YOU NEED TO KNOW
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A woman thought she was suffering from appendix problems, but after an operation, she was instead told she had two wombs
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Ellie Curran, 21, eventually received a formal diagnosis of a complete bicorpus uterus – a rare condition that only affects around 0.4% of women.
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“Women, you know your body better than anyone else. If you think something is wrong, don’t stop fighting for answers,” she tells PEOPLE.
A woman, who historically suffered from intense periods, once thought she was also having appendix issues. When the doctors told her that the pain she was experiencing was, for the most part, actually caused by the fact that she had two, she was shocked.
Ellie Curran from Ireland was 12 years old when she got her period for the first time. “I noticed roughly right after, they were very painful and heavy,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’d mainly have to stay in bed a lot, and I was so depressed that it affected my social life too.”
One night, Curran, now 21, says she had a “really bad pain” in her lower stomach area and thought it was her appendix. According to SWNS, an operation was performed to remove the organ, and that’s when the doctors made the unexpected discovery that she doesn’t have one uterus, but two.
“[The doctors] he said it looks like there are two uteruses, but he didn’t say much when my appendix was removed,” Curran recalled.
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Curran underwent more tests and eventually received a formal diagnosis of a complete bicorpus uterus, meaning she has two distinct uterine cavities separated by a wall of tissue. (Only about 0.4% of women are born with the rare condition, according to the Cleveland Clinic.)
She also told SWNS that more scans later revealed that she has two cervixes, and that she “may have an extra kidney.” Curran was also diagnosed with endometritis, which doctors said could be contributing to her painful periods.
SWNS
According to Curran, “[There are] not really many treatment options that I’ve been told about so far, so now it’s a waiting game.”
She is currently on a waiting list for additional tests, and is scheduled to undergo surgery in May.
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And, if she chooses to have children, Curran tells PEOPLE getting pregnant will present challenges.
“I have to get pregnant mainly in the left womb, because it is bigger than the right, and it is safer in the left,” she explains.
Curran, a call center worker, is sharing her story in hopes of helping others. “I want to spread awareness and find girls with something similar to what I’m going through right now,” she says.
As for her advice for other women dealing with the same or similar situations? Curran tells PEOPLE, “Women, you know your own body better than anyone else. If you think something is wrong, don’t stop fighting for answers.”
Read the original article on People