Endometriosis work charter for Hull and East Yorkshire

“I know I’ve bled through at this point but I couldn’t leave,” she said. “I told the manager that I needed to go home to change because I wasn’t comfortable knowing I’d bled through my clothes.

“I was told I had 15 minutes to do this.”

Unable to go home, change and return to work in that time, Ms Ashcroft then made a decision she had never done before.

“I walked out of my job and I felt awful because I’d never left a job before.”

Kath Oliver, president of HDTC, said more than 50% of people with the condition are concerned about the impact it has on their job.

“They have to take time off, they’re concerned about discussing it, there’s a real embarrassment,” she said.

“There is a total lack of knowledge of the symptoms. People often think about it as being ‘those people with heavy periods’, but it’s so much bigger and so much more than that.”

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