A young woman’s TikTok video about the extraordinary waitlists for Kiwi women with gynecological issues has gone viral.
Vanessa Hirschmann was told she’d need to wait a whole year for surgery to fix a painful issue with an IUD.
The 22-year-old was put on the form of birth control to help ease pain from suspected endometriosis, but explained in her TikTok video how the device was now upside down and “lost inside”.
She was admitted to hospital in a bad way, but then told there was nothing anyone could do but put her on a waitlist for surgery.
Venting her frustration online has gained more than 600 comments from other Kiwi women who say they’re in similar situations.
“I wasn’t expecting so many women to be able to relate to my situation or know women who have experienced the same thing I am. I was told that it was a very, very rare case for something like this to happen,” Hirschmann told AM on Monday.
“Honestly, I’m just really disappointed at the amount of comments who have experienced a medical system undermining their pain and conditions.
“I mean, I feel like I speak for all of those women who have gone through the same thing when all I say is we just want a solution for us – our lives don’t stop because we’re in pain, our bosses don’t understand that it’s years’ worth of trying to fight to be heard.”