She added that she has lived with extreme, chronic pain since the age of 10: “I’ve had to learn to turn down the noise on something that is far from normal. It’s a silent emergency for me, a fight to be in my own body.”
Barnett explained the impact the condition has had on her daily life: “I have woken up in pain, presented Today in pain, presented Women’s Hour in pain, all the radio shows throughout my career. But with this condition, it is like having a whole other show going on inside your own body.”
The presenter spent 21 years seeking a diagnosis, which was eventually confirmed when she was 31.
Emma Barnett attends the Audio & Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) at the Adelphi Theatre in London, May 3, 2022 (Credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images)Getty Images
Discussing potential surgery, she said: “Listeners write to me and say, ‘Emma, get your womb taken out. Come on, girl, you will never regret it,’ but it is a big surgery.
"I’ve had two C-sections, and I want to make an informed choice. With this condition, no doctor can definitely tell you what is right or wrong.
“It would be a gamble, but living in such pain is not a life. I am thinking about it properly for the first time in my life, because the pain is now breaking through every single day.”
Doctors say hysterectomy is considered a last resort for endometriosis, as it does not necessarily cure the condition if it has spread beyond the uterus. Barnett describes her own illness as widespread and difficult to fully detect.
“It is like gunpowder, splattered lightly and everywhere and not visible on the scan," she said.
In the documentary, Barnett meets other women affected by endometriosis and records video diaries showing the severity of her symptoms and their impact on her life.
The film also highlights wider issues in women’s health, including long diagnostic delays – on average more than nine years and four months in the UK – and limited funding for research into the condition.
Barnett said she hopes the documentary will lead to greater awareness and practical change in how endometriosis is treated and understood.
She described it as tantamount to "a national healthcare emergency that somehow still exists in the shadows”.
Fighting Endometriosis will air on BBC Two at 9pm on June 1 and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
