A 22-year-old woman has to use a zimmer frame and wheelchair due to her period agony.

Charlotte Brunnock's menstrual pains leave her left bed-bound and unable to get changed and have a shower on her own.

The 999 ambulance call handler, from Newport, told WalesLive : "I need assistance having a shower, getting changed and making food.

"When I go around in public on my zimmer frame or in a wheelchair I just feel embarrassed and humiliated.

"I feel incredibly self-conscious about it all. Things shouldn't be like this at my age."

Charlotte gave up her dream of joining RAF after her period pains started aged 10 and got worse throughout her teens.

She said: "I just assumed everyone got it this bad, and then just before my 17th birthday I came down with glandular fever which I'm guessing is what brought the condition on.

"The pain then began occurring a few days before and after my periods, and then it built up over the years to the point where the pain is now every day."

She had a string of hospital visits but was only diagnosed with endometriosis – when the lining of the womb grows in places it shouldn't – last August following surgery.

Charlotte, who works for the Welsh Ambulance Service, has been told she has stage 4 endometriosis, the most severe, and is taking up to 20 tablets a day.

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"On Saturday my partner managed to get me down to Barry to have some chips and ice cream. That was the first proper time I've been out in weeks," she said.

"As I try to walk or stand, there's a ripping or tearing sensation in my stomach which is probably where the endometriosis has attached my insides together.

"They don't know exactly where yet but my bowel could be stuck to my ovaries."

The condition occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere inside the body, most commonly in the pelvic region.

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It is estimated to affect around 10% of women in the UK and has been described by the NHS as one of the top 20 most painful conditions a person can suffer from.

Charlotte now requires an operation to find out more about the extent of her condition and relieve some of the pain she suffers on a daily basis.

However, she's been told to have such a procedure on the NHS could take up to two years.

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Her family are now raising money to have it carried out privately at St Joseph's Hospital in Newport.

"Even after the surgery there's no guarantee I'll be pain free. But it's important to stop it from spreading even further because it's already on the surface of my bowel and bladder.

"It can go into my kidneys, my lungs, my brain, my spine, eyes and skin."

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Charlotte's cousin, Danielle Jones has set up a GoFundMe page to help towards the cost of her procedure.

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