A woman has said that medical cannabis has ‘saved her life’ after struggling with chronic endometriosis for years, that left her contemplating suicide. Saff Khalique, 26, was officially diagnosed with endometriosis when was 25, after dealing with excruciating pain for most of her 20s and teenage years.
Initially, she had been told that it would take ‘years’ to be able to get a formal diagnosis, which led to her mental health hitting an all time low as she was struggling with the pain she had to endure.
According to the NHS, endometriosis is when cells that are similar to those that line the womb, grow in other parts of the body such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. They can also affect other organs such as your bowel and bladder.
It is estimated that around 1.5 million women in the UK have this condition, according to Endometriosis UK – which is around one in 10 women of reproductive age. It can take an average of seven years for most women to get diagnosed and it is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), reports the Mirror.
In order to help alleviate the pain, Saff was initially given a chemically induced menopause. However, the pain was so unbearable that she was left feeling suicidal. While looking for other ways to relieve the pain, she came across the use of medical cannabis on Reddit, which she now uses to calm anxiety around medical appointments and to dampen the severe pain she has around her period.
According to The Royal College of Nursing, the exact prevalence of endometriosis is unknown, but it is estimated to range from two to 10 per cent of the general female population but jumps up to 50 per cent in infertile women. Symptoms of the condition can vary, with some people like Saff experiencing intensely painful symptoms and/or infertility, and others having no symptoms at all.
Saff first didn’t start using medical cannabis straight away when she discovered it in 2023. It was a year later when she started to view it as a serious option. She said: “It wasn’t until visibly seeing other people with endometriosis use cannabis to help with their pain that I began to explore options available in the UK. Part of what held me back were taboos on the subject and whether it would actually work for the cost.”
However, it got to a point where the pain was too unbearable and the cons no longer seemed as important. She added: “I came across the UK medical cannabis subreddit when looking for clinics and Alternaleaf was the best reviewed by patients on that forum, so I set up my consultation and ended up starting my journey with medical cannabis in April 2024.
“I am so glad I have tried and found the strains that work best for me with the help of the Alternaleaf pharmacists because without medical cannabis I would have been out of work for a lot longer than I have been over the last six months. If I were no longer to have access to it my quality of life would be non-existent.”
By taking the medical cannabis, Saff was able to come off tramadol and codeine, and noticed significant changes in her mood, as well as her nausea and fatigue lessening. She said that at times it makes “me feel like a normal person again”.
Before taking medical cannabis, Saff was offered a chemical menopause to help lessen her symptoms. She explained: “This essentially turns off your ovaries and ovulation stops and you don’t have periods, and you take it monthly, I was recommended it for six months. I was given estrogen HRT to help with menopause symptoms such as hot flushes.”
However, her body didn’t respond well to the HRT (hormonal replacement therapy) leaving her with heaving bleeding and migraines. She then chose to stop all hormonal methods as she felt “tired of feeling like a guinea pig and having zero control over my emotions. It was the best decision I made that year for my mental health”.
However, as much as the symptoms have lessened, endometriosis has affected all parts of Saff’s life. She said: “Endometriosis is not just a bad period, it is not just a gynae condition, it is a whole body inflammatory disease that changes and ruins lives because of late diagnosis and treatment. I displayed symptoms at age 16 and I didn’t receive a proper diagnosis until age 25.”
Saff was prescribed the medical cannabis through a specialist doctor at Alternaleaf, which is a UK based medical cannabis clinic. In order to get a prescription, all patients need to provide evidence of an eligible condition, and demonstrate that they have tried two traditional treatments before considering medical cannabis.
Saff has started to raise awareness about her condition on social media, under the name @browngirlendo, in hopes of being able to connect with other people like her who have this condition.
She said: “I quite often felt unseen as majority of the women I saw in the news or suggested to me online were all white and whilst we experience similar levels of physical pain and medical misogyny there a cultural taboos/barriers and racial discrimination that add to another layer of the endometriosis experience.”
If you need to talk to someone, call Samaritans free on 116 123
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