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Clinics & Cannabis: Breakthroughs For Sydneysiders With Endo

Endometriosis is a crippling disease affecting one in nine Australian women, girls, and those assigned female at birth.

It is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It can cause severe pain in the pelvis and make it harder to get pregnant.

Devastatingly, it currently takes on average, over six years to be diagnosed, and there is no cure.

Could new clinics and funding for new trails in Sydney change this situation?

Click the link below and listen the full episode:

On today’s This Arvo In Sydney, host Sacha Barbour Gatt spoke to LiSTNR’s news editor Amy Goggins to find out how common endometriosis is and the support in Sydney for women experiencing it.

A report by the federal government found that endometriosis costs taxpayers $9.7 billion annually.

Two-thirds of that loss in productivity, the rest in healthcare costs. Obviously, people have to take time off work to deal with their symptoms,”
Goggins said.

Ellie Angel-Mobbs, Ambassador for Endometriosis Australia, shared her experience when diagnosed with endometriosis.

I do live with debilitating pain. The pain for me is in my lower abdomen, and it constantly feels like someone stabbing me, especially on my right-hand side,”
she said.

The good news is that the government is addressing endometriosis nationally through the National Action Plan For Endometriosis.

Research from Western Sydney University has found that sufferers can be forking out up to $30,000 per year.

New pelvic clinics have opened across Sydney, and funding has been allocated for trials at Western Sydney University into medicinal cannabis to help with pain relief.

Associate Professor Mike Armour, Western Sydney University, said: