She revealed at one stage she feared she was having a miscarriage while she was pregnant with daughter Grace, now two.
The Australian television personality and conservationist broke down during her first TV interview, with Good Morning America in the US, to discuss her experience and subsequent surgery to try and treat the painful condition.
The 25-year-old cried as she revealed her battle to understand what was causing her ongoing pain and her experience with doctors dismissing her concerns.
“It’s been a long journey. It’s been a long 10 years,” Irwin admitted through tears, revealing she has undergone numerous tests from the age of 14 seeking answers. She finally managed to receive a diagnosis after suffering from “unexplainable pain, fatigue, cramping and nausea” for years.
Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus in places including the fallopian tubes, ovaries, bladder or bowels. In most cases, there can be symptoms including period pain, pelvic pain and sub-fertility or infertility, but it is often hard to diagnose or misdiagnosed by doctors. Endometriosis affects 1 in ten women, with many reporting chronic pelvic pain that seriously impacts their physical and mental health. Most women with the condition visit a GP over ten times before being referred to specialist care for a diagnosis.
Seeking answers, Irwin said she underwent a variety of tests including for cancer, MRIs, ultrasound, CT scans, and more.
“Every test, every scan that I went in for came back completely clean,” she said. “I was healthy. Nothing was wrong, which was just so strange. It was this feeling of devastation because there was no answer. There was no clarity [as] to why I was feeling this way. And the fact that every month it would just get worse and worse and worse.”
Despite living with ongoing pain, the daughter of the late The Crocodile Hunter star Steve Irwin managed to move on with her life in the meantime. She won Dancing with the Stars, in 2015 and married US professional wakeboarder Chandler Powell in 2020. The following year they welcomed daughter Grace Warrior Irwin Powell.
In a post on Instagram in March this year Irwin revealed her surgery and said despite constantly seeking answers, she was previously told by a doctor that the pain was “simply something you deal with as a woman.”
“I gave up entirely, trying to function through the pain.”
In the GMA interview, Irwin says during her pregnancy she often thought she was miscarrying due to the intense pain she would experience.
“Along my pregnancy journey. I would often have times where I thought I was miscarrying because I would have severe unexplained pain,” she said.
“I would think that I was losing our beautiful daughter, ” she continued. “We’re so lucky to have Grace. So many women can’t fall pregnant because of problems with endometriosis.”
After undergoing a surgery to confirm her endometriosis and remove 37 lesions earlier this year, Irwin explained she was hugely relieved when her condition was confirmed and her health has improved massively.
“It’s night and day,” she said. “I’m a completely new person.” She revealed it was easier to do things like go on a walk with her family and carry out her conservation work at the family’s Australia Zoo facility.
She said she was speaking out to help those who may have similar unexplained symptoms.
