When Bindi Irwin first began menstruating, she noticed “intense” symptoms that occurred with her periods. As she aged, they became more severe, she recalls.
The 25-year-old daughter of Steve Irwin, aka the Crocodile Hunter, started to experience nausea, irritable bowel syndrome, severe stabbing pain, cramping and fatigue almost every day — and when she got her period, she’d feel even worse.
Irwin often told her doctors about these symptoms, but test after test came back normal. Still, she continued to wonder why she felt the way she did.
“It was getting more and more concerning as to what the real problem was and if we would ever find the cause,” she tells TODAY.com via email. “Doctors would chalk it up to hormones and being a young woman, and I was often told that it was just the stress of life, and I should work on my mental health.”
Being dismissed and “told it was in (her) head” harmed her wellbeing.
“This was incredibly disheartening and actually caused me a lot of anxiety and depression as I was constantly in pain with no answers for what was wrong with me,” Irwin says. “It was very easy to believe doctors, and I actually gave up searching for answers.”
As her symptoms intensified, Irwin changed how she lived her life, shying away from activities she enjoyed, such as hiking, exercising and even being close with friends and family.
“For years, hugs hurt because my body was in excruciating pain every day,” she says. “I found that my pain took away my sense of humor and joy. It hurt to laugh.”
After giving birth to her daughter, Grace Warrior Irwin Powell in 2021, Irwin’s symptoms became “overwhelming,” she says, and she returned to her search for answers. Then, a friend of hers, Leslie Mosier, owner of Doug the Pug, posted on social media about having endometriosis.
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