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BBC journalist Ciru Muriuki is pushing for people to speak more about endometriosis.
Ciru Muriuki has undergone several endometriosis surgeries, a recent one being last year. Endometriosis is the abnormal growth of cells (endometrial cells) similar to those that form the inside of the uterus but in a location outside of the uterus.
She shared a photo of herself in hospital on Instagram and captioned it: "This was me after my first laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis cysts. It was two days before Christmas in 2017.
"Basically, I was bleeding into my ovaries every time I had my period. Words cannot describe the pain. It sometimes takes years for endometriosis to be definitively diagnosed because women are told that pain is part of being a woman... Endometriosis has no cure,"