Former Miss Ireland says treatment delayed until she wanted children

Former Miss Ireland Chelsea Farrell has revealed she was told her painful medical condition would not be prioritised for treatment until she expressed a desire to have children.

Farrell began experiencing heavy, painful periods at the age of 12 but says doctors dismissed her concerns. She told Newstalk Breakfast that she felt “a door shut in my face” and endured years of being ignored.

After collapsing at work and being rushed to the emergency department, she finally received a referral to a consultant and was taken seriously. It then took two and a half years of tests and scans before she was diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), endometriosis and a dermoid cyst.

Despite the diagnosis, Farrell says doctors were reluctant to treat her, placing her on a waiting list and indicating she would be seen more urgently only if she wanted children. She eventually required emergency surgery, which she credits with saving her reproductive system.

Farrell now has a baby girl and urges that knowledge about conditions like PMOS be shared more widely across the health‑care system.

Source: Newstalk. Photo: Oles kanebckuu / Pexels.