People from all over the world have got in touch with a young woman from Strood who bravely spoke out about a condition which leaves her crippled with pain.

Lucy Patterson has to take 40mg of morphine every day because of the agony caused by endometriosis.

The condition means cells lining the womb migrate to other parts of the body and react in the same way during a period, by breaking down and bleeding, but there is nowhere for the blood to go.

After her story appeared on kentonline.co.uk, women from as far afield as Australia and America got in touch to share their stories. Read the interview with Lucy here.

After finding no support groups in Kent, Lucy set up her own. It already has 85 members, some of whom met up for the first time last weekend.

"I feel like this group is really helping women who suffer from this condition to speak to one another about how it affects them and not to feel like they can’t cope with day to day life as there isn’t the support there." - Lucy

Lucy, 21, said: “With more people seeing the article and people talking about the group, new people are joining every day. I feel like this group is really helping women who suffer from this condition to speak to one another about how it affects them and not to feel like they can’t cope with day to day life as there isn’t the support there.”

She said she didn’t anticipate the number of women coming forward with the condition.

Lucy added: “The one thing we all have in common is endometriosis but we are all different and suffer differently so to come together as a group of strong women who do suffer from what sometimes can be described as a debilitating condition is amazing.”

As a teenager, Lucy thought she was just having bad periods, but in 2010 her mother took her to Medway Maritime Hospital with severe pains across her stomach and down her legs.

Lucy, 21, was finally diagnosed with endometriosis at the BUPA hospital in Maidstone and in 2011 she had a five-hour operation to remove the cells,

She said: “Medway doesn’t have a specialist doctor for endometriosis. What we have now isn’t adequate enough and is one of the reasons why women are being let down by the health service and made to look like silly when we come in complaining of severe abdominal pains.”

Lucy is due to have a second operation next week and will then start hormone treatment which will stop her periods.

The group can be found on Facebook by searching for Endometriosis Support Group Kent and Medway.