A WOMAN who had her period every ten days says she is now "forced" to choose between buying a home and freezing her eggs.
Erin McDermott, 29, faces the heartbreaking choice after taking the contraceptive pill for 13 years – which "masked" her health issues.
The student began taking the pill in her early teens after experiencing unusually frequent periods after they started at age 10.
Despite her unorthodox menstrual cycle, Erin claims doctors never performed tests to find the root of the problem.
After over a decade, she decided to stop taking the pill in December 2020 to give her body a break.
Erin, from Coventry, then checked her hormones with a home test kit – and was horrified to discover she had an imbalance.
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After her GP confirmed the issue, the 29-year-old then discovered this meant she is likely to have a shorter fertility window and lower fertility.
Erin feels her chances of getting pregnant are now "slim to none" – but faces the dilemma of choosing between a future family or home.
She is struggling to decide whether to freeze her eggs in case she ever wants children, or saving up to buy a house.
The student told the Manchester Evening News: "I feel like I'm being kind of forced to make a choice when it's not really a choice I'm in the headspace to make.
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"I'm not in a relationship and I never really thought I'd have to think about it in that way because you just kind of assume that as long as you're fit and healthy it won’t be a problem.
"It wasn't necessarily going on the pill that caused the problem, but it was the pill that masked a problem.
"It should have been investigated earlier," she fumed.
"They should have explored why I was having a period every ten days – my hormones were out of whack to cause that."
Erin, who lives in Manchester, said she is "frustrated" that medics didn't follow up investigations into her abnormal period cycle earlier.
She continued: "It may not have been prevented, like it might be that's your natural cycle, there's nothing you can really do about it.
"But at least if I had an awareness when I was 16 or 18, it probably would have been a more appropriate age to speak about it."
Erin is now on a mission to warn other women to listen to their bodies – and wants hormone education to be taught in schools.
She has launched a petition asking the government to add the subject to both key stage 2 and key stage 3 curricula.
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The 29-year-old added: "Hormones affect every other aspect of your life. It might open a can of worms, but I think it's positive!
"If you do suffer from mental health conditions or struggle with weight, hormone issues could be barriers to those experiences as well."
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