GOING on holiday with friends should be a time of relaxation but, for Alison Elwell-Thomas, a dream holiday to Tunisia turned into a nightmare when she was rushed to hospital with severe abdominal pains.

For the Bromsgrove schoolteacher, this had become a way of life. The pain started the day before she was due to fly back to England, in 1994 and for three days after she remained in hospital on a drip, diagnosed with suspected food poisoning.

Mrs Elwell-Thomas - who teaches at St John's Middle School, Watt Close - knew, however, her condition was more serious. She had been misdiagnosed with various conditions throughout the years including suspected appendicitis and had struggled through her school and university years with severe period pains, tiredness and irritable bowel syndrome. It was six years later that endometriosis was diagnosed.

Now 34, she first realised there was something wrong at the age of 15. She was thought to be suffering from ME, more commonly known these days, as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: "I was studying for my GCSEs and found it terribly frustrating. When my friends were out I couldn't go with them a lot of the time because I felt completely drained. It was like I was coming down with the flu and I often felt sick."

Visits to the doctors saw various conditions diagnosed and she was admitted into hospital with suspected appendicitis on three occasions.

The symptoms settled and she endured the pain to a lesser extent during her university years but they soon resurfaced when she started her first teaching post in Bromsgrove in 1994.

The same year, she went on holiday to Tunisia with her boyfriend Richard and two friends. She said: "The abdominal pain started the night before we were due to fly back. The ambulance arrived and all I wanted to do was go home.

"We were struggling to communicate but I was X-rayed and placed on a drip. I was losing weight rapidly but was able to return home after three days. The GP thought I had suffered a serious bout of food poisoning."

Mrs Elwell-Thomas had started to accept her symptoms as a way of life and it was not until she was admitted to Kidderminster Hospital with suspected appendicitis once again in 2000 that a scan revealed she had endometriosis.

The condition, occurs when cells that should only be found in the lining of the uterus for an unknown reason migrate into other areas of the body. In endometriosis these rogue cells are often found in the pelvic cavity and attach to the bowel, bladder ovaries and outer side of the uterus. They can create painful inflammation, adhesions and cysts.

She said: "I had heard of this disease because a cousin of mine had recently been diagnosed but I did not know any specific details. I had surgery to remove my right ovary and cyst but during the operation it was found I had severe endometriosis and had solid blood filled cysts the size of grapefruits on both ovaries. My bladder and bowel were also adhered to the pelvis."

Surgery saw the cysts removed, her ovaries reconstructed, and the surgeon also managed to separate the bowel, bladder and pelvis.

Having married Richard the year before, she was anxious to start trying for a baby but was aware the endometriosis had given her some pelvic and tubal damage.

The news prompted her to look into IVF treatment and although the odds were stacked against the couple, she managed to conceive. Just before Christmas in 2003, she gave birth to her daughter Esme, weighing a healthy six and a half pounds.

Mrs Elwell-Thomas continues to a struggle with the symptoms of endometriosis and now faces the prospect of more surgery, after her consultant discovered severe adhesions to the pelvis bowl and ovaries in January, this year.

She's accepted her symptoms as a way of life but joined the National Endometriosis Society to help raise awareness of the condition with the hope that, one day, a cure might be found, and says: "I did some research into endometriosis and became a member of the association. It was then I learned that many of the complaints and symptoms that I had suffered from were related to endometriosis and perhaps if I had earlier diagnosis my condition would not be so severe. That is why it is so important to raise awareness not only with the public, but medical staff."

To find out more or to join the National Endometriosis Society, call 0207 7222 2781.