Olamide Ogunseye, a 36-year-old from Surrey, experienced four periods in two months before a ruptured ovarian cyst led to sepsis and a three-week stay in intensive care. She is now urging women to advocate for their health when symptoms are dismissed.
Early symptoms dismissed as stress
Three years ago, Olamide began having periods every 14 days. She also developed a bloated stomach. When she visited her GP, the doctor suggested that recent life stressors—a relationship breakup, a friendship breakup, and redundancy—could be affecting her cycle. Olamide said: 'I had four periods in two months and knew something wasn't right.'
Sudden deterioration and emergency surgery
By June, she struggled to stand for long periods and experienced sharp abdominal pain during a work meeting. She went home to rest but woke up vomiting and in agony. At the hospital around 9:30pm, she was vomiting bile. Her blood pressure was dangerously high, her temperature was in the forties, and her white blood cell count was elevated. Doctors discovered a ruptured ovarian cyst that had triggered sepsis, along with an internal hernia. Medics believe a weakness in her abdominal wall, possibly from a previous fibroid removal, allowed part of her small intestine to move out of position and wrap around a fallopian tube, causing a bowel obstruction.
On June 9, surgeons attempted keyhole surgery but accidentally punctured her bowel, converting the procedure to open surgery. They repaired the puncture and removed 10–15cm of damaged small intestine. Olamide spent three weeks in hospital.
Slow recovery and emotional toll
Olamide said: 'This happened so suddenly and so severely that there was no time to process it. Waking up to the reality of where I was and what had actually happened, I was emotional and utterly shocked.' She cried daily for two weeks and found even simple tasks difficult. 'Just getting out of the hospital bed was an achievement. It was so painful with the incisions, and it honestly took around 30 minutes just to walk the length of a six-bed bay.' After surgery, she had to sleep on her back for at least 18 months. She was off work for three months and attended follow-up appointments for 18 months.
According to The UK Sepsis Trust, 245,000 people are affected by sepsis each year in the UK.
Call for better women's health care
Olamide now wants women to push for answers. She said: 'I want women to know to push for answers and not dismiss what their body is telling them.' She added: 'I understand the pressures on the NHS, but dismissed symptoms have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are fatal. Countless women right now are not being heard when it comes to conditions like fibroids, endometriosis, and PMOS, formerly known as PCOS. Women’s health deserves to be taken seriously, every single time, not just when it reaches a crisis point.'
