A FERMANAGH woman who spent almost two decades searching for answers about her debilitating pain hopes promising new diagnostic tests for endometriosis will one day be made available in the North. Melanie began experiencing severe period pain at just 12 years old, but for years she was told it was simply a normal part of growing up. Determined to find the cause of her symptoms, she pushed for laparoscopic surgery and was finally diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 31. “For too long, severe period pain and the symptoms of endometriosis were normalised or dismissed as simply part of being a woman.” Endotest uses a saliva sample to identify biological markers linked to endometriosis, while EndoSure analyses electrical signals from the gut using sensors placed on the abdomen.