A 43-year-old Liverpool woman was left bedridden after experiencing bleeding from her belly button that came with crippling pain, and extreme fatigue. Describing the experience almost like a period, the mother of two said she had to wear dressings on her belly button for her strange navel discharge.
It all started when Ceri Bruinsma got her contraceptive implant removed five years back. While she always had extremely painful periods, discharge from her navel was something new, which was accompanied by weight again and also blood clots.
The terrifying symptoms were enough for Ceri to get in touch with her doctor, but when a CT scan came back clear, she was told there was nothing alarming.
“At one point I had to wear dressings over my belly button because it was like being on my period,” she was quoted as saying by Mirror. “The doctors acted like it wasn’t anything to worry about, even though I was having clots and kept being prescribed antibiotics.”
However, when the symptoms didn’t resolve for a long time, she was referred to a gynecologist. An MRI scan and a camera inserted into her womb, helped her get the correct diagnosis.
Decoding her condition
Ceri was finally told that she was suffering from umbilical endometriosisa condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus begins to grow in the navel. Also known as Villar’s nodule, it is a rare form of endometriosis where endometrial tissue grows within the belly button. It can present as a painful, swollen, and sometimes bleeding or discharging nodule in the navel, particularly during menstruation.
According to a BMC researchonly about 1 percent of endometriosis cases involve parts of the body outside the pelvic region.
Umbilical endometriosis may develop after a surgical procedure like in case of Ceri. It can even happen after minimally invasive surgeries like laparoscopy. Symptoms include pain around belly button, swelling, mass or bump around belly button, and discoloration, bleeding, or reddish-brown discharge.
Doctors said Ceri’s unusual bleeding was caused due to an endometriosis tissue formation within a hernia sack behind her belly button. Ceri is still awaiting surgery to remove both the endometriosis and the hernia.
“When I’m having an endometriosis flare-up, it’s like someone has stabbed me in the back – I can’t walk,” she said. “When I had cramps and blood coming out of my belly button, it felt worse than labour. I couldn’t even walk, it was awful.”
Ceri has been given hormone replacement therapy injections to induce early menopause to manage her symptoms as she is awaiting her surgery. While this has stopped the bleeding, she’s finding it difficult to cope with side effects. “I couldn’t leave the house, I was sweating that much,” she said.
Ask, a holistic therapist herself, says alternative therapies such as reflexology and gentle release therapy have helped her manage the pain.
