Bindi Irwin spent years dealing with excruciating, daily pain from undiagnosed endometriosis, but it wasn’t until she became a mother that she was galvanized to finally “figure out what was wrong.”
In a recent Instagram video post, the 24-year-old daughter of beloved conservationist Steve Irwin revealed more about her journey with endometriosis, or endo. She began experiencing symptoms of the painful reproductive condition at just 14 years old, she recalled.
“Suddenly no matter where we went or what we were doing, I would just be falling asleep wherever we were,” she told her 5.4 million followers.
Irwin underwent “every blood test you can possibly imagine for tropical diseases,” multiple scans, and ultrasounds. But endometriosis doesn’t always show up on scans, so her case flew under the radar despite her agony and exhaustion. Needless to say, Irwin became discouraged.
“We tried and tried and tried for years and years and years. And finally, a doctor said to me, ‘This is just part of being a woman,’” she recalled. “And that’s when I gave up, and I stopped looking for answers.
A post shared by Bindi Irwin (@bindisueirwin)
Last summer, Irwin decided to continue pushing for a solution to her “insurmountable” pain. The deciding factor? Her firstborn daughter, Grace, whom she’d welcomed with her husband, Chandler Powell, in 2021.
“It wasn’t until after I had my beautiful daughter Grace that I picked back up again and [tried] to figure out what was wrong with me,” she said. “I decided I needed to figure out what was happening to me because I was carrying Grace up this tiny hill, and suddenly the pain hit me out of nowhere. I had to hand Grace to my mom and just curl up in the fetal position on the ground because the stabbing pain in my sight was insurmountable.”
Irwin had previously been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but after talking with a friend, she realized endometriosis would explain all of her symptoms. She underwent exploratory surgery to diagnose the condition.
Lo and behold, she received a diagnosis, which allowed her to finally address her debilitating pain once and for all.