. It’s helped over 40,000 patients get closer to a diagnosis, often years sooner.
Medical gaslighting is still alive and well
“It’s so hard because you feel like it’s inescapable,” Irwin told PEOPLE. “You don’t know what’s wrong with you, and then when people tell you ‘It’s all in your head’ or ‘you’re hormonal’ or ‘just have a cup of tea, lay down,’ you end up feeling so desperately alone because there’s no answers.”
“After years of doctors and various people telling you there’s nothing, you really start to believe it,” she added. “You wind up in this strange space of self-doubt, fear and insecurity. That’s hard to overcome.”
Irwin’s experience is so common… and so dangerous. Women around the world are routinely being dismissed when voicing concerns for their health. In many cases, this leaves them in an endless cycle of pain and suffering. In other cases, it could threaten their lives. I’ll never forget a story I heard of a woman who went to multiple doctors to explain her mysterious, debilitating symptoms, only to be dismissed or told to lose weight. Eventually, a doctor discovered she had been living with a cancerous tumor the whole time. There’s also this story from a Rescripted writer, whose pelvic pain was routinely dismissed by doctors. It ended up being linked to an early-stage ovarian tumor.
There’s power in advocating for yourself, but exhaustion, too
The weight of having to advocate for ourselves and our bodies is just exhausting. As if the physical realities of womanhood weren’t enough, there’s often a years-long journey of seeking out information independently, because there’s such frequent invalidation from the people who are supposed to guide us.
Of course, there are factors that influence how you’re treated by the medical community. Women of color typically face even greater invalidation, for example. It’s stark when you consider that someone like Bindi Irwin, a white, wealthy, famous woman with a lot of access, still faced so many hurdles in her quest to address her health concerns. It just goes to show how badly we need more awareness of the health issues women face and a cultural landscape that better addresses these issues.
Obviously, hearing that you have endometriosis or a similar condition can be a really tough pill to swallow, but on the other side of that diagnosis, relief is possible. Irwin spoke about how her life has changed since she was formally diagnosed.
“It’s not like a light switch, but every week I feel like I’m able to do a little bit more,” said Irwin. “Now I wake up in the morning, and I don’t have to take anti-nausea medicine or have my heat pack. Being able to go for a walk with my daughter and not feeling like I have to throw up in the bushes is just wild to me.”
“I feel like I have a second chance at life,” she added. “I feel brand new.”
Wondering if you might have endo?
If something feels off, if you’ve been living with intense menstrual pain, GI issues, chronic fatigue, or fertility struggles, it’s time to start asking the hard questions. Could it be endo?
The MyReceptiva test is a clinically proven, non-invasive tool that helps detect signs of inflammation linked to endometriosis. It’s already helped thousands of women get closer to answers. And now, it’s available to you — no surgery, no gaslighting, no guesswork.
Use code RESCRIPTED for $85 off your MyReceptiva test kit. Because it’s time to trust what you feel — and finally name what it is.
Zara Hanawalt is a freelance journalist and mom of twins. She's written for outlets like Parents, MarieClaire, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Motherly, and many others. In her (admittedly limited!) free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, trying new restaurants, and traveling with her family.