The adored actress from Home and Away has been open about her “exhausting” fight.
Sophie Dillman, an actress, has been open about her “excruciating” struggle with endometriosis.
Sophie, one of the stars of Channel 7’s Home and Away, has called her illness’s discomfort, symptoms, general lack of awareness, and frequent misdiagnoses “frustrating.”
One in nine women, including Sophie, 30, have the crippling condition.
The hallmark of endometriosis is the growth of tissue resembling uterine lining outside of the womb, which can occasionally spread to other parts of the body.
The stigma surrounding the ailment, like many other women’s health issues, prevents many women from discussing it or getting help from a doctor.
As an ambassador for Endometriosis Australia and with her over 300,000 Instagram followers, Sophie is working to change this and educate others.
Sophie defines endometriosis as “line that is comparable to the lining of our uterus, that sort of tissue developing outside of the uterus, and it may grow anywhere,” in her own words.
According to her, “it’s been found in the brain, spinal column, lungs, liver, and in everyone – male and female.”
Endometriosis, according to the actress, may range from being “very painful” to a person “not knowing” they have it.
It’s just extremely unjust that a diagnosis typically takes six and a half years of “possibly terrible pain, confusion, and all kinds of symptoms.”
Sophie was fortunate to receive an early diagnosis, finding out she had the illness at the age of 21.
Throughout her whole teenage years, she adds, “I had extremely painful periods and inconsistent cycles.”
Sophie claimed that the quantity of exercise she engaged in throughout her adolescence caused her to “lose” her period “a lot of times.”
She recalls, “I would faint and repeatedly vomit. It was pretty irregular, but when I got them, they were really heavy, really terrible.”
The actress complained of “terrible bloating” that made it impossible for her to fit into her clothes and gave her “very bad leg discomfort and edoema.”
Sophie found herself prepared for her first laparoscopy after deciding to see a doctor, then a gynaecologist, to consider birth control, which is how she eventually acquired her diagnosis.
Operative choices
A laparoscopy, which involves inserting a tiny camera through a tiny incision into the pelvic area, seeks to look inside and “remove any of the tissue that’s causing pain.”
After three of these operations, Sophie claims to have “a lot of tissue that they can’t remove since it’s in the lining of my various organs.”
She adds that the procedures don’t help her and that it’s “exhausting, uncomfortable, and sometimes awkward and it sucks.”
It appears that I will have to do it consistently for the rest of my life, she says.
