"Feel like I'm not being taken seriously"

I have been going to my GP for 7 years trying to get someone to take my pelvic pain seriously. I was constantly sent away with ibuprofen and being told a hot water bottle would help. I was then told the contraceptive pill would help while they referred me to gynaecology. Again, after waiting months and then over a year for hospital appointments, I felt I was dismissed with nothing showing in my scans, even though I had came prepared with a symptom diary showing how insufferable my pain consistently was.

Since covid, I have now had all gynaecologist appointment via video call and had to insist on a face-to-face most recently which has now been pushed back by 5 months to review an ultrasound scan that I had. Only within the last 6 months had a guest GP taken my pain seriously and issued me with appropriate prescription pain killers, previously I was having to spend £8 per week on maximum strength OTC pain killers that still didn’t touch my pain.

I’ve asked numerous times to be treated by a female doctor. I had my appointment letters with female doctor names sent out to me, only to show up to my appointments faced with a male doctor. Who was I to reject this after waiting 8 months for this 10 minute appointment?  But my next appointments were then also with male doctors which made me extremely uncomfortable. I had to push my gynaecologist to be put onto the waiting list for a diagnostic laparoscopy, which I feel they couldn’t have tried to put me off more if they'd tried.

In my view, the whole NHS is a joke at this point and women's period pains are not being taken anywhere near as seriously as they should be. It’s constant dismissal from pain that is impacting our lives severely. I’m sure my experience isn’t the only one in a long list of - hopefully not disastrous - mistakes made by my doctors. So here I am. 7 years into asking for help and I still have no definitive answer as to why my period pain causes me to vomit, miss days from work, double over in pain and prevent me from moving.